We have narrowed our list of vendors for a new GC-MS down to the following: Agilent (HP), Perkin-Elmer, Varian, and Schimadzu. Does anyone have any recommendations they would like to make as far as problems they have had with a particular vendor/instrument, service, ease of use of software, maintenance, etc. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Varian has great service most places. Agilent is easy to use. P-E's instrument is very new. Don't know anything about the Shimadzu product.

We've had HP/Agilent 5890A/5971A for a decade, very reliable, one repair. We've also had 6890A/5972A for about 4 years, no repairs. Hard to beat this type of reliablity, also easy to use (we're not computer nerds).

IF your lab doesn't generally go for extended warranties/service agreements, you *might* want to stay away from Agilent. They recently instituted a system of fees for service calls on non-contract repairs that adds up to $1000 (ADDITIONAL to travel/repair fees) for next-day service. IF your lab buys service agreements, though, I love the 6890/5973 that we recently bought from HP/Agilent. Software is a little tricky though if you're used to an older version of ChemStation--MANY new features.

We have a Shimadzu QP-5050 provided with an autoinjector and autosampler for 150 vials and it works very well. The turbomolecular pump (150 l/min) enables you to work in scan mode only 30-45 min after startup. We assay drugs in plasma samples at low ng/ml with high sensibility (SIM mode). There are a new software which is much better than the old Class 5000 (which is the one I have and is very simple to use). It's very robust, very easy to maintain. I don't know how the service is in US. In my country is OK.
Regards