Patsy,

I have worked here at Ventana for only 2 years and
have been in "field" for 20 so I hope I can be
objective here.

Most of the tissue processors that I have used in my
career have been the Sakura's VIP.(Miles in the
earlier years)  I loved that machine because of it's
reliability and the service contracts were great.
Whether it was the tissue processor or the
coverslipper that went down, someone was always there
within 12 working hours of a phone call. That has
always been a plus in my book.

I demoed a Leica 1050 when I worked at the University
of Chicago and liked it's performance, it's looks, and
it's user friendly menu. I consider a machine user
friendly when you don't need to read the user manual
in order to operate it correctly. Those tissue
processors still really look up to date! I love their
design.

Now Ventana's machines. I had never really used ours
until coming to Tucson and I have had them going non
stop. I have 3 in my lab currently for R and D. The
one on the left is Larry, the one in the middle is
Moe, and Curly is on the right. We name our machines
for reference,when other researchers need to use them.


There are 2 things that I really like about these
machines.

The vacuum and pressure capability. I have heard from
some reputable institutions that this machine
processed tissue more adequately than the others. I
have seen this in my own experience. It has a vacuum
setting that goes up to 15 inches/mercury and a
pressure setting that goes to 7 psi. These pressures
alternate every 3 minutes and that's why our default
program is shorter than most routine processing
programs. This had been confirmed by our service men
out on the field. Many times they will call me and
mention that they were demonstrating a Renaissance TP
and matched the program of the machine in the lab and
the tissue was over processed. We toned down the times
on each station and that solved the problem. So it was
the pressure/vacuum capability that made the
difference.

Another thing I like is the reverse processing
program. This allows you to put "jello blocks" back
into the TP and it automatically takes them down to
formalin and will reprocess the tissue.

I haven't had many problems with my machines here
either. Every once in awhile Moe smacks Curly.

Thanks for the invitation to let vendors speak.
Although I'm not a vendor but work for one, I
appreciate your welcome.

Scott Taft HT(ASCP)
R and D 
Ventana Medical Systems
Tucson, AZ     Where it's cold right now believe it or
not!



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. 
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/