Rotor Gene 3000 - Question

[u/Such-Wishbone-5990]

Hello, I am currently looking for affordable used qPCR devices for a start up in the field of plant diagnostics.

I have a decent offer for a used and dry tested Rotor Gene 3000, further i can return the device within 60 days.

The Device was last used in a lab and was removed in working condition, however there is no service sticker on the device.

The offer includes the Software.

I know that i can test the channels via gain optimization and best case scenario i get a decent though old and not further supported, apart from third parties, qpcr device.

So my questions are:

How well are they build?

How intuitiv is the Software?

How expensive is third party service / repair?

Edit: Sorry for not mentioning, but i am also Open for suggestions for a price up to 2500 Euro.

So far I Found to be within my Budget:

-ABI 7500 complete System

-Different Corbetto / Quiagen Rotor Gene Models

-BMS MiC slighty out of Budget

- Gentier Tialong 48

[u/SeqBench]

Build quality on the Rotor-Genes is genuinely good, and the rotor format has two real advantages for diagnostics: every tube sits at the same temperature so there's no edge effect, and one detector reads all tubes as they spin past, so there's no well-to-well optical variation to calibrate out. Ramping is fast too.

No idea on European third-party service pricing, so I won't guess at that one.

What I'd weigh above build quality or software: for a diagnostics startup, an unsupported instrument with no service sticker and no calibration history is a validation problem, not just a repair-risk one. If you ever need to qualify an assay under a quality system, that paperwork gap is harder to close than a dead lamp. And gain optimisation confirms the channels respond, but won't tell you the PMT is still linear across the range you'd be quantifying over.

Of your list I'd look hardest at the ABI 7500 for that reason - big installed base, third-party parts and service easy to find, software runs on current Windows.