Access 2 Immunoassay System by Beckman Coulter

"Purchased a new Beckman Access 2 in 2020 to assay reproductive hormones in a small fertility clinic, replacing an Immulite 1000. The Immulite 1000 lasted over 15 years. It was a reliable workhorse unlike the new Beckman Access 2. The Beckman Access 2 is NOT a truly random access model. It will not allow any new sample to be added until it is done with whatever process it is running. The machine is not environmentally friendly, it must be kept running at all times to keep the refrigeration. It is noisy. One critical mechanical part broke within a week after installation. It is unreliable. Every few months, some mechanical part breaks with no good explanation. Results of the assay at times are dangerously faulty. QC is regularly out of range, requiring repeat calibration and re-running the QC, i.e. increasing the actual cost of running an assay. Technical support is of no help. Their algorithm for technical support is repeat QC with newly reconstituted QC materials. If QC is still out, recalibrate and repeat QC. In other words, keep repeating calibration and QC until the QC is in. That speaks for the imprecision of the assay. Yearly service contract is expensive, with an official price tag of over $18,000 a year. With unhelpful technical support and no weekend or holiday field technician available, essentially the service contract is the price of two annual preventive maintenance. With the machine being so unreliable, one cannot skip the service contract. So the buyer is forced to cough up an obscene amount of money every year for a service contract to a seller that sells a machine that promises to malfunction. Think of the absurdity and inequity here."

"So many tests can be performed with this instrument."

"Accuracy of result, Value for money"

"Equipment performs well with sample processing within TAT, equipment servicing is good. Abnormal results are given accurately."

"The most affordable alternative to standardize hsTroponin in a large health system of 11 hospital clinical laboratories who have not standardized chemistry equipment. The support received from the vendor assisting with education for providers, nursing and laboratory staff was extremely valuable and well received. Implementation was successful."

"We are able to have multiple different assays loaded and ready for testing everyday."

"Product is extremely good but working expenses are huge for this machine. Kindly work on this area to make it economically profitable or customers in the diagnostic field."

"We needed an analyzer with a good test menu to round out our laboratories offerings. In particular we needed Thyroglobulin, and the Thyroglobulin antibodies. This fit our needs. We were able to run these tests with SHBG and DHEA-S. It has been a great addition to our lab. The sales team is excellent with great support after the sale.They are always checking in to see how things are going. The set up and training staff were amazing too. We have had a great experience with this."

"This product is an easy to use instrument. It has the capability of analyzing multiple analytes simultaneously. One can also load the instrument while in running mode which is very effective for preventing a bottle neck."