Echo® 500 Series Liquid Handlers by Labcyte Inc.

"It is easy to use, reliable, flexible, fantastic! It is essential for our workflows in HTS."

"The Echo Liquid Handler has completely transformed the way I carry out my experiments. I work with such small volumes that other liquid handlers are unable to move quickly and accurately enough, so I would spend hours a day pipetting by hand with multichannel pipets. What took me 3 hours by hand now takes 20 minutes on the Echo, so I can do literally 10x as much science in one day. Furthermore, the ability to transfer nanoliter-scale volumes changes the way I design my experiments, giving me more flexibility for handling ligands with solubility limitations."

"The Labcyte Echo is an amazing piece of equipment that adds accurate liquid transfer to our analysis. By eliminating user pipette error, we have found that using the Echo not only saves time and tips, but most importantly adds another level of accuracy to our assays. We love it and do not know what we would do without it. The aftercare is also the new standard in customer care. As expected, the technicians and sales reps bring their high level of expertise. In addition, they make themselves available for any assistance, answering questions and providing background material to assist even the most junior scientist use the Echo for new applications."

"Instrument itself works well. Labcyte engineers are also good to work with. Consumables are tied to equipment, this makes the plates etc rather expensive."

"The plate transfer software we ha bought is immediate and easy to use; we are currently training new users and receiving the same positive feedback Using it you realize also how many possibility there are to re-design your plate layout and also the experiment layout"

"Very cost effective. We save a lot on tips and it is very precise."

"Easy to learn. User friendly software. As Echo is a nL dispenser I am able to save reagents. No carryover effect. Getting quick help from Labcyte support team."

"Echo 555 is a very powerful instrument for nono-liter liquid transfer, whatever it was applied in the compound screening or RT-PCR. the software is designed very friendly and ease to use with which you could accomplish all kinds of your experiment format. Moreover, the after sales care are very effective and the maintenance is arranged periodically and the engineer is very knowlegeable. Regarding to the value for Money, I think it's high and I'm greatful to make the decision to have this powerful equipment which could make the science easier."

"We study the drug discovery by using the echo tool. We can save lots of time since A small volume can be dispense by the echo tool."

"The system is well suited for serving a variety of formats. I am very satisfied with the usage method and hit-picking program. However, the bottle rack that results from the screening is also in the Echo system. I can see that the speed is slowed to transfer accurate volume, but I feel a lot of frustration because of the speed while screening."

"This tissue sample liquid handler is a god-send due to the many samples of a varied nature that we process. I am impressed with the feasibility in the use of this product. Compared to our old one, this sampler takes the difficulty out of getting what you need to be used in the next step of the analysis."

"Easiest install we've ever had! Field Engineer for install was extremely knowledgeable and nice to deal with. On-site training was with Apps Engineer was fantastic as well. Extremely user friendly software. Started using the instrument at day one with great results. Excited to be a part of the Labcyte community."

"The Echo is relatively simple to use. Our instrument is fairly new, but up to now we had no problem."

"Echo acoustic dispense is a game changer. It allows for easier conduct of high throughput screening campaigns at it eliminates usual liquid handling processes. nanoliter amounts of compounds allows for resourcing of an otherwise minute amount of compound inventory to multiple assays. HTS screen results as well as IC50 determinations are robust and repeatable."

"Reliable, consistent, great service support, high throughput"

"Excellent product. Great value for money. Very responsive service and support."

"We have started to develop the application of the Labcyte acoustic platform since 2005 and have since deployed the technology in multiple discipline area of research. The predominant use of the platform benefit from the non-contact dispensing advantage of the platform and we pioneered the adoption of this technology to dispense DMSO-solubilised small molecules compounds and biologics therapeutics into cell-based assay when culture tumour cells required to be kept in growth media throughout the assay. The technology enables zero-carry overdosing of test agents into the assays with less than 2% CV high inter-experiment reproducibly. Once the workflow is validated, the system is easy to use with short set-up time and highly reliable. Further development has resulted in the Echo system becoming indispensable in drug combination studies where we routinely perform 1000s of drug combination pairs in a high throughput tumour cell-based profiling campaigns. Since then, the system has been used for antisense/PcR HTS cell-based screening and other bespoke assay development. The echo acoustic platform is a versatile non-contact re-formatting format which will help customers develop an efficient workflow in their applications with significant reagent & resource saving to be a high cost/benefit investment."

