General Product Information

There are Many Benefits of Switching to an Electronic Pipette

Accuracy, precision, ergonomics and efficiency are of the utmost importance when it comes to choosing your pipettes. One of the most significant advances in pipetting technology was the advent of the electronic pipette, which has revolutionized liquid handling in the modern lab. The electronic pipette is used routinely in all types of laboratories from academic settings all the way to pharmaceutical laboraotroies and state of the art research labs. Pipettes come in a range of shapes and sizes, and with a variety of different technologies incorporated into their design, enabling scientists to find the best fit for them.

1. Save Time with Electronic Pipettes

One of the primary benefits of an electronic pipette is increasing productivity in the lab. Scientists have a limited amount of time to spend in the lab each day, and any advantage that can reduce the amount of time spent pipetting and free up that time for other tasks is beneficial. Further to this, certain protocol steps require reagents to be added to reaction wells across a 96 well plate quickly while maintaining accuracy. An electronic pipette can be of huge benefit to scientists in these situations. Did you also know some electronic pipettes can be programmed to follow your protocol? For example, you can program some of these pipettes to aspirate and dispense 500 µL, followed by 750 µL and 1000 µL.

2. Electronic Pipette Increase Ergonomics

There is a lot of discussion about ergonomics these days. From office chairs and desk heights to how to lift heavy objects; people have become more aware of how important ergonomics is to overall wellbeing. In science, Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) is the hot topic when it comes to ergonomics. Scientists can develop thumb, wrist, or shoulder pain after pipetting for long periods of time. Switching to an electronic pipette greatly reduces scientists’ risk of RSI, due to improved ergonomic shape and design, and reduced thump activity during prolonged and repeated pipetting. Although many electronic pipettes were traditionally heavier than their mechanical counterparts, Advances in plastics and batteries enable some designs to be extremely light, such as the Oxford Lab Products BenchMate E.

3. Increased Accuracy & Precision with Electronic Pipettes

Due to the digital display and motor operation, you can be confident that your electronic pipette will dispense the volume you have selected accurately and reproducibly. This is hugely important for the reproducibility of experiments and the accuracy of your result, which is dependent on constant and consistent pipetting force.

4. Reduced Sources of Human Error with Electronic Pipettes

Having most of the pipetting process automated by using electronic pipette likely reduces the possibility of human error. User to user variability is also removed from equation if scientists are using the same settings, meaning that data and results become more reproducibly.

5. Ease of Use

Many of today’s electronic pipettes have extremely easy to use interfaces for an effortless and intuitive user experience. Examples of these interfaces include the easy to use- graphic interface on the Oxford LP BenchMate E Electronic Pipettes, the user-friendly dial on the Eppendorf Xplorer plus Electronic Pipette and the intuitive menu on Sartorius Picus Electronic Pipette.

6. Electronic Pipette Features

The multitude of features available in an electronic pipette help to greatly increase efficiency and ease of use. Most come in both single and multichannel formats. They have multiple pipetting modes including multi-dispensing, pipetting, reverse pipetting, mixing, diluting, and even allow users to save their favorite programs for quick and easy selection.

7. Charging & Uninterrupted Usage of Electronic Pipettes

Many electronic pipettes now have charger stands available. Meaning that your pipette is charging while you are not using it, ensuring that you never run out of battery and enjoy uninterrupted usage, just as you would with a manual pipette.