We have had the Sakura for 10 years.  It rarely has broken down and is usually back up within hours from our in house Bio Med Repair crew.  I can't remember the last time we had to coverslip by hand.  I hope I didn't just jinx myself.

The issue with the tape coming off is true.  We didn't notice anything until recently, and it has yet to be a real problem involving cases we need.  Our slides were moved off site to a storage area that was supposed to be climate controlled, but it really isn't.  Only after this have we started noticing a problem with old slides.  Also Sakura really stresses keeping them in xylene long enough before coverslipping and using a larger amount of xylene on the coverslipper than their original recommendations.

For ease of use and reliability you can't beat it in my opinion.  Ask me a few years down the road, and if I end up recutting a lot of old cases my answer might be different though.

Ross Stapf