Mechanical Pipettes
Sartorius mechanical pipettes are appreciated for their ergonomics, ease of use, and reliability. As a result, they are widely used for various liquid handling tasks in pharmaceutical laboratories, research institutes, universities, healthcare and industrial laboratories, where they help you to perform your manual pipetting easily and accurately. You may choose the pipette of your liking from the various models we offer to suit your specific needs and applications.
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Mechanical Pipette Features
Electronic pipette vs Mechanical pipette
Both electronic and mechanical pipettes have their place in laboratory. Mechanical pipettes are great when pipetting moderate number of samples. But when number of samples increases or if you are looking for more pipetting throughput an electronic pipette is what you are looking for.
See in the video on the left how much faster an electronic multichannel pipette can fill a multiwell plate using multidispensing than a mechanical pipette.
Pipetting Ergonomics
Sartorius mechanical pipettes are exceptionally comfortable to hold and work with. They rest lightly in your hand with no need to grip the handle tightly. The forces needed for a pipetting cycle, from tip attachment to pipetting and finally tip ejection, are exceptionally low with, protecting you from repetitive stress.
Cleaning and contamination prevention
Sartorius mechanical pipettes are quickest and easiest pipettes, on the market, to clean, with only few parts to be disassembled for cleaning and no tools are needed for disassembly with Tacta®, Proline® Plus and Mline®. They can also be steam-sterilized or autoclaved as-is, without disassembly. Thanks to material selection they also have high UV and chemical resistance.
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Tacta® Perfectly balanced
Tacta® makes pipetting effortless and safe, while producing acurate and reliable results time after time. Tacta® is comfortable to use due to the ergonomical handle and low pipetting and tip ejection forces. The unique Sartorius Optilock system provides flexibility for volume adjustment and locking. Volume display is large, clear, and facing the user. The volume is always shown with numbers, leaving the guesswork out. Tacta® pipettes are easy to clean with only few parts to disassemble and fully autoclavable when sterilization is needed.
Proline® Plus
Proline® Plus combines durable construction with ease and lightness of use, and it is a perfect choice for pipetting professionals and beginners. Proline® Plus offers the widest selection of different models, from Proline® Plus pipettes are easy to clean with only few parts to disassemble and fully autoclavable when sterilization is needed.
Mline®
Classic Mline® with good ergonomics and light operating forces provide excellent performance. Volume locking with two-handed adjustment ensures no accidental volume changes.
Proline®
Our most affordable mechanical pipette, Proline®, is suitable for universities and is cost-efficient, yet practical and reliable.
Feature Highlights | Tacta® | Proline® Plus | Mline® | Proline® |
Most ergonomic |
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| Optiject, soft tip ejection |
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| Optiload tip loading | All models | Multichannel models | All models | N/A |
| Volume lock | Dual-function volume lock | N/A | Two-handed adjustment | N/A |
| User adjustment |
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| Adjustment for calibration |
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| ID tags |
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| Easy to clean and fully autoclavable |
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Fixed models available |
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Color coding on pipette |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Widely used in laboratories of all kinds, mechanical pipettes are long-lasting tools. Because they are used for several hours a day, ergonomics and personal preferences - such as handling comfort – are important selection criteria. Other factors such as the application, laboratory workflow, required volume ranges, physical properties of the sample, and requirements for accuracy and precision also need to be considered when searching for the right pipette for the job.
Mechanical pipettes are controlled with a piston or a plunger, usually with your thumb. The pipette is fitted with a disposable tip that holds the aspirated liquid. The piston is first pressed down before inserting the tip into a liquid and then released to aspirate. To dispense the liquid the piston is pressed and the liquid is released. After use the disposable tip is ejected with the ejector button.
There are two principal types of piston-operated pipettes: air displacement and positive displacement pipettes. Air displacement pipettes, which are intended for general laboratory work and aqueous samples, operate by manipulating an air column between the piston and the liquid. Most pipetting work in laboratories is performed using this type of pipette. Air-displacement pipettes are available either single-channel or multi channel variants. Multi channel pipettes have 8 or 12 channels that are controlled with a single plunger. Also, mechanical pipettes can be either variable or fixed volume pipettes. Variable volume pipettes have become standard in many laboratories, but fixed volume pipettes offer additional security as the volume cannot be changed accidentally.
Single-channel pipettes are great when you need to pipette to and from different kinds of tubes and vessels. Also, for large volume pipetting (1.2-10 ml), single-channel pipettes are the only choice. However, when you work with large number of samples in 96-well or 384-plates, the multichannel pipettes are a better option.
Variable volume pipettes are industry standard. But fixed volume pipettes are great when you pipette always the same volume, like when doing clinical testing, patient samples or when operation a test kit. The advantage of fixed volume pipette is that you eliminate the user error than can come from selecting the wrong volume.
Volumetric pipettes: Volumetric pipettes are typically made of plastic or glass and have graduation marks. Their volumes generally range between 1mL - 100mL. Volumetric pipettes rely on users for measurement of volume and require a separate device for aspiration and dispensing - such as the Midi Plus pipette controller.
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Mechanical / manual pipettes: A workhorse of most laboratories and widely used in various applications. Manual pipettes aspirate and dispense liquid with piston system driving air cushions. These pipettes always use disposable pipette tips. User is able to set volume and use a plunger to aspirate and dispense liquid.
Discover our Mechanical Pipettes
Electronic pipette: The basic operating principle of electronic pipettes is the same as with mechanical, but all actions are handled by an electronic system inside. The user only has to press a button to start aspiration, liquid dispensing or tip ejection. Electronic pipettes typically reduce human variance, improving accuracy and reproducibility.
Discover our Electronic Pipettes
Automation pipettes: Automation pipettes are similar to electronic. The key difference is they are controlled by automation software and typically have mounting points for automation instead of handles for humans.
Dispenser / positive displacement pipettes: Positive displacement pipettes rely on syringe-like consumables for aspiration and dispensing. Available in mechanical and electronic form.
