SpectraMax: Max Spectra with Max Trouble

I have been using the SpectraMax M5 since 2011. My experiments primarily involve monitoring the change in tryptophan fluorescence with time, using 96-well black plates. In other words, I carry out equilibrium folding/unfolding titrations of proteins and monitor the process using this instrument.

On the bright side, the instrument has the following positives:
(1) It is easy to use, and even undergraduate students can be trained in no time.
(2) The instrument can record one plate in <15 minutes, which is reasonably fast.
(3) The signal-to-noise is acceptable for a top-read multimode reader monitoring naturally occurring tryptophans in a protein of 2-5uM concentration.
(4) Since the past two-three years, we have been the instrument to record data from 10-15 (96-well) plates every day.

However, the downside outweighs the good:
(1) The system needs very frequent cleaning and maintenance, which is very expensive.
(2) The metal parts appear to have been made of low grade material - we recently found that a metal plate holding the bearing of the read head was broken (chipped off)!
(3) The bearings associated with the movable parts are of poor quality and they will cause problems in the movement of the plate holder (see image for glitch in data due to faulty movable parts).
(4) The optics (filter wheel, cable) are supposed to last at least for 10 years (that is what we were told at the time of purchase). However, they wear off in ~5 years, even with moderate usage (~10 recordings/ day X 6 days of the week) and need replacement, costing $10000 for each purchase.
(5) Other parts also go bad very frequently (including electronic parts) even when the instrument is kept in a clean room with uninterrupted power supply. Our facility has other spectroscopic instruments with moving parts in the same room as the M5. We have had no issues with any of them, but for the M5.

Overall, it is a risky purchase - the instrument works very well. The moment it breaks down, you can be certain that you will face issues every 3-6 months!