Spectrophotometers (UV-Vis, Fluor)

Buying guide

What decides a spectrophotometer purchase, before any brand enters the conversation, is the optical range the work actually needs. A single-beam visible-only photometer reading from roughly 320 to 1000 nm covers routine colourimetric assays and will not touch protein or nucleic acid work, which lives down at 260 and 280 nm in the ultraviolet. A dual-beam UV-Vis instrument reaching below 200 nm, with a deuterium lamp alongside the tungsten source, is a different class of device and priced accordingly. Fluorescence adds another axis entirely, excitation and emission monochromators rather than a single absorbance path. So the first question is not which maker, but whether the method is colourimetric, UV absorbance, or fluorescence, because that split sorts the whole catalogue before specification refinements matter.

Once the range is settled, spectral bandwidth and wavelength accuracy separate instruments that look alike on paper. A 1 nm bandwidth resolves fine absorption features that a 5 nm instrument smooths over, which matters for structural work and matters very little for a routine standard curve. Stray light sets the ceiling on measurable absorbance, and photometric accuracy governs how far a reading can be trusted at the high-absorbance end.

On a used unit, the lamps are the part that ages. A deuterium lamp has a finite rated life and dims with hours of use, so a verified used instrument is worth more when its lamp hours are known or recent. The monochromator and detector rarely fail outright but drift, which is why wavelength calibration against a known standard, a holmium oxide filter or a didymium reference, is the check that tells you whether an instrument still reads true. Confirm the cuvette holder and any sipper or cell changer are present, since those accessories are expensive to replace and easy to overlook in a listing photograph.

Price spans a wide band here, and the spread is informative rather than confusing. The catalogue average sits at EUR 3.313, between a EUR 70 entry-level photometer and a EUR 35.000 research-grade system. Where a budget is fixed, a used or refurbished instrument from an established line fits it more readily than a new equivalent, since used and refurbished units listed for sale are more affordable than new. The dominant names in this range, Thermo Scientific, Jenway, Perkin Elmer, Shimadzu, Agilent, each occupy recognisable positions on that cost curve, which makes a model-to-model comparison across conditions straightforward. What a unit costs tracks its optical class far more than its badge.

Types of Spectrophotometers (UV-Vis, Fluor)

Which spectrophotometer types are listed here?

Among the listings that specify a type, the catalogue sorts into a few recognisable classes. The plain spectrophotometer and the UV-Vis spectrophotometer, written variously as uv-vis and uv/vis, make up the bulk, and the difference between them is optical reach rather than function: a visible-range photometer handles colourimetric assays, while a UV-Vis analyser extends into the ultraviolet for work at 260 and 280 nm. Alongside these sit entries filed more broadly as analytical instrument, optical instrument, or optical measurement device, usually older or specialised units whose seller described them by function rather than by the UV-Vis label.

These instruments are a backbone of molecular biology and biochemistry. A UV-Vis spectrophotometer is the standard tool for nucleic acid quantification, reading DNA and RNA concentration and purity through the 260 over 280 absorbance ratio, work that underpins genomics and proteomics sample preparation. The same instrument runs protein quantification by Bradford, Lowry, or BCA assay, and tracks bacterial growth by optical density in microbiology. A fluorescence spectrophotometer, where listed, serves immunoassay readout and cell imaging adjacent applications, detecting labelled targets at concentrations an absorbance instrument cannot reach. Enzyme kinetics, measured as absorbance change over time, is also used for characterising reaction rates in molecular diagnostics development.

The brands behind the spectrophotometer listings

The names that recur across the catalogue are Thermo Scientific, Jenway, Perkin Elmer, Shimadzu, Agilent. For a buyer, their presence matters in concrete ways rather than as a reputation signal. An established line means lamps, cuvette holders, and replacement parts are easier to source and that a given model has a documented specification to compare against. It also means a used unit can be matched against others of the same series, so condition and price become comparable rather than guesswork. These makers span the full optical spread, from compact visible photometers to research dual-beam systems, which is why the same brand can appear at very different prices depending on the model.

What a used spectrophotometer costs here

The condition mix leans heavily toward pre-owned instrumentation. 89 percent of the listings are used. Prices range from EUR 70 to EUR 35.000. That spread covers the distance between a basic single-beam photometer and a fully equipped UV-Vis research instrument with accessories, and the average of EUR 3.313 sits well below the top of the range, which reflects how many entry and mid-tier units populate the listings. New stock appears too, at the smaller 18 end of the catalogue, so a buyer weighing new against used can compare both within the same category and judge each listing on its stated condition.