Hi -
 
We looked over the Leica confocal and found the software (last year) to
be baroque.  The optical platform seemed really great, though.  We did
think that the images were a little sharper (probably higher in contrast)
than with the other microscopes.  We learned that this was probably due
to the 4-leaf iris design of the apertures that receive the light back
from the specimen (as I recall).  We learned that this probably was
causing a stronger interference effect because it would be cutting into
higher orders of the interference image from the specimen.  So, contrast
was up at the expense of resolution.  It probably makes little difference
unless you are using it for especially critical, high resolution work.
 
The Leica microscope is very nice.  It is very bright and the electronic
focussing is very nice; virtually no hysteresis in the focussing as I
remember.  However, a drawback is that the electronic Z
axis is very limited in its travel.  Can't remember now how much, but it
was rather short.  That might not be important to you if you have
relatively thin material, and the Zaxis mechanism (piezoelectric -
driven?) with 0 hysteresis is very nice of course.
 
Perhaps they've fixed up the software.  I would expect that they would
have by now.
 
Tony Moss