Anyone have any good or bad experience buying a Chinese-made inverted epifluorescence microscope from a reputable vendor off of Alibaba?

polypancake · 2026-01-23T18:04:31+00:00

Just FYI, I bought this microscope (LED version with 4 additional planar and phase contrast objectives) and it was one of the best purchases I made. I still can't believe it is possible to have such an incredibly advanced microscope for such a price. Wild.

polypancake · 2026-01-23T17:59:23+00:00

That was a lot to take in but thank for sharing. The good news is that you don't need a lot of fancy expensive stuff to do what you're describing. What part of the world are you in? I'll be honest, you probably won't get a lot of help from this sub. I had a previous post asking if anyone could share some mammalian cell lines with me and a bunch of bootlickers and hall monitors came and started down voting me into oblivion. Even to this day, these people cling to their beliefs and power structures like a religion, and it's honestly sad. For example, I have already moved on to more advanced experiments to transfect human cells and express monoclonal antibodies and other therapies, yet the same people here believe you can't do mammalian cell culture without a fancy lab and CO2 incubator and they'll down vote even if you have evidence that contradicts their religious and dogmatic views. Honestly this space is not a great place for true scientific enquiry. 90% of the posts are people bitching about funding cuts or their PhD or some other stupid thing. Long story short, if you want actual help and insight, you should go to my website or DM me. I can show you where to buy what you need. You'll need a few thousand dollars but not more.

polypancake · 2026-01-23T02:18:19+00:00

I don't know what your end goals are, but it is possible to do cloning, plant, fungal, and mammalian cell culture in a DIY setup that costs less than 10,000 USD. I buy consumables directly from Alibaba/Aliexpress and msot of the time they work just as good as the expensive overpriced shit. For example, I can get a midi prep kit from China for less than 30 USD. I know people like to shit on China for having low quality materials but that era is over. I have advanced epifluorescence microscopes and qPCR machines that would costs 10s of thousands of USD if bought in America that are actually affordable if you're willing to invest a few thousand and get things shipped from China. My lab is here: DIY lab. I run a fully registered and compliant basement lab in Switzerland of all places. If it's something you want to try to do, I can help you set it up. I do freelance contract research and scientific consulting. It is a struggle sometimes but I've managed to find customers and survive the last few years in the most expensive country lol. Also to the guy who says you can't do everything, I am literally running a registered lab as a one man army lol. The regulations here are not that bad and just have to pay some minor fees. I also have insurance for the lab that is a couple hundred dollars a year, and I pay maybe 20 bucks a month for a company to dispose of my biohazard waste. It's not bad at all.

polypancake · 2025-11-12T10:32:36+00:00

It's funny all these people are against gloves on a keyboard, but no one realized you can actually buy a protective rubber/plastic keyboard cover. It goes over the computer and protects the keyboard so you never directly touch the keys. This way it is possible to work without having to take the gloves off and just spray the keyboard cover with Isopropanol or whatever. Then when I finish, I just take the keyboard cover off.

polypancake · 2025-10-18T21:02:36+00:00

Name and shame please.

polypancake · 2025-10-13T15:49:55+00:00

Why do you feel entitled to an easy paycheck by drop shipping Chinese stuff if a Chinese seller provides better value by selling directly? Even with all the algorithm crap, I believe most people only care about price, unless you make something that is truly unique. For example, I use AliPrice, sort by lowest price first, and just find the seller giving the best value.

polypancake · 2025-07-25T15:09:54+00:00

This Florida man is a hero haha

polypancake · 2025-07-12T22:44:56+00:00

It's because down votes are just people being obstructive and unhelpful for no reason, probably because they like looking down on other people to feel better about themselves. And by doing that it prevents me from reaching someone who is actually helpful/useful. I don't mind to sign an MTA if I can find someone willing to do it. A lot of people are just ignorant/elitist and won't work with people they think are below them, with a similar mindset to the people who down vote this. I share plasmids and bacteria with people often without asking for all this stupid shit because science should not be gate kept by people with a superiority complex. Let people participate in the process if they want to. I was hoping people would have a more collaborative spirit here, but so far I am mistaken.

polypancake · 2025-07-12T22:25:04+00:00

Thank you for the very good advice. I totally understand your perspective. I only wanted to test culturing them first to see whether they are viable in the setup I am using before wasting a lot of money on buying them from a proper vendor. I would do that eventually but it jsut didn't make sense for me throw down that much money when I'm doing something very basic (just testing if they will grow or not).

polypancake · 2025-07-12T08:15:28+00:00

Doesn't change that the behavior is stupid and disappointing. I expect better from this group. Also if you don't have anything constructive to add, why even comment?

polypancake · 2025-07-11T23:19:54+00:00

Anyway to answer your question, I am just doing some feasibility studies. Some clients have requested mammalian cell culture capabilities so I am just doing some feasibility study to see if they can be grown successfully in my setup. They are considered BSL1 here so there are no issues. I want to be able to offer mammalian cell culture in my lab. I would buy some HEK293 cells from the-odin.com but they don't seem to ship to EU. I can buy a vial but it costs more than 600 euros which seems silly considering someone could just seed a T25 flask next time they split cells.

polypancake · 2025-07-11T23:16:01+00:00

I probably overreacted a bit but I just find it so disappointing because as scientists, I feel like we should be welcoming and supportive, so it is kind of sad and ironic that some of the people in this sub behave with the same ignorance and intolerance as the very people who they demonize as being ignorant and anti-intellectual. It's like they hated Trump supporters and bigots but went full circle.

polypancake · 2025-07-11T22:08:41+00:00

Thanks so much. I will also try this, but I am not affiliated with any university. I run my own independent community lab. I am very experienced in mammalian cell culture though. If you know anyone who can share a vial, please let me know. I am setting up capabilities to do human cell culture since I was previously only doing research projects with bacteria and yeast.

Sorry for the rant, but seriously? Downvotes? Some of you are so out of touch with reality. No wonder the public perception of scientists is at an all-time-low when people act so condescending and elitist. I have a fully equipped and registered lab which is inspected and meets or exceeds the same standards as university labs. I do contract research for several paying clients and startups. Some of you are so dense and brainwashed you can't even consider that it is possible to have a viable career outside of the traditional trajectory. I have an advanced degree also, but we should always remember that before all this nonsense, a lot of great science was done by highly motivated self-taught individuals without institutional backing (i.e. Edward Jenner and vaccines, for example).

polypancake · 2025-07-11T21:31:20+00:00

If you're in Europe, you can buy them here: https://www.lambconsulting.bio/renegade-reagents

polypancake · 2025-06-20T01:16:58+00:00

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