Nancy,

Our lab has four Microm microtomes - they are very reliable machines
requiring very little in the way of maintenance.

We recently bought a new cryostat after much deliberation and a few trials -
the Microm Cryo-Star HM560 is everything a cryostat should be - we just love
it. It cuts beautiful sections very easily and has some great features too -
programmable and easy to use, easy to clean....The  seperate refrigeration
systems are very good and fast, the automatic approach system is great (but
a little slow for an urgent frozen section), the automatic cutting window
and associated vacuum system and anti-roll plate makes cutting a "breeze"
and the cabinet is not cluttered with trimmings (making it a wee bit safer
for infectious cases...)....should I keep on singing it's praises? Heated
armrests - a gimmick, I know but great when the fingers get a bit frosty
after sitting at it for a while. We want another one to replace our aging
Leica's - maybe next year....

Andrew Kennedy

PS They are a bit on the pricey side but well worth every cent of it!

-----Original Message-----
From: Nancy71149@aol.com 
To: histonet@pathology.swmed.edu 
Date: Tuesday, 5 March 2002 12:05
Subject: Cryostats


Our lab will be purchasing a new cryostat in the next few months.One unit
that we are going to demo is the Microm cryostat. I would like to get some
feed-back from other labs that have a Microm cryostat, or microtome. ( We
are
also going to demo a microtome). Our pathologists have tried a new Leica
cryostat, but wanted to also try some other instruments. Any information
would be helpful.

Thanks

Nancy T.
SFHHC