[Histonet] Automation Ventana vs. Dako

[Heather Renko]

As an ex Ventana Tech Rep (not sales) I can say that you really have to judge what instrument is best suited for your volume and your staffing.  Ventana is a great company with a great product but, very expensive.  Can you rely on it-yes, Can any tech run it with minimal training-yes.  Have they had lot issues with detection, sure but name a company that hasn't run into that at some point.  Dako on the other hand is very reliable and has the market on good antibodies. Can anyone run it-not without a bit of hands training.  It seems to be more affordable than Ventana but, you have to have a good staff that can consistently reproduce steps and make up dilutions.  With Ventana you can cut, dry, put it on the instrument and then walk away-reproducible and consistent pretty much every time.  With Ventana you can also create an open system and run some great Dako antibodies or any other vendors products for that fact.  Your only marrried to their detection.  Both companies seem
 to have good tech support and Dako has allot of really sharp publications to get you off and running.  Unfortunately in today's histology labs we are seeing such an increase in staffing changes that it is sometimes better to pay the extra money and let the Ventana Benchmark do the work and not worry about it.  On the other hand if you have a good tech staff that can be "cooks in the kitchen" than Dako seems to be a pretty good instrument too.  I welcome you to listen to your peers-its just simply finding out which company will suit your needs and what your budget will endure.  Just my un-bias two cents.  I wish you all the best in your decison making process.
   
  Heather

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