I would like to thank all those who responded to my request for info on
HPLC data systems. It was an enlightening experience!
Here is the promised summary:
Hewlett Packard was the most commonly used system based on number of
responses(12), not the number of systems. It was almost unanimously
considered to be easy to learn, a key question for me as an instructor.
There was one issue about data reprocessing, which I shared when I
demo'd the software. It was not super intuitive, but since I only spent
an hour or so with the software, I expect it was more a lack of
experience.
Waters was the second most commonly used system based on number of
responses(10), not the number of systems, but the ease of learning was
of concern. It was split almost 50:50 with several respondents stating
their strong concern with the steep learning curve for the system. This
was usually Millenium 32 and some said it was easier than the original.
But it was also balanced by others who found it much more powerful, once
learned. There was also comments that the audit trail was much better in
Waters than any other micro-based system.
Finally, there were the others. There were 3 users of VG TurboChrom, for
LIMS users, 2 users of Beckman System Gold, and one each for Multichrom,
EZ Chrom, Delta and Gilson.
So what will I get? I would like to get the HP Chemstation, but we have
almost no HP HPLC equipment and for the money would get a glorified
integrator with no instrument control. By far we have more Waters
equipment in our labs and could put together two full systems for the
same price. EZ Chrom may be an option, in that they have pump control,
but with Millenium being the next most popular system, it will probably
be Waters.
Thanks again for all the info and I hope that this will be helpful to
others as well.
Bill Chestnut - Lab Manager/Instructor
PO Box 1090
Campbell University
Buies Creek, NC 27506
chestnut@mailcenter.campbell.edu
910-893-1713