Bravo Automated Liquid Handling Platform by Agilent Technologies

"BRAVO 96/384 Liquid handlers are great. They are good with precision pipetting. However some structural enhancements such as chiller are fixed to certain positions on the worktable that makes customization for scaling up operations difficult unlike worktables of bigger liquid handlers such as Tecans/Hamiltons. I have also recently faced issues in ordering specialty labware and adapters from Agilent to be supported on the BRAVO. At which point the hand off and the delivery of the product got delayed by 2 months that affected operational work. I would have loved this to be a smooth service as most other vendors."

"The bravo is great small platform. Vworks is a powerful software and simplifies liquid dilutions and additions."

"We got good results, we use large number of Bravo machines in our facility."

"The Bravo we have in our lab have 2 different functions: label plates and automated liquid handling. 1- Label: We can label single plates or stacks of plates with the barcode 2-Liquid handling: we can transfer accurate volume down to 1 ul/well in 384 and 1536. We can transfer solution from 384 to 1536, perform serial dilution. We can reuse the tips if we use the same solution but most of what we've been doing we do not reuse the tips."

"The Bravo has added a lot of value to our workflows. Results are very consistent and our hands-on time has been reduced dramatically. Setting up a run is incredibly easy and the knowledge base is a great resource for troubleshooting and creating new protocols. The technical support we have received since installing the instrument has been top notch. If I can't solve a problem on my own, the field applications specialists and support staff are always there to help."

"This is a grade-A instrument. It has very high precision pipetting. Not quite as versatile as instruments that have a span-8 pipetting head, or as instruments with bigger decks, but that has yet to be an issue for us. Can pick up any arbitrary rectangle of pipette tips (including a single tip) and thus approximate the versatility of a span-8 head. Can stack plates and pipette from the top of a stack to free up deck space. Planning pipetting operations with less than a full head of tips takes work to determine where physical collisions would happen. Robot is not ideal for hit picking due to speed (clocks around 35 seconds per hit-pick operation when changing tips between operations, largely due to slow and precise pipetting; could maybe get it down to 20 seconds per operation if less careful). Can set just about every parameter possible for pipetting, including acceleration (not just speed) in and out of wells."

"The Bravo Automated Liquid Handling Platform has proven to be a solid work horse for our company. The Vworks software is very intuitive to use and the Bravo itself requires little to no maintenance. It is one of the most reliable pieces of equipment in our HTP screening lab."

"We have 4 Bravos in our lab. 3 of them are integrated into large robotic HTS systems, so they do a lot of pipetting every day. We have had very few problems and very little need for service over the years. 5 stars for ease of use, 3 of those for the software and the last two for the easy removal of the pipetting head, making it easy to switch head between units switching from a 96 head to a 384 head in a few minutes. The small footprint and easy to access deck makes the Bravo easy to integrate with different robotics. We have not had a need for a lot of after sales services, that's why I cannot give it a 5 star rating. The price tag is quite high for such a small instrument, so it should only have 3 stars in the value for money category, but I gave it an extra for the very high reliability of the product."

"Very easy to use and program. Accurate dispensing and cost effective. Small foot print and ideal for research environment. Can be easily used for screening and assay development."

"Easy to use, good after sales support. The labware is excellent, but expensive. Cons: programming the protocols could simpler without Java Scripts."

"The Bravo liquid handing platform is very reliable and easy to use. The software is well developed and user friendly."

"I used the Agilent Bravo system extensively for the better part of 2 years for high throughput screening applications. The programming interface (VWorks) was intuitive and easy to program, and the deck was flexible and useful for all types of applications. Our system was integrated with a plate labeller, plate sealer, and a stacking system, and there were no issues whatsoever with integration or failure of drivers between the different systems. The heads were easily interchangeable between 96 and 384 well, and could easily accommodate a peltier system for chilling in a location on the deck. I would definitely recommend this system for small molecule applications, and expect that it would be similarly useful in other high throughput applications as well."

"The Bravo system has a nice footprint which is great for labs with little free space.  The pipetting heads are easy to remove and replace when needed. The software interface is not very user friendly and can be difficult to navigate.  My biggest disappointment with the unit is that the pipette channels are difficult to QC and tend to fail quite often.  Agilent has made it simple to replace channels that fail, which is quite nice, however, the frequency at which I have to replace the channels is too high.  Improvements on the pipetting head channel robustness as well as a better software interface would make this product better.  I would recommend this product for simple one off transfers, but not for serial dilutions as the precision goes down the more tips are used."

"Easy to program and integrate into existing systems. I like the way you can change specifications during the run with the Vworks software. It is easy to change the bores on the aspiration head. However, I don't like the wash station very much- the water flow is too restrictive. "

"The form feature of the Bravo makes it easy to use without confusing the user with the detailed programming. Our continued support since purchasing this equipment has been excellent. Whilst the Bravo is very expensive, the fact that we have had minimal down time is priceless."

"Love the Bravo- good consistency, gives great consistency in reagent dispensing for in vitro assays. Tips are very expensive, a high price for consumables. Cost of instruments is prohibitive for non-industrial groups."

"Pipetting position is very accurate. The volume transfer is good. It is easy to apply to multiple functional assay."

"Short model fits into a tissue culture hood- great for liquid handling in a sterile environment."

"I am still running old BenchWorks software which has glitches but can usually work around. New U Works software is supposed to be bullet-proof but cost of upgrade is high."

"Software is a little hard to use. you must start at the the very beginning of the protocol everytime- cannot start mid-process."

"2nd Agilent main item we've purchased. New software- good reliable bench liquid handler."

"1st system in australia- good product that has performed above expectations."

"A solid product."

"Based on the last version (prior to v10 software)- it had a lot of bugs."

"Customer service is poor."

"An easy to program instrument with great service."

"A great piece of equipment. I'm not sure how Agilent's take over of Velocity11 will affect the service."

"This is a nice machine but the user interface is not really people friendly."

"An easy to program machine."