Dear Users,

I would like to echo the sentiments of Steve, Myq and Jim about Europa
machines in general. We recently had an ANCA (EA) and Geo 20/20 installed,
and have found it to be an extremely reliable, user friendly machine. I
have found the people at Europa to be very approachable via email, and have
had quick responses to most questions and problems. I find the software is
easy to use and reliable, although we are still waiting for a minor bug or
two to be solved. The Geo 20/20 is extremely stable (like Myq said, it
could be run in a garage I feel), and is a good workhorse for C, O and N.
We are also very interested in purchasing the CAPS machine to add on and
have been watching with interest the comments from other users. Spare parts
have arrived quickly for the Geo or ANCA (within 2-3days), even though we
are on the other side of the world.

My previous experience was GC-IRMS on a
VG/Fisons/Micromass/Thermoquest?/Waters? ....PRISM III, which was a bit of
an unhappy experience due to excessive power cuts, and unstability of the
instrument  (although this may be resolved by now). HOWEVER, the engineers
and service were excellent, I cannot begin to describe the helpfulness of
people like Rob Smith, Dave Wolfenden and others from England, who went the
extra mile with technical advice and support after the machine was out of
its warrenty period. We had regular software upgrades, and the software was
user friendly and good, even marginally better I feel, than Europa's.

It is great that the users have this platform to voice these opinions, and
good that the manufacturers have not hammered us with advertising hype. One
does wonder though what they plan to do about some of the obvious problems
outlined during the last few days. Still, sales will tell....

Karyne
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Karyne Rogers
Nuclear Science Center
Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences
PO Box 31-312
Lower Hutt
New Zealand

tel +644-5704636
fax +644-5704657
email [log in to unmask]
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