This Generation of Beckman Coulter Microcentrifuges Could be Better

University of Wisconsin
Medical Physics
Postdoctoral Fellow

Overall

Performance

Ease-of-Optimization

What do these ratings mean?
Write a Review

Company:

Beckman Coulter

Product Name:

Microfuge 20R

Catalog Number:

B30147

In our research, we require microcentrifuges for spinning down samples, concentrating samples, and cleaning nanoparticle samples. As these steps are vital to our research efforts, we require highly efficient microcentrifuges. In addition, we also require units with temperature control between -10 to 40 degrees Celsius. We chose this product because they offered a buy, get one free deal for our lab. We were originally going to purchase one from Eppendorf.

Experimental Design and Results Summary

Application

Spinning down samples (protein, nanoparticles, antibodies) or concentrating samples

Starting Material

None

Protocol Overview

The system is not incredibly user friendly. After placing your sample inside the system, press the menu button to go through the setup. First, the speed will flask (first in RPM). Next, it will go to the time before concluding with the temperature. For time, you will have to press the up and down arrows. The longer you hold the buttons down, the faster the time will go up or down. This takes a while to get used to as it is hard to pick your time using these buttons. Once you have selected your conditions, press the start button. After the run, a light clicking noise will occur indicating the run is complete and you can open the door.

Tips

Make sure to pre-cool the system before adding protein-based samples. The pre-cool takes about 20 minutes to reach 4 degrees Celsius.

Results Summary

The instrument works well and we have never had any problems with our samples. The issues that we have with the instrument arise from how the machine was manufactured. It is not user friendly and requires a lot of time to get used to, as opposed to our previous system from Eppendorf.

Features Summary

The company offers great and competitive prices for their products.

Additional Notes

This company makes the best larger centrifuges, but their smaller microfuges still need some optimization.

Image Gallery

Summary

The Good

Price

The Bad

Not user friendly, time buttons, pre-cool time requirement, size

The Bottom Line

This is not the best microfuge on the market. I would recommend looking into other microfuges before selecting this one.

Join the discussion