SNAP i.d. 2.0 System by Merck

"The SNAP-id from Millipore is very good at reducing the time required for your blot development but it ruthlessly consumes your antibody. Also there is a need for extra consumables which costs too much. The dry blot system from invitrogen also suffers the same problem even though it has the added advantage of reducing the gel transferring time also."

"I use this because of the time savings in incubating my membranes. It uses 3x the antibody that passive incubation does, but you can recover and re-use the antibody so it's best used when you have many membranes (lots of samples for testing). You do need to buy folders for each membrane but again the time savings is worth it. It also is great for the rotating grad students and undergrad volunteers who have less time to complete westerns. "

"This system is fast and easy to use. It does require a larger concentration of antibodies, but the signal has always been strong. The casettes are not reusable, but are not too expensive."

"This initially seemed like a good idea, but there are too many limitations association with its use. The membranes are too small for the unit and I don't get even signal."

"This is a fantastic system that allows you to spend hours, not days, performing a Western Blot. The amount of time saved easily makes up for the cost. The only downside is the cassettes are not entirely reusable and are somewhat pricy."

"The idea of the system is great in that it allows you to detect protein levels in ~2 hours, hence saving a lot of time. However, in my experience, this system only works on certain antibodies and the quality of the data obtained from the system is poor (hazy, decreased signal compared to blots processed in the traditional way). The system utilizes a vacuum method to accelerate the time it takes to get results, but we have found that the vacuum clogs a lot of the time. After sales service were not helpful- they couldn't really help us troubleshoot and didn't provide any suggestions."

"Not as clear as traditional method but saves a lot of time and is great for screening."

"Optimization takes time, cassettes can be reused, perfect for screening."

"This is a fantastic product for Western Blot probing. It has saved my lab significant time and money."