Second Hand Roche Lightcycler II maching - to buy or not to buy - (Jul/12/2014 )

Hi Guys, just setting up a lab on a shoestring budget to try and validate/disprove some of the dubious wild claims made in expensive antiaging supplements.  I'm looking at a second-hand Roche Lightcycler II qpcr machine that unfortunately doesn't include any software.  I note that the latest version of the lightcycler software is an insane US$5000 on the Roche website which is considerably more than the second-hand machine.  I was wondering if earlier versions of the Lightcycler software is free or cheaper or if any other open-source software can be used instead to control the unit?

Thanks in advance

Cheerio 

I'm affraid you need the original software, not only for operation but also for the analysis.

How can they sell machine without software? AFAIK you can't buy new machine not bundled with computer and basic software and the software alone is no use without machine. So, where is the original owners software and why are they not including it?

I would wonder if they didn't steel it..

If you need a real-time cycler and don't have money for new try buying refurbished from official sources. If you want a real-time machine and have less than $5000 to spend on it, I wouldn't consider buying any in the first place. It's not just the machine and software, the consumables and reagents for real-time are not cheap.

It's like buying a cheap car when you don't even have the money for the fuel to drive it.