This is a re-current theme in this list, but I've been asked for advise on
the purchase of a new confocal, and I would greatly appreciate the help and
advise from all of you who went to the process of choosing and evaluating
confocals to buy recently (or generally speaking have some word of advise,
criticisms or strong points on any specific machine/brand).

The target is on an high-end machine in terms of resolution and
sensitivity, and the possibility of upgrading to multiphoton on a two-year
basis is a very strong plus (guess this sort of narrows the choice, but
please send me opinions on other machines as well). The machine is to be
integrated on a multi-user structural facility and give suport to an
institute with potential customers so wide apart as molecular structure and
human development. Therefore criteria like user-friendly software,
robustness, reliability and easiness of calibration and alignement are also
mandatory. Since we're in a marginal country in Europe with a small market,
and therefore direct technical assistance is little more than a myth (or
otherwise truly expensive to fly the technicians in) I would wellcome
oppinions on long distance suport by e.mail or fax/phone.

Vendors are wellcome to send their views (and prices!) as well, but PLEASE
use my personal e.mail.

Thanks in advance for any help
Jose

PS- All the best to you Bob! This list has been one of the most usefull
tools to stay on the wave for those of us who don't live at the distance of
a ride or of a phone call from where things happen (and there's a lot of us
in this planet!). Many discussions I've seen were better than any published
literature and I suppose we all benefited tremendously to have this tool at
our reach. Therefore THANKS MUCH for the effort of creating and keeping it
up! And good luck Steve, we're going to stay tuned.


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o                                                     o
o Jose' A. Feijo', Prof.                                      o
o                                                     o
o Dep. Biologia Vegetal, Fac.Ciencias Univ. Lisboa    o
o Campo Grande, Ed.C2, P-1700 LISBOA, PORTUGAL        o
o                                                     o
o tel. +351.1.7500069, fax +351.1.7500048             o
o e.mail: [log in to unmask]                         o
o URL: www.fc.ul.pt/departs/biologia_vegetal/ejf.html o
o                                                     o
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