We encountered the same problem that Ricky Critcher reported, now
having to have our third Kr/Ar laser replaced after only 300 hrs.
Luckily, we are still under warranty, but the future looks grim. We
understand that some labs have replaced this laser with separate Ar
and He/Ne lasers, and would like to learn about the relative costs.
 
Even with the warranty, we will be down for over a week since new
lasers are not available, according to BioRad. Our field service
engineer spreads a rumor about an upcoming development of a new model
with nominal 6000 hr lifetime, but maybe this must also be prorated
by the factor we have seen for the current model!
 
Len Zablow
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Columbia University
 
Tel:(212)960-2246
Fax:(212)795-7997