SpectraMax ABS & ABS Plus Microplate Readers
Fast and compact absorbance microplate readers for a wide range of assays without the use of filters.
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Good instrument but horrible after-sales care
anti-body discovery, anti-body characterization
Let me preface this review by saying I am an in-house engineer for a biotech company. I service their lab equipment. So my review is more from that perspective than most end users who might be looking to purchase one of these. However, I do occasionally use the instrument for my own work as well. Let me start with the good. This instrument is very easy to use and so is the SoftMax Pro software. It is very fast. Much faster than our Molecular Devices SpectraMax M2. This is mostly due to the difference in the read head within the instrument. Unlike the M2 which has only one read head module that measures each well individually, the ABS Plus has 8 separate heads that measure each column of a 96 or 384 well plate. This makes read time much faster. Results from a 96-well plate can be obtained in seconds and the data is easy to export. Performing annual calibration verification with Mol Dev's SpectraTest plates is also very easy to do. Now for the bad. The main thing being Molecular Devices after-sales support. Most companies today that manufacture lab equipment (or any electronic device) employ some type of repair prevention strategy to force the customer to seek repair through the manufacturer. It is the most challenging aspect of my job as in-house engineer. But Molecular Devices is one of the worst offenders of these practices. They offer no additional resources for the customer to repair the instrument themselves. In fact, I am currently dealing with an optic alignment issue with our ABS Plus and I will quote Molecular Devices from an email exchange 'Molecular Devices does not support customer servicing of instruments'. They will not even sell the customer spare parts for their equipment. While our SpectraMax M2 is also from Mol Dev, it is much easier to service. We have one that is ~15-20 years old and it still passes annual calibration verification each year. And if it doesn't, I can easily open the plate carriage, lubricate the motion systems, and clean the read heads without disturbing the optic alignment. This is not the case with the ABS Plus. Unfortunately, for my company, we are now forced to potentially seek repair for this instrument only through Molecular Devices, which typically requires a PO of several thousand dollars upfront for service. In closing, I would highly recommend passing this instrument up if you can. It is a shame because for the most part, they make great instruments. But the after-sales support is so bad, I can't recommend them. If you do plan to purchase one, you should factor in a service contract and/or expensive repair costs into your budget.
Review Date: 23 Mar 2024 | Molecular Devices®
Manufacturer's Response
Thank you for providing additional feedback regarding your experience with the SpectraMax ABS Plus instrument. We appreciate your continued engagement and want to address your concerns. We apologize for the issues you encountered during the calibration verification procedure after 2-3 years of use. Our instruments undergo rigorous testing and calibration procedures to ensure accurate and reliable performance. However, it is important to highlight the need for preventive maintenance to maintain peak performance. We do not offer self-service support. At Molecular Devices, we—like most companies, as is standard for most companies within and outside of our industry, as you aptly note in your review —have a policy where only in-house, factory-trained tech support and service engineers provide comprehensive repair or maintenance. This approach enables us to honor any warranty, maintain stringent quality control, and ensure optimal performance of our customers’ instruments. We would like to clarify that we offer troubleshooting guides which you can access direct via our SpectraNet customer portal or by contacting our technical support team. We also offer spare parts for our equipment. To order, please contact our technical support at www.moleculardevices.com/service-support. We have been in contact with our service engineer, who informed us that you were able to adjust the instrument successfully, resulting in the system passing the ABS test. We are pleased to hear that the issue has been resolved.
The SpectraMax® ABS Microplate Reader bridges the gap between the affordability of filter-based readers and the flexibility of monochromator-based systems. The SpectraMax® ABS Plus Microplate Reader can run both cuvette-based and microplate reader applications on the same instrument. Read one sample or up to 384 in a single plate read using any standard cuvette, or 96- or 384-well microplate.
