There are several different brands of shakers available on the market, each with different features and price ranges. Buying a shaker depends not only on the investment that one desires to make, but also on the lab demands (i.e. routine bacterial cultures or suspension cultures of eukaryotic cells, etc). Our lab purchased the Sanyo Orbital Shaker for routine culture of bacterial cells. The shaker is very silent and has a nice design that blends in well with the other sophisticated instruments we own.
The shaker occupies a good amount of space for obvious reasons. At any given time, the shaker can accommodate six 2L and six 1L flasks, for simultaneous culture. The shaker can be programmed to revolve at speeds up to 400 rpm in increments of 10 rpm. It is provided with a well-designed, firm base that makes it stable at the higher speeds. A temperature range from 4 to 60 C can be set for culture growth in a 1 C increment for uniform heating or cooling in the chamber. Higher and lower temperature ranges can be specified through manual presets in order to avoid accidental increases/decreases when the shaker is left unmonitored. This feature specifically helps in culturing slow-growing bacteria, where the shaker is required to operate for several weeks and constant monitoring is not desirable.
The rotation can be either manually controlled or programmed to operate for a specified time period. Up to three easily written programs can be stored and recalled with one touch. Parameters like shaker on/off, shaking speed, duration, temperature and alarm upon completion, can be set. Old programs are overwritten when new ones are entered.
One good features of the instrument is the efficient and rapid cooling of the shaker temperature when required. The shaker and temperature controls turn off automatically when the lid is opened to avoid damage to the refrigeration unit and the heating element. In the event of a power failure, an alarm will sound upon restored power, and the program restarts automatically. Cleaning and maintenance of the shaker are also very easy.
These features make the Sanyo Orbital Shaker highly desirable for a wide range of microbiology and cell biology applications. I have been using the shaker for over six months and its performance still is as good as it was when we first bought it. I would highly recommend it for any biological laboratory.
Vikas Jain
Research Scholar
Indian Institute of Science
India