Hello Ammrl,
Thank you everyone for their responses. I received many positive and satisfaction with JOEL NMR systems and a few negative points mainly on the software. Although, we are undergraduate university, we have a couple of "Bioniker" biochemists that wants to do Bio-NMR.
In summary here are the PROS and CONS
PROS
* Excellent service and application support.
* Software does have a full complement of heteronuclear experiments. It is good for small molecules "Organiker" and routine work but caution on Bio-NMR.
* Hardware is excellent and console is stable. Less or no issue compared to Varian.
* JOEL cold probes are much better than Agilent. Although Bruker is the first to market cryoprobes. JEOL's claim to have the best and fastest probe.
* Developing pulse sequence is easier in JEOL than Varian.
* JOEL NMR systems are extensively tested in Japan before they are released to North America market.
* Pricing is cheaper than Bruker.
CONS
* Some parts are from Japan which can take time. But they provide loaner for operation while waiting for the part.
* Delta software interface is still "clunky" compared to TopSpin/ICONNMR. Learning curve to use software (I am not worry about this one, everyone has to learn). We don't do a lot of automation either.
* Probably cautious for "Bioniker" and method developer. JOEL is a little behind in experimental fid but improving and probably more updates to come.
* JOEL use a different language to code sequences. Difficult to transfer Bruker or Varian pulse sequences to JEOL's format. But JOEL can write them if needed (we don't do a lot of those here).
* Take a bit of risk with company working to establish credibility.
Questions to ask - Where is the service and applications support near you? Are the engineers hundreds of miles away? Well, I don't know yet...
Hla Win-Piazza, Ph.D.
Organic Chemistry Lab Coordinator
Western Washington University
Department of Chemistry
Received on Thu May 14 2015 - 08:02:34 MST