I would like to hear other HPLC user's opinions regarding the Waters 2690 or the HP 1100. Does the equipment perform well under moderate to heavy use. Are the hardware components reliable, reproducible, do they suffer from breakdowns or mechanical failures, is troubleshooting and/or repair difficult ... The equipment would be used by itself, not in conjunction with the PC/software (Millenium or ChemStation), I am interested in hardware opinions only.

We have been using an HP 1100 for about one year now. Only problem has been that the power supply would malfunction on a random basis and shut the system down. This was extremely difficult to diagnose and took the HP Service Rep. about a month to solve the problem. No other problems since then. HP Service's response was quick and attentive. Overall, I'm quite satisfied with the instrument and don't think my experience was one that is typically encountered.

We have two HP 1050 and two HP1100, and our production QC has same. These have been very reliable over the past 8 years and have been easy for me to troubleshoot and repair myself, if necessary. We never had a power supply issue. The most major item was to replace the transport system on the 1100 autosampler.

we have one HP1100 for 3 years and are very satisfied with it: easy to learn, acceptable software, excellent performance, easy to maintain, compact size.
The only problem we sometimes have is with the autosampler, which hangs up and blocks the system (about once in 4 months)

Hi Barry, I have had the opportunity to work with both systems. In regards to performans, I beleive the 2690 does well in gradient elutions whether you operate at 50 uL/min to 2 ml/min. or decide to have the system blend for you. You will see considerable differences between the 2690 and the 1100. The reason for this is the constant delay volume that does not change with pressure changes due to solvent viscosities on the 2690 (no pulse dampners or mixers). You can add upto 600uL delay volume if you have a high system pressure on the 1100 (because of its pulse dampner). This will affect retention time reproducibility. In regards to breakdowns both systems workded well. In regards to working the systems as a stand alone, you can do that easily with the 2690,where you can hook up a printer to the 2690 and print out your LC methods and sample sets or copy them to floppy disk to view on Note Pad, however with the HP you must purchase the hand held LED unit.