Andreas, Our BD FACS Vantage SE has been in operation for several months. I’ve heard from others that initial startup following installation has been a problem, but that’s not been the case here . . . we were fully operational in about a month. BD, as usual, has been very responsive to questions and concerns, and this has helped considerably. At this point, I find the Vantage to be very stable, with sensitivity comparable to other flow cytometers I’ve worked with. Purity and recovery is always very good. Considering sort rate and recovery, our Vantage sorts about 10x faster than our Elite ESPs. Sort setup typically takes about 15 minutes (I can do it in 5, when I’m desperate). So far, I have very little to complain about. BD’s OmniComp (inter-beam compensation) works well, but I think it’s fair to say that this component is still being developed. It does compensate 633 excitation of the CY part of PE-CY tandems very effectively, but not all compensation combinations are possible. You sometimes have to be creative with detector configurations. BD’s expanded Detector Options allow this, and I would recommend including these options to anyone considering a Vantage. I use BD’s CloneCyt – their plate sorting system -- frequently (almost daily) for sort setup and actual plate sorting. Since a recent software upgrade, it has performed flawlessly. The CellQuest software works well and pretty much does everything we need it to do. Again, BD has responded well to the minimal concerns I’ve had. I’m still contemplating data archival. I don’t trust Zips, so eventually I’ll install a CD-Recorder. BD is supposed to be working on a recommendation . . . I would say that generally, the Vantage has performed well, and certainly does all that BD claims. I would recommend it as a definite advantage to any flow sorting operation. Have fun. MAK. -- Mark A. KuKuruga, Managing Director University of Michigan Core Flow Cytometry <http://www.cancer.med.umich.edu/flow_cytometry> phone: 734-647-3216 fax: 734-936-7376 kukuru@umich.edu Andreas Simm wrote: > Hello everybody, > I know that this question appears nearly all three month, but I now > have to decide which high speed sorter we > should buy. As we will have only one apparatus for both, analysis and > sorting, the decision (may be) will not be the > same as if one consider to buy a flow cytometer for sorting purposes > only. > > And as far as I know, almost only MoFlo user answered to the last > queries. > So my questions: > What is the experience with the Altra (Coulter)? I did not hear from > any experience in this list. > What is the experience with the FACS-Vantage? > From the last queries, the MoFlo tends to be the best sorter (but only > users of the MoFlo answered!). What's the > experience with it for analysis purposes only. Is it easy to handle? > Is anybody in the flow community, who can really compare these > sorters? > > Thanks for every statement in advance! > > Andreas > > My address: > > PD Dr. Andreas Simm > Institut fuer Klinische Biochemie und Pathobiochemie > Versbacher Str. 5 > D-97078 Wuerzburg > Germany > > Tel.: +49 931-201-3144 > FAX.: +49 931-201-3153 > E-mail: simm@klin-biochem.uni-wuerzburg.de
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