Pipettes are the most important component of research involving the movement of liquids. Inaccurate pipettes can make the life of a researcher horrible. Hence, choosing pipettes from a reliable source is crucial. One looks for accuracy, precision, reliability, durability, robustness as well as an established product in the market. Gilson pipettes, in my view, have the best price-to-quality ratio and they have been established for more than 30 years.
Gilson has a range of pipettes starting from the most cost-effective P series single-channel pipettes to the very costly Pipetman® Ultra and Pipetman Concept®. Our lab has been using Pipetman® P pipettes for more than 8 years and we have never had reason to stop using them. The Pipetman® P are fully adjustable, air displacement pipettes with “dry seal” technology which avoids using grease for air tightness. Gilson takes care of the complete range of liquid handling, from 0.2 ul to 10ml. (P2 for 0.2-2 ul, P10 for 1-10 ul, P20 for 2-20 ul, P100 for 20-100 ul , P200 for 50-200 ul, P1000 for 200-1000 ul , P5000 for 1-5 ml, P10ml for 1-10ml. The tip holder and ejector are autoclavable. The push button assembly is unique in Pipetman® as it makes changing the volumes while wearing gloves easier.
We need a pipet for every experiment, whether in vivo or in vitro. Our work involves the study of cancer progression in an in vivo rat model; we are investigating protein molecular markers that could predict the onset of disease. The differences could be the absence/presence of a protein or an increase/decrease in the levels of a protein. In the case of an increase/ decrease, accurate biochemistry is essential. For this purpose, accurate estimation of protein, loading on to gels and performing Western blots are important and sensitive to small changes in volume. We perform a large amount of protein estimation by a modified Lowry method. For this purpose, we pipet around 80 different tubes at a time. Here, Gilson Pipetman® have proven to be accurate in all respects. The complete pipette set which we bought 3 years ago still has not been repaired even once. The 1 ml pipette still gives a similar reading on the weighing balance as it gave 3 years back.
However, every cost effective pipet has some disadvantages. As can be understood when handling many samples at a time, there is a great amount of stress on my hand using Pipetman®. Also, in handling such large numbers of samples, occasionally, there is a little shift in the pipet volume because of the absence of a locking system. The complete pipet is not autoclavable and hence, cell line and bacterial work are generally not performed with these pipettes and on the rare occasion when we do use them, it is with hesitation. For this purpose, we use the fully autoclavable Finnpipettes. However, Gilson also has complete solutions for such problems with pipettes of little higher cost. Choosing Finnpipettes was also not a bad decision as they still work fine after autoclaving. Pipettes from Lab Systems and Amersham Biosciences are also used in our lab, however, nothing performs like Gilson in long run.
I recommend to any lab, whether new or old, these Gilson pipettes which are accurate, precise, robust and cost effective.