We received the following email on 19 May 1999:

To: shimadzu-sux@bigfoot.com
From: identity withheld
Subject: Shimadzu spectrofluorometers

"What do you have regarding their spectrofluorometer RF-5000 for fluorescence measurments? We are in the market for one!"


The bulky RF-5000 is a heavy antiquated instrument ready for the junk heap (it can also serve as a boat anchor if needed). To give you some idea how old this technology is, it comes standard with a fussy chart recorder. And if you want to save and export data to another program for manipulation, forget about it! If Shimadzu has offered this product (that's being generous) for sale, you should wonder how long this inferior instrument has been setting around in their warehouse. And if it breaks (and it most certainly will because it has that Shimadzu logo attached thereon), what do you think your chances are of getting affordable replacement parts in a timely fashion. Because this product is so old, Shimadzu will probably offer a very economical price. However, you probably know the old adage: "If you buy crap, you will have [own] crap!"

The RF-5301 was unveiled as a replacement for the RF-5000 around 1995. We can tell you that we only know of one installation of this product (there are probably others but they are few and far between) and it has been gathering dust ever since. This product has a huge foot print (i.e. requires a lot of bench space) and comes with some very expensive optional accessories. The RF-5301 is driven by a mediocre software product that requires a personal computer (BTW: Don't buy a personal computer from Shimadzu; besides charging an arm and a leg for the computer, Shimadzu has been known to ship personal computers complete with viruses already loaded on the hard drive). Technical support for the RF-5301 will be a rare commodity (and even rarer for the RF-5000) because tech support personnel (both in-house and field) are stretched very thin with supporting other UV-Vis product offerings.

The RF-551 is another Shimadzu fluorescence instrument capable of very limited measurements (one at a time) using quartz/plastic cuvettes. This obsolete product also doubles as a HPLC detector (a plus) but the technology is quite old. Ms. Diamond Melville (Shimadzu Technical Sales Rep) went ballistic (i.e. complained in-house) about an RF-551 that was sent to a customer site in 1995 because it was shipped with an Instrument Inspection Report that was dated in 1992. Needless to say (as noted on the in-house Non-Conformance Report), the installation at the customer site was a complete failure! What do you think this customer said/thought when they learned that the "new" instrument they just bought had been sitting around in-house at Shimadzu for 3 long years? Do you want one of these "new" Shimadzu products in YOUR lab?

If assay sensitivity is important to you, you should look for cutting-edge alternatives to Shimadzu; try fluorescence measuring analytical instruments from:

After providing the response presented above, we received these comments:

"Thank you for your honest report! I am gathering options from the other companies."

"We need more sites like this one!"

Dr. S

n.b. We told you that the Shimadzu RF-1501 spectrofluorometer is/was a piece of junk back in March 1999. We could also tell you about recurrent aberrant readings that were recorded on at least two different RF-1501 instruments. In-house product specialists were unable to diagnose the cause of these aberrant readings. The solution was to swap out the RF-1501 instruments with "new" instruments. Did this really solve the problem? What's to say that the same/different problems (plural) did not manifest again at a later date? Do you want this crap in YOUR lab? DO YOU REALLY???

n.b. Regarding in-house product specialists, Shimadzu is/was recruiting for a Spectro/FTIR technical support specialist to be based in Columbia, MD (Baltimore SUN, 7-11-99). The job description included a provision to: "provide technical training to other field and/or less experienced service and technical support personnel." Here you have it.... the smoking gun: Shimadzu admits that their field technical support is not up to snuff! And now they're looking for an in-house product specialist who needs to be an expert from the get-go. Observation: Product support for the Spectro/FTIR line of instrumentation at Shimadzu will suffer until the new hire learns the ropes. Prediction: This will not happen anytime soon in your lifetime!

n.b. Shimadzu has been known to construct and maintain customer database(s) which detail the history for a given product(s). A former Shimadzu GC/MS product specialist created and maintained an exhaustive user's list of every account which purchased/leased a Shimadzu GC/MS system. This database was very complete and included specific comments (both positive and negative) about the respective GC/MS system at each customer's site. Shimadzu surely has similar information for their HPLC systems as well as their RF-xxxx line of spectrofluorometers. Before buying anything, ask for a complete uncensured copy of the respective user's list.

n.b. If Shimadzu states they have no such list.... call their bluff and tell them they are LYING, DENYING and CONCEALING AGAIN! Don't let Shimadzu give you a selective list of the references that they want you to check out either.... insist on a current unadulterated copy of the complete list which contains the names, addresses, comments and contact information for all spectrofluorometer users. If Shimadzu won't supply it.... just walk away and don't look back!