Microscopes

[Bet'naSBB]

Strange Inquiry.....

We have 3 AO (American Optics) microscopes.  2 are 20+ years old and one is 40+ years old.  Upper mgmt. is wanting us to determine "end of life" of our older equipment but for that we need to contact the manufacturer,  Does anyone know who the manufacturer is for these scopes?  I've searched but cannot find any indication that this company is even still in existence - and Olympus doesn't know anything.  Any help would be appreciated!

[donellda]

Do you have a company come in to service them? If so, they might be able to help you.  It's possible that the company was bought out by a bigger one like Fisher Scientific. I am retired so I don't have contacts anymore.

[MAGNUM]

They are AO's, then I am sure that they are still working. Why is your upper management trying to mess with a good thing?

[John C. Staley]

23 hours ago, MAGNUM said:

They are AO's, then I am sure that they are still working. Why is your upper management trying to mess with a good thing?

My guess is they want to know when they will be asked for money to replace them.  Apparently everything must have an "expiration or best by" date.  

[Bet'naSBB]

@John C. Staley - exactly...........

Our facility was just purchased by a large entity and we are having to "dig" holes that have never been dug before for their so-called "harmonization"

 

[AMcCord]

If the model is discontinued and no parts are available for repairs, I'd say it has reached its 'end of life' - however I'll bet it will still work a long time after that before a part needs replaced (especially older, quality scopes). I can see 'end of life' for more complex or expensive equipment, but a microscope for blood bank is more of a minor equipment purchase. My 'new' scopes are student scopes that cost less than $500 and they work just fine for our purposes.