It’s a Love Match! Five Tips for Finding the Perfect Pipette

Imagine you’re setting up a new lab. Chances are that pipettes will be one of the first things you will order. This is not a surprise when you think about all the workflows that require pipetting, from drug discovery and analytical testing to microbiology and cell culture. Pipetting performance directly influences the quality of experimental data, so choosing a good product must be the top priority. Read on for our top tips to help you get this choice right the first time. 

^{This article is posted on our Science Snippets Blog}  

This is the time to be picky 

Given that pipettes touch virtually every experiment, being selective in your choice is vital. Before simply going with the brand you used in a previous lab, it’s a good idea to explore what the latest technologies can offer in terms of accuracy, ease-of-use, and built-in functions that speed up protocols. Also, don’t ignore ergonomics! Ergonomics is not just for your computer station. The way it feels to hold and operate daily tools, like a pipette, matters a lot more than you might think. Here are five things to consider during your search.  
 

1. Performance is everything 

Pipettes are used to dispense enzymes, nucleic acids, cells, and a wide range of essential components during sample preparation workflows. So, assuming heavy, daily use, your pipette must deliver accuracy and precision every time. These words actually mean very different things; accuracy is the measure of how close you are to your target volume, while precision is how close each measurement is to the next. To ensure reproducibility of your experimental data, make sure the pipette manufacturer complies with all international standards and regulations, like the ISO standards. 
 

2. Mechanical or electronic?

Labs need different types of pipettes for different applications. Mechanical pipettes are great for most routine tasks, like setting up a PCR experiment or doing a plasmid prep. For higher throughput studies involving microplates, mechanical multi-channel pipettes speed up the process and improve reproducibility. The ability to autoclave mechanical pipettes is a key benefit, especially for cell culture applications. 

Electronic pipettes are by far the easiest and fastest pipettes to operate. For example, an electronic multichannel pipette in multi-dispensing mode can fill a 96-well plate four times faster than a mechanical multichannel pipette. Built-in functions and advanced features like a well tracker for microwell plates, are also a big plus on these devices. 

3. Ergonomics matter 
  

It’s easy to overlook pipetting ergonomics, but like all repetitive tasks, pipetting can, and does lead to repetitive stress injury (RSI). Aside from the risk of RSI, hurting or fatigued hands make more mistakes, increasing the risk of dispensing errors. Look for models that prioritize ergonomic design and be sure to do a test run to see how the pipette feels in your hands. Pipettes should feel very light—some weigh only 100 grams—and require very little force to aspirate, dispense and eject the tip.  

Ergonomics is another area where electronic pipettes outperform. The reason is because with an electronic pipette you can move the piston and eject the tip with a light click of a button, whereas with a mechanical pipette, your thumb manually controls these actions.​ 
 

4. Think of the system
 

Pipettes are only as good as the tips they are paired with. This idea to consider the pipette and tip as one system is so important that it was referenced in the new ISO 8655:2022 guidelines for pipette calibration. Specifically, the standard requires that pipette tip manufacturers show the system (pipette + tip) fulfills all requirements and permissible error limits. 

For the best performance, you should purchase both your pipettes and tips from the same supplier. But, if you choose a different tip manufacturer, look for documentation showing that the tips are validated with your pipette brand. Standard tips come in a variety of packaging, sterility, and purity options. If you’re worried about cross contamination, go with filtered tips.  
 

5. Training and maintenance 
 

Most scientists learn to use pipettes without any formal training. But there is tremendous value in understanding all the factors that can influence pipetting reliability and reproducibility. For example, do you know how to adjust your technique depending on sample temperature and viscosity? 

An important part of learning about your pipette is knowing how to take care of it. The pipette supplier is your best resource for questions about training, routine maintenance and calibration, as well as convenient service packages that take care of everything for you.