Scepter™ 2.0: Automated Cell Counter by Merck

"This is a good instrument and has worked well for us. We use to ensure control of cell density when seeding experiments, and for counting of surviving cells following experiments. Our battery is failing and we've been told that our options are to buy a refurbished unit, or pay a similar price to replace battery with a one month wait time. Apparently the user cannot replace battery. We are disappointed that a battery replace is so costly and time consuming. Millipore should rethink the battery access in the design."

"The Coulter-counter principle device has performed well in our hands, achieving highly reproducible results after hundreds of measurements with a key advantage being ease of use, that fits in well with conventional cell culture procedures and assays. Its portability was advantageous when working off site in a collaborator's laboratory, allowing convenient consistency of protocols. The disposable sensors had an acceptably long shelf-life and were reliable 99% of the time when loading technique was mastered. We have read from independent users that after sales care has been found wanting, but we have had no problems to report ourselves to date. The ability to measure particle size and gate out anomalies was an advantage for our experiments and also helped provide a prompt quality control for cultures in general. The high score for value for money reflects an overall consideration taking into account its competitive device price, ease of use, performance, breadth of information and ease with which captured data could be tabulated and transformed into graphs. As with with other devices the price of disposable sensors would be a point of possible contention that loses a value for money star, but larger orders are more cost-effective and it is hoped that the competitiveness of the market for counting devices keeps prices relatively low."

"Excellent product, easy to use, gives reproducible results. Much quicker than old methods, and far less expensive than larger benchtop cell counters. A new sensor tip is required each time, but these are not particularly expensive."

"This machine accurately count every cell in your sample. It can count cells as small as 5uM diameter. It can track cell health as you monitor histograms from one preparation to the next. It has been a great time saver with ultra convenience for a decent price. Everyone in the lab loves it. I would highly recommend it! "

"The hand held piece of equipment is easy to operate for a small numbers of samples .It is not terribly heavy but clearly more so than a regular pipette, so the continuous use may have some impact on your wrist and hand if you already do a lot of pipetting. Its initial cost is reasonable, however the tips (disposable) are a significant cost on a per run basis. The tips (come in two sizes) are somewhat hard to fit into the pipette and more importantly are not fully prevented from being fitted the wrong way around (in fact an inexperienced student damaged the contacts by doing this). Range of concentration in which it is reliable is limited. We have tried other pieces of equipment for this same purpose and found this to be reliable and with good consistency on repeats. Battery life is good and charges through a USB port. Downloading the files saved may take some time but is not required too frequently."

"It's a very useful cell culture! I'm using it for drug proliferation and apoptosis assays. It's very accurate and the software is very complete but consuming for spare tips."

"It is an easy device for cell counting under laminal flow hood, but there are some limitated applications."

"A very easy to use cell counter. Can be used directly in cell culture hood."

"Very easy to use and inexpensive. Much more economical than Coulter counter."