UV crosslinkers, changing UV bulbs? - (Jul/06/2013 )

Hi, I want to buy a UV crosslinker and I am thinking about a Stratalinker 2400 or a UVP CL1000 for short 254 nm irradiation. I am trying to factor in the cost of buying bulbs. If one bulb burns out do you have to replace the whole set (expensive)? I see you can buy single bulbs for the UVP unit (~40$, not bad) but it seems you have to buy a whole set of bulbs for the Stratagene (300-400$). Does anyone have any experience with either of these two apparati? or know about changing the bulbs? Thanks, Freddie P

The Stratagene unit is widely available used on Ebay. All the UV bulbs are similar -- you would be foolish to buy replacements bulbs from Agilent. Fotodyne, for example, sells them at a fair price. At 254 nm, be careful of eye and skin exposure.