"Excellent bespoke piece of equipment that is relatively easy to use when you know how. The servicing and aftersales are expensive."

"When we initially purchased the Echo 8 years ago I was skeptical of its utility due to the need to use Echo qualified plates for the source material. However the Echo has proven its value many times over, despite the initial cost of rearraying our small molecule libraries into Echo plates. It's accuracy and precision is unmatched at low nanoliter volumes, we made the initial investment back in savings in tips, plus there are a number of other advantages, such as increased library integrity, avoiding the molecule binding to plastic, or plastic leaching."

"This product is really easy to use. Being able to dispense small volumes has helped take science to another level. Now i work in 1536 format and save so much on reagents since now I can work with much smaller volumes. The echo has had great results for my experiment, even for confirmation."

"I work in a screening center, ECHO is one of my favorite instruments. ECHO is very powerful, it can transfer 2.5 nl of reagent in DMSO or aqueous solution . There are three programs tailor for your need: dose response, cherry pick, and plate reformat. Plate reformat is very easy to use, you can randomly pick a well from your source plate and transfer the reagent to your the position you want in the destination plate. At the end of the transferring, ECHO also generates a report."

"The echo is very easy to use and provides very reproducible results. We have miniaturized our NGS library prep 100X and process over 1000 libraries daily. The hardest part is onboarding new reagents, which we constantly do. Labcyte support could be drastically improved to provide more support on optimizing new liquids."

"Easy to use, excellent software and integration with Access platform, very stable system with little down time. Labcyte support very efficient and quick to respond"

"No need for tips. We save so much more of our precious compound stocks with the ability to dispense nL amounts."

"The reproducibility and precision are great, when you work with the Echo. Furthermore, each problem was solved fast by the support."

"This is a special equipment, which is really expensive, but the other hand easy to use and reliable. I am using as a costumer frequently at a facility, so need to rent. The service is really good."

"Intersting alternative for low volumes and fragment screen crystallization. However very sensitive instrument and hard for routine."

"Having spent years doing over 2 million transfers manually, this machine was a godsend. So easy to use and when there are issues Labcyte are second to none in their service."

"The Echo 500 series is an easy-to-use device that allows you to prepare test plates with curves of compounds or compounds at different concentrations very easily. Its 3 programs of plate reforming, picking and dose-response cover the different possibilities that can arise in the tests obtaining a very good reproducibility in the results. Its price can be considered adequate in relation to the possibilities of work that it offers, being able to improve the price corresponding to the maintenance of the equipment. In general, it can be considered an advisable instrument to facilitate the work of the researchers since it allows a saving of time, reagents and fungible material, while offering an excellent reproducibility of the results."

"The Echo is a valuable tool for nanoliter scale drug delivery directly into high density assay plates. It saves the time, consumables, dead volume, and automation required to make intermediate drug dilution plates. This opens possibilities for ultra miniaturization as well as the ability to perform complex cross-titrations for mechanistic studies in 1536 well and smaller plate formats. Effectively eliminates the need for intermediate drug dilution plates facilitating miniaturization, saving time and money. Once a user becomes adjusted to this new paradigm of touchless drug (or nucleic acid, etc) dispense, the software is easy to learn. Customer service is friendly and knowledgeable. When needed, technician support visits are generally available within a few days to a week."

"We prepare all the plates for our personalized medicine test and we have greatly improved the results, which are much more reliable and reproducible. We are surer of the results that we obtain thanks to its great precision. It is easy to use and anyone can use it with minimal training. Also, its speed allows to get a lot of work."

