ATP Sanitation Monitoring Products: Neogen, 3M, MVP feedback
Hi all,
Just hoping for your experience and recommendations on what would be the best cost-effective product to use for ATP testing. We have three to choose from at the moment as their suppliers are approved: Neogen, MVP Lightning and 3M. One of my colleagues suggested 3M as having superior performance compared with Neogen but want to verify amongst everyone here if they believe similarly.
Thanks,
Ace
Hi all,
Just hoping for your experience and recommendations on what would be the best cost-effective product to use for ATP testing. We have three to choose from at the moment as their suppliers are approved: Neogen, MVP Lightning and 3M. One of my colleagues suggested 3M as having superior performance compared with Neogen but want to verify amongst everyone here if they believe similarly.
Thanks,
Ace
Hi Ace,
It may depend on yr personal criteria for "superior performance". And perhaps yr intended usage/requirements.
I predict a large variety of opinions exist. Probably a lot on this forum already.
For example, some claimed comparitive data attached here (2013) -
Good Morning!
We have used MVP Lighting and we have always had good customer service, results & costs were all comparable. I hope this helps!
Regards,
Terina
Without knowing what is meant by superior over the others I can only offer what our SQF development clients have found and our direct experience - there appears to be split between Neogen and 3M with a leaning towards 3M as being more cost effective, that doesn't mean it is better however. Several of our clients love Neogen, these are the bigger ones in our base - however 3M seems to have ease of working with.
I enjoyed the one that I had from 3M previously.
Our supplier is Charm Sciences which I doubt distributