Hi,
we are currently looking to buy a high content imaging instrument. The device will be integrated in an automation platform and needs to be on a cart for flexibility. We need some throughput but are not screening thousands of compounds right now so the instrument should be a general good fit. 384 and 1536 compatibility is preferred.
The market currently has quite some instruments and vendors so I do a little summary below (no ranking, super happy to remove or add things - just let me know).
- Thermo Fisher with the CellInsight platform eg. CX7 LZR Pro
- Danaher aka Molecular Devices with the ImageXpress platform eg. HCS.ai
- Perkin Elmer aka Revvity with the Operetta CSL or Opera Phenix plus
- Yokogawa with the CV8000 (too big) or the relatively new CQ3000
- Araceli with the Endeavor
Some come with confocal options, some are just widefield instruments.
It appears that there are many instruments from Perkin Elmer on the market. But I could also imagine that they shined 5 - 10 years ago when they were release and there has not been any development in the last years so is this still a good buy in 2026? Are the majority of installations just users who bought them a while ago or would the buy them again, today?!
I barely find installations with Cellnsights.
I think I saw some installations of Imagexpress devices. According to this forum people have mixed experiences with (mostly?!) readers from molecular devices.
Haven’t heard anything bad about Yokogawa ever and they do have a lot of installation but that is all CV8000 which is not for us. Anyone with experiences with the new CQ3000?
And of course the GOAT in terms of speed. Yet I can’t find details from people who have traded their 7 Operettas for one Endeavor. The speed communicated seems out of this world.
We probably have a lot of people with experiences with these machines, the software, integration in automation and also service, quality and overall quality and happiness with their devices. I would love to have some discussions about these instruments as they are a pretty costly investment and also demoing them is rather difficult.
Cheers,
N.