"The arrival of the Echo in the lab allowed us to miniaturize our assay and we are now using almost only 384 well plates. We often use the Echo to dispense compounds or siRNA we need to perform our High Content Screening assays. The ability of the Echo to dispense nanoliters has forced us to reduce the volumes in our assays, helping us to save reagents, compounds/RNA libraries and plasticware. Integrated into a robotic system, the Echo also allow us to perform many experiment a day with an average time of 6 minutes to prepare a full 384 well plate (250 nl of samples and controls). The Echo has also changed our way of doing Dose Response Curve by eliminating the intermediate dilution. The only negative points regarding the Echo are its need to get compressed air, vacuum pump and water to work... such a heavy installation for a device that small..."

"I think the major goal of this product is the easy of use of the software and the very low volume dispensing achievement without tip or plastic waste. A special attention is required every week to maintain the water fill required from the instrument but not very difficult. The only limitation is the cost /availability of the source plates."

"Despite very high acquisition costs a very robust and reliable device. Precision and speed acceptable for HTS, the cost of CPD storage plates are too high."

"Accurate, consistent droplet dispensing. Great field support."

"The addition of the ECHO access station has revolutionized our lab. We use it to for high throughput assembly of PCR plates. It has reduced our assembly time from 8 hours to 2. It also removed all the contamination seen from our previous liquid handlers. The ease of use of the ECHO and the ability to run large amounts of plates at a time creates a large savings in time. Since it is able to manipulate small amounts of liquid volume it also saves a lot on reagent costs. Also, Labcyte has the best field technicians out there. They are fast and reliable and make sure all repairs and fixes are done in a timely manner."

"We have an Echo550 running for about 4 months now. It is very easy to use, especially with the Plate Reformat software. Transfer of DMSO and water-based solutions proceeds smoothly, accurate and the results are very reproducible. The Dose Response software is somewhat more complicated and can be optimized. For example, the input of different sample names and concentrations is not very straightforward and instead of filling in the desired final concentrations you have to fill in the transfer volume. But apart from that it works very well and we can obtain nice dose response curves.

The Echo is integrated in the Labcyte Access Base work station, which provides us with a user-friendly screening set-up. The software is very intuitive and works 95% of the time without any trouble.

Maintenance of the Echo means replacing the water every week and cleaning the filter and vacuum connector, which is rather easy and take only about 10 minutes.

So far, the response time and trouble shooting is excellent. Since we have only been using the system for a few months now we are still in the warranty so I cannot say anything about this outside the warranty period.

Overall, we really like this machine, it is easy to use, does not require a lot of maintenance and gives excellent results. I would recommend it to others. "

"We use the Echo for various applications throughout our HTS pipeline. It has a simplistic design, which makes it very user friendly."

"Easy to use. Very economical, both in term of consumable (no tips) and in term of sample volume. Great support team, always a fast answer."

"It is very easy to use and low maintenance. The service is the best I ever seen for over 15 years in high throughput screening field. If there is anything need to be improved, I think it will be the missing droplet in a few wells occasionally."

"The Echo 500 Series Liquid Handles use a software tool for programming that is very user friendly."

"Echo is very easy to use except when errors occur. However, errors do not occur often at all and if there are any errors the care is very quick and friendly."

"The equipment looks easy to use. I'm still thinking that isn't ready for PCR protocols. The dead volume and limited source plates, don't convince me. Sometimes the registered volume ins't accurate."

"pros
- very fast preparation of samples
- very precise and accurate results
- maintenance is at a low level
- low volumes required
- contactless technology

cons
- expensive consumables
- liquid classes are limited and not accessible at customer level
- options for long term control of the accuracy of instrumentation is limited "

"Our Echo555 has contributed to greatly reducing experiment cost by downscaling reaction volumes. Additionally, it has reduced experiment time to a great extent. I would definitely recommend this instrument has a great long term research investment."

"The Echo 555 is easy to use after the training, and no need for more engineer support to generate your own protocol. Please enhance the after sales service in China and moreover, please stock more spare parts in China in order to enhance the response time."

