Deb,
I can offer a couple of comments on the HP 1046 detector. We have four of
them in our lab and have used them since their introduction:
1) It is now obsolete and has been replaced by the 1100 series detector.
2) That's good news because the 1046 had very poor sensitivity. We
documented that an old Gilson filter fluorimeter (which uses a slide
projector bulb as its source) had better sensitivity for OPA amino acid
detection than the 1046.
3) I won't bore you with other aspects of poor performance of the 1046.
I'm told that HP has tried to deal with these as well as the sensitivity
problem in the new model. I would want to see clear documentation of that
before going with the new model rather than another supplier.
4) We've often faced the data exchange problem too. There are several
which work for the 1046 and most other instruments. The simplest for us
was to pop in a Hewlett Packard A to D converter. This box can take either
the HPIB cable input used by Hewlett Packard instruments or a voltage --
which we use for most other instruments. We then take the output as a
simple digitized stream into the serial port of a PC. I've heard that it
is possible (or soon will be) to buy a much less expensive A to D card and
pop it into your PC or Mac, but I haven't see any specific information on
that option.
Like you, I'm interested in comments from folks who use the other detectors.
Rod Levine
NIH
Bldg 3, Room 106 MSC 0320
Bethesda, MD 20892-0320
email: rlevine@nih.gov
voice: 1 (301) 496-2310
fax: 1 (301) 496-0599