CyBio Well Vario by Analytik Jena GmbH+Co. KG

"We have had our Cybi-Well Vario for more than 10 years now. It used to be our go-to instrument for library reformatting from 96-well to 384-well microplates. It takes just a couple of minutes to switch between the 96-channel and 384-channel heads which is very useful. As an accurate pipettor, it is our best in the lab. You ask for 2uL transfer, and that is what it gives you with great CVs. It is also very dependable. As one of our older instruments, we have a version that has a maximum pipetting volume of 25uL on the 384-well head. We find this to be limiting compared to some of the more recent pipetting platforms out there. It appears that they now have a 60uL head option, which would be recommended. Our other system can transfer up to 70uL with its 384-well head, and that has made it more attractive for many applications. One thing that I particularly like about the Vario is that it is user-friendly. We can have users of the facility use it, because there is little chance of damaging the unit when pressing on the tips. On our other platform, if the tips are not aligned properly, it can severely damage the head. On the Vario, that is not an issue. We used to be able to get 3rd party tips (Thermo/Matrix) for the instrument but I am not sure if these are still available. They were kind of expensive. PROS: (1) It is very accurate and precise (2) Very dependable instrument (3) Easy to use (4) Hard (but not impossible) to break. CONS: (1) 25uL pipetting volume head is quite limiting (2) It's a little slow (3) Tips are/were somewhat expensive. If you are looking for a dependable pipetting platform to run day in and day out, this is a good option."