Over the years, we’ve posted several articles that provide tips on purchasing the right thermal cycler for your needs. We’ve talked about sample format, throughput, portability and footprint, as well as ease of use. We’ve talked to vendors to get their perspectives on what to consider when buying a thermal cycler. We’ve reported on the need to investigate the type and number of consumables that could be accommodated (48-, 96-, or 384-well plates and maybe even microscope slides, for instance). We've even delved into the importance of heated lids to resolve condensation issues, and discussed optional thermoconductive blocks made of silver or gold to boost ramp speed.
This year we decided to share recommendations and tips from bench scientists who regularly use thermal cyclers (or thermocyclers or PCR machines as they are alternatively called). Biocompare boasts a bevy of product reviews from our product investigator team and excerpts from relevant thermal cycler reviews are shared below. To see the full review, click on the link within the review summary.
Product reviews
Irene Lew, a research associate at the J. David Gladstone Institutes, said the Bio-Rad S1000 Thermal Cycler “is dependable and makes reproducible strong bands. This model comes with a variety of functions but the best one is being reliable.” She had two tips for users, “Do not leave the thermal cycler overnight at 4 degrees. This causes condensation to fill the blocks. Make sure the thermal cycler has enough airflow around.”
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Alexander Raymour, post-doctoral researcher at University of Maryland, College Park, recommended the Bio-Rad T100 Thermal Cycler in a review last year. “The features are quite desirable, having a touchscreen and flexible thermal cycling parameter options. There is more than enough space to save protocols for every member in the lab, and the footprint is small enough to fit in any lab.” His tip to Biocompare readers, “Make sure to optimize ramp rates for your assays.”
Wei Xu, graduate student at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, was similarly enthusiastic about the T100 in a review posted last month. “We currently have two of these instruments, and they have performed very robustly and reliably over the years. We ended up purchasing the same instrument again after using the first one. The user interface and such is very easy to use and the touchscreen helps a lot.”
Feit Kink, a graduate student at Bielefeld University, speaks highly of the Veriti Thermal Cycler from Thermo Fisher Scientific. “This reliable thermocycler has controlled heating blocks with separately controlled lids. It is available as basic or fast cycler, in various formats. Touchscreen for easy operation.”
Three years ago, this same product, the Veriti Thermal Cycler, was hailed as “fantastic” by Michaela Rekow, a research technologist at Medical College of Wisconsin. “This is a great thermal cycler, we use ours almost constantly throughout each day. We never had any trouble and in fact recently purchased a second one.” She just had one caveat, “Double check saved protocols before running the reaction, every now and then the machine doesn't save an updated protocol correctly.”
Oscar Smits, technician at GenDx, likes the ProFlex from Thermo Fisher Scientific. “We have been using several of these PCR machines with a great ease of use. With all the PCR machines I've used over the years this is one of the easiest to use. Very easy to create several programs and share these with other machines. A very clear screen and an easy to use menu.” He recommends using “the touchscreen without gloves,” noting he had a hard time with them on.
Sadaf Atarod, postdoctoral associate at Boston University, gave the Eppendorf Mastercycler Nexus X2 five stars. “This PCR machines allows researchers to run two independent PCR reactions. This equipment was recommended by colleagues. Easy to operate and set the cycles.” The bottom line, according to Atarod, “very intuitive PCR machine, great for busy labs.”
Jake, a graduate student from University of California San Francisco, was generally happy with the Eppendorf Mastercycler pro, but was concerned about maintenance. “These are fast cycling PCR machines and the user interface to set up the programs is really nice. However, they seem to break fairly often compared to other machines.”
Vinoth Sankarapani, senior research assistant at BasePair, recommended the MultiGene Mini from Labnet International, saying “We bought this thermocycler to run 24/7 and it does the job, it’s not fancy with touchscreens/graphics!! Does the job and that's the best part of it!!”
R.J., a post-doctoral at University of California San Diego, recommends the Agilent Mx3000P qPCR system. “MX3000p is my choice for qRT-PCR machine owing to its speed, and reliable and reproducible results.” RJ, however, found “the software a bit difficult to understand for a beginner.”
Dennis Holt, research scientist at DNA Diagnostic, recommends the Mic qPCR Cycler from Bio Molecular Systems. He said they found the “instrument easy to use and the software intuitive.” His caveat, “The tube format presents some limitations in general pipetting.”
This is just a sampling of thermal cycler reviews from Biocompare’s product investigator team. A complete list of thermal cycler reviews can be found here.
Additional information
Finding the right thermal cycler for your lab depends largely on your intended applications, the space you have available, and your budget. As part of your purchasing journey we encourage you to check out our independent product reviews as well as technology overview articles and product listings and product comparison functionality. Make your next thermal cycler purchase an informed one.
Top Viewed 384-well Thermal Cyclers on Biocompare*
*From August 2017 to July 2018
**Dimensions are in inches, WxDxH