[3dem] Service FEI Tecnai Polara (Sacha De Carlo)

Mike Strauss mike at biochem.mpg.de
Thu Jul 19 07:59:46 PDT 2018


Dear Sacha,

Do your statements represent the policy of Dectris?  Are you planning on abandoning 12-year-old cameras? Planned obsolescence is a major problem for consumers, especially in a consumer society largely driven by companies that profit from intentional design limitations that hobble their own products.  Even in our field...  Are you suggesting this practice is one you espouse?  

Surely there is something noble about the 30-year old Edwards evaporator that is making carbon as well today as it did 30 years ago. Or the Zeiss 902 that is sitting in every other pathology department in the world, that has required realignment only twice in the last 25 years, and still takes publication quality images every day.

Thorsten, I sympathise with your plight.  The lack of replacement parts for Polaras is a real problem, and one that is experienced by nearly all labs with operational Polaras. It’s not quite fair to say the Polara is an F30, though.  It has a vastly different cryo-box, and cryogenic components including cold trap and anticontaminator, along with the different holder you mentioned.  It’s worth noting, that all of these components are in the objective region, and a failure in any one of them leaves you unable to operate. Then there are the host of microswitches, and interlock sensors that are not present on the F30s either.  It’s not that simple.

It may be worthwhile, though, to stay in touch with other Polara owners, so you can distribute components when one is decommissioned or scrapped.

I wish you luck.

mike

On 19.07.2018 14:57, Sacha De Carlo wrote:
> I do not represent the opinion of Thermo Fisher, but what you guys are 
> asking doesn't make any business sense. There is no ROI in trying to 
> maintain the old scopes alive. In our consumer society it makes more 
> sense to sell new tools.
> 
> Best,
> Sacha

-------
Mike Strauss - former cryoEM Facility Manager 
MPI Biochemistry
mike at biochem.mpg.de
tel: +49 89-8578-2474
mob: +49 151 55 308040




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