Purchased this to replace our aging film developer. I’ve been a staunch user of film for over 25 years and until the Azure 600 showed up, never found a digital system to match film’s sensitivity. With the Azure 600 my lab has stopped using film altogether as the sensitivity and ease of use beats film. Capture software is easy to use, and the analysis software is good (but could use some improvement). Fluorescent and ECL capture works great, and allows us to multiplex with different fluorophores when using fluorescent antibodies. Detection of silver stained proteins is also excellent, where you can see bands that are not visible with a naked eye. My lab tested 3 different imagers before settling on this one, and we do not regret our choice one bit. Overall, a fantastic and powerful imager that now is used daily by my lab and others at my institution after the word of it has spread.

[The Cielo Dx is a] Good machine, easy to use, highly accurate and easy to take the results but the difficulty in test timing it takes an hour and 37 minutes to complete the run.

One year ago (August 2021), we purchased an Azure 280 imaging system (AZ1280) from Azure Biosystems. We wanted a low-cost yet high-performance and quantitative Western blot imaging system, and Azure 280 was exactly what we needed. The Azure 280 is easy to use and has identical capabilities as the Azure 300, but it is just not upgradeable. However, we were offered the option to upgrade in the future (if we wanted to) by trade-in. Nathan Hemendinger, the director of Eastern North America at Azure Biosystems was courteous and very accommodating.

The Azure 300 is a wonderful gel imager and fits our needs perfectly. It’s compact and sleek – looks great on the bench. We just received it and are getting ready to take the first images soon. With the camera upgrade from the Azure 200 the images should be crisp and publication worthy. A solid and well-built instrument.

[The Azure Sapphire] is highly effective for analyzing metabolites and it yields a good result in due time. It’s easy to use and great value for your money.

Bought a brand new c600 Imager and traded in our old C200 at the same time, and the process was super easy and smooth. The Technical Product Specialist I spoke with, Emma Paytas, was very knowledgeable and responded quickly to my emails, so I was able to make a well-informed and timely decision on which Imager would best fit our company’s needs. The installation and set-up was very simple, and would be intuitive for someone with no prior experience using the machine. They sent a hard-sided case and padding to trade our old imager in, so I didn’t have to worry about finding proper packaging to keep it from being damaged in transit. Our new imager works great, with many functions and capabilities, and we have had no troubles with it at all. Would definitely recommend Azure to anyone looking for any kind of gel imaging system!

I love our Azure 600 imager. The chemiluminescence and fluorescence Image capture functionalities are awesome! The software allows merging of the two images. Additionally, I can independently adjust the contrast of the chemi and fluorescence images using the same software. Lastly, I love the fact that the printout of the images captured are exact size of the original samples.

We bought the C600 a few years ago and use it mostly for imaging of Westerns. We are very happy with the capabilities of the system and the recommended reagents, although other reagents also work. I am most impressed with their service. We had some water damage in the lab and the instrument got soaked. Azure sales rep and technicians responded the same day and guided us through diagnostic procedures but in the end we had to ship the instrument back to Azure for service. They organized the shipping and provided a loaner, so we never were without instrument. Excellent service.

I have used other Western blot imaging systems but they were too slow and complicated. The Azure c600 makes it easy to see my data quickly. I use Femto grade ECL for hard-to-detect targets like low abundance proteins or targets with weakly binding antibodies. This used to give me problems with X-ray films that were full of dark spots or sometimes even turning completely dark. That never happens any more. The Azure c600 gives me very clean and nice looking results. “I have used other Western blot imaging systems but they were too slow and complicated. The Azure c600 makes it easy to see my data quickly. I use Femto grade ECL for hard-to-detect targets like low abundance proteins or targets with weakly binding antibodies. This used to give me problems with X-ray films that were full of dark spots or sometimes even turning completely dark. That never happens any more. The Azure c600 gives me very clean and nice looking results. The system is fast and easy to use. I load the membrane on the tray and choose my imaging method with the touch of a button. I specially like how it records multiple cumulative images, so I never need to re-expose the membrane.

We pursued digital imaging because we were looking for a way to save time by skipping the dark room and having to scan film. We considered two other imagers that are on the market. We chose the Azure c300 system for the best cost, great-looking images while using the demo, large work area to accommodate larger Western blots, and most importantly, ease of use. One person in the lab was resistant to switching to digital imaging at first, but has since come around because of the convenience, ease of use, and images that are equal to or better than film. None of us have had to use the dark room in over a year. Considering how much we initially liked the machine, I was a little nervous about going with a product and company that were so new to the market. The sales and technical support have always been great and we are very satisfied.

We purchased the Sapphire imager to replace our obsolete Typhoon scanner and could not be happier with the performance and ease of use. Equipped with multiple lasers, it is possible to probe for many proteins at high resolution and with great sensitivity. We primarily use the system for Western blotting and fluorescent slide scanning and have had clear, publishable results. The software is easy to use and has many practical features. Customer service is amazing – they are always available, informative, and as scientists, they assist with troubleshooting experimental design and optimizing results. This product is highly recommended for anyone who routinely uses electrophoresis, cell-based, or slide-based analyses with fluorescent or chemiluminescent detection.

Azure c600 is a perfect imager. Although it is a new brand product, it has high quality and good performance. We love the multi-function of c600, with it everyone in our lab can capture multiplex samples on chemiluminescence, RGB and NIR and so on. The most important thing is the support is excellent, when we have questions, the technical support of Azure will support us timely, patiently and professionally. Especially, their regular after-sales service every 6 months which on using, technology, even on our experiment is one thing I haven’t seen before. Azure’s high-level product and service really make us feel satisfied.

