Best Swing-Bucket Centrifuge for the Money

February 29, 2016

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Research
Laboratory Technician

Overall

Performance

Ease-of-Optimization

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Company:

Eppendorf

Product Name:

5810 R Centrifuge

Catalog Number:

5810R

Our lab performs a good deal of tissue culture work, and we're often spinning down cells with our swing-bucket centrifuge. We chose to purchase a swing-bucket centrifuge from Eppendorf because they're extremely reliable and user-friendly, and we've seen how long this centrifuge model lasts in other labs.

Experimental Design and Results Summary

Application

Centrifugation

Starting Material

Cell Suspensions

Protocol Overview

Pre-refrigerate the centrifuge as needed, and be sure to balance the swing-buckets. For pelleting cells that are in suspension, I generally spin down for 3-5 minutes at 200 rcf. For pelleting bacteria, I spin down at 2000-3000 rcf for at least 5 minutes. It's best to keep the ramping speed at a maximum for quick spins, but for more sensitive pellets you should lower the ramping speed to a minimum level of 1 and be ready to wait a long time.

Tips

Be careful with the lid - it's really heavy and can easily hurt you if it slams shut.

Results Summary

Our lab is able to consistently pellet cells and bacteria with this centrifuge. Most importantly, we are able to do so at 4C without the centrifuge heating up the samples at all. The few times that we've done sedimentation experiments, the reproducibility of this centrifuge has been incredible because of the myriad of settings that are available. I'm yet to be disappointed by this centrifuge.

Features Summary

Refrigerated, adjustable accel/decel speeds, interchangeable swing buckets

Additional Notes

Be sure to empty the catch tray on occasion.

Image Gallery

Summary

The Good

Reproducible, tons of settings to customize your centrifuging needs

The Bad

Huge, slow to reach refrigerated temperature, rather loud.

The Bottom Line

This is the best swing-bucket centrifuge on the market that is at a reasonable price. It'll last forever if maintained correctly, and it's also quite safe. I highly recommend this Eppendorf 5810R Swing-Bucket Centrifuge for labs that need to centrifuge large volumes of liquids (5-50mL).

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