"The Labcyte Echo allows labs flexibility in designing experiments or setting up applications such as cherry picking reagents. Any reagent can be dispensed to any location at any volume. The instrument is robust; the sales team is informed and not pushy. The service / support team is extremely knowledgeable. A+ all around for Labcyte and their Echo. The one comment I have is that to fully capitalize on the worth of the Echo, you must incorporate a robotic arm / plate hotel to ensure the instrument runs as often as possible."

"We get high-quality reproducible results. However, the instrument's coupling fluid is prone to contamination, so intensive maintenance is needed."

"Our new screening system from Thermo was designed around the Echo for compound delivery in our screening campaigns. It was the best choice we ever made."

"Great for - data accuracy - data reproducibility - parsimonious use of compounds -- reduces compound synthesis time and costs - flexible formatting - reagent and consumable savings - amenable to a wide variety of tasks"

"This is the most accurate and precise instrument in our lab for dispensing nanoliter volumes of compounds into 384 and 1536-well plates. It is a workhorse, we use it every day."

"The Echo is our keystone instrument, enabling very precise nanoliter transfers of our compound libraries. The savings in tips is significant, and the extra value due to preserving precious compounds is immeasurable."

"One of the things I liked the most about the echo is its ease of use - in particular the reformatting software."

"The Echo has transformed the way I approach assay development and screening. It has greatly improved the efficiency of the assays that we run."

"These instruments are phenomenal when comparing them to traditional liquid handling robots - they are much faster, much more accurate and precise, and highly reproducible. The company is a pleasure to interact with and in structured in a collaborative manner that easily facilitates research and partnership projects."

"The machine was installed in July 2014 and due to reasons of compound order delays we were unfortunately not able to perform screens in an HTS-manner right now. However, dose dependent studies of certain in-house compound collections run nicely and will be expanded. We had little trouble with system contaminations and server connection errors, but the technical staff (Frank Ludwig, Gareth Evans) are doing a fantastic job in terms of availability and troubleshooting. This is very much appreciated! "

"The Echo is extremely accurate and allows for incredible customizable liquid transfers at nanoliter volumes. The consumable source plate needs to be Echo qualified and can get expensive for a consumable. "

"Being able to configure a lab from scratch in 2008 with no legacy equipment gave me the opportunity to employ the ECHO 550's ADE technology as the centrepiece of our liquid handling capabilities. The reasons for that decision being accuracy of droplet size, no consumable costs, liquid detection of source plate volumes and intuitive dose response software. These reasons have all stood up to the test of time. The benefits we learned over the years are the impeccable service staff and durability of the machines."

"Intuitive software. Although an expensive instrument it saves money long-term with no consumable costs. Allows for dispensing of much lower volumes that most other dispensers."

"The Echo 500 is great. We are processing genotyping analysis by Real Time PCR and carry over is our nightmare. With the Echo 500 no more headaches. No cross contamination. No carry over. Fast and good for the environment . You can dispense a 384 well plate in 4min and no plastic tips waste."

"The ECHO gets 5 stars for ease of use because it works precisely and reliably with a very intuitive software for everything except the serial dilution capabilities--that is still in need of lots of work. Everything else, plate to plate transfer, reformat, etc, is awesome. Service can be spotty. Some technicians are very good, but others to not seem to know what they are talking about leaving the instrument down for days. But all in all, I love it."

"I have found the instrument to be very refined, error proof, smooth running and easy to use."

"Very easy to use, expensive but worth the money. I would recommend them to a colleague."

"Very useful robust nL dispenser. However, in my experience, the software does malfunction."

"Good system with many positives e.g. it is easy to use. However it can have issues with sensitivity- compounds in DMSO have to be at room temperature to dispense fully."

"It is easy to use the equipment and create protocols to suit. This instrument is easily integrated with other automation, however it is not suitable for all plate types (flat bottom source plates only)."

"We use the Labcyte for nl dispensing. It helps us to reduce our compound consumption and when we used it for DRC plate preparation it improved the quality."

"Excellent volume dispensing tracking. Accurate and consistent equipment."

"In our lab it has improved assay reproducibility significantly removing time consuming pipetting."

"Very good instrument though when there are problems they can be difficult to solve."

"Enables small volume screening."

"Easy to program, easy to use, hard to get service."