Freedom to capture data for studying proteins and nucleic acids. Traditionally, Western blot detection methods have used X-ray films to capture chemiluminescence. However, the increasing costs for film, reagents, and maintenance made many researchers to shift from darkrooms to more sensitive and technologically advanced digital imaging systems such as Cooled-charge coupled devices (CCD) cameras capturing both chemiluminescence and fluorescence images. The two mentioned detection methods allow the ability to simultaneously detect proteins on the same blot minimizing the need for stripping and reprobing leading to an increase in detection efficiency (Mathews, Plaisance et al. 2009). Here, I will review Azure Biosystems imaging system for chemiluminescent, fluorescent and infrared imaging, and briefly discuss their advantages and disadvantages. The Azure Biosystems C600 image analyzer. C600 system is the only imaging system available in the market currently with the following features (i) infrared laser excitation for quantitative imaging in the near IR, (ii) picogram detection of proteins using chemiluminescence, (iii) wide range of dye selection with Cy?5/Cy3/Cy2 excitation, and (iv) option of upgradation from the base units c200, c300, c400 and c500. This increases the options of selecting different chemistry for performing Western blots by using the same imaging system. Due to the signal stability and low background, detection in the near-infrared fluorescent (NIR) for Western blot detection is achievable using the infrared fluorescent dyes. The NIR western detection also offers multiplexing allowing the option to detect multiple proteins at the same time. Azure Biosystems’ c600 system is equipped with two IR detection channels and allows users to study multiple proteins with overlapping in a blot. The image generated can be spectrally separated as the secondary antibodies are imaged in two different channel. We have compared the image obtained and the analysis results were comparable to other laser detection system e.g. LiCOR odyssey Western blot imaging system. Chemiluminescence continues to be a favorite and sensitive method of detection. Azure c600 provides quantitative analysis with accurate, fast detection with superior sensitivity, dynamic range, and linearity needed for quantitative blot analysis by chemiluminescent means made possible due to the use of the high resolution, F 0.95 fast lens technology. The superiority of the analyzer is evident from the availability to use any HRP substrate allowing users to maintain the same protocol and capture images with the same sensitivity as film without the risk of oversaturation due to the broader window of detection of several orders of magnitude of protein concentration. The c600 can also be equipped with powerful LEDS for Cy5/Cy3/Cy2 imaging or similar dyes thus allowing the users the option to expand multiplexing. The c600 is also able to image a wide range of dyes (excitation maxima from 302 nm to 785 nm), enabling WesternDots?, Stain-Free? gels and different types of in-gel fluorescence. The c600 system also is of immense to molecular biologists with the inclusion of UV, white, and blue lights for imaging Ethidium bromide, Coomassie, and non-mutagenic dyes like Gel red and Gel green. Azure c600 machine offers great value for the money as it combines the functionalities of laser NIR imager with chemiluminescent camera in one simple affordable machine. The after sales service provided by Azure Biosciences is of highest professional standard, with arrangement of hands-on training beginning from installation to detailed explanation of functioning of the machine. The technical team took into consideration about minor technical information while explaining the functioning of the Azure spot software. We had faced problem once with regards to the software and it was promptly resolved by the Azure Biosciences team. The technical team is also helping us to explain the analysis beyond Westerns to analyze multiplexing on glass bead format as is available for the analysis of many cytokines and key molecules from many supplier as well as thick tissues pre-labelled with dye probe e.g. GFP protein. Source: Mathews, S. T., E. P. Plaisance and T. Kim (2009). Methods Mol Biol 536: 499-513.

It is easy to use and saves a lot of time and effort. Accuracy and sensitivity is realistic.

Operation of capture software is easy, reduces instrument manager’s training work. We purchased a c500 imager from Azure several years before, this system runs still stable now. The excellent resolution and the sensitivity give us many quality sample images. The c500 contains many functions such as gel, ECL Western blot, NIR fluorescence, it is a very important aspect for instrument platform. The operation of the capture software is very easy, it can reduce instrument manager’s training work. The service is perfect, the technical support of Azure helps us to training and support several times when we need.

We can get high quality data, the gel images have high resolution. With Azure c300 imager we can get high quality data, the gel images have high resolution and chemi images have high sensitivity. The marker overlay function is very useful when we want to see the molecular weight comparing marker of the bands. It is a very easy to use, powerful and high-performance imager. The continuous service about every six months and the timely and professional technical support of Azure product specialist makes us without fear when using the system. Although our c300 is the first system in our university, we feel no regret to make this right choice.

Excellent piece of kit. The Azure c280 really is an excellent system, and the service from Cambridge Bioscience (the UK distributor) has been exceptional. Okay, this is the ‘budget’ model which lacks the fluorescence and near IR capability of the more expensive systems, but what it does (colour imaging/chemiluminescence of proteins/DNA/RNA gel imaging, it does really very well. It is quick to start, easy to use and simple to transfer files from with a small footprint on the bench. What more could you ask for?

Small compact microplate reader that is very user-friendly, and time-saving. The machine has great accuracy as it is able to generate reproducible results.

Azure c600 is absolutely the best imager I have used. Easy to use intuitive software, very sensitive camera with low noise. Excellent data analysis software. Very portable.

When starting the lab, we needed a reasonably-priced gel imager with a small bench footprint to image both standard DNA EtBr gels as well as Western blot chemiluminescence/ECL. The Azure c280 really checked all the boxes for us, and has not disappointed us. The system is easy/intuitive to use and very compact. We are very satisfied with the system’s performance, which has allowed us to capture very good quality data used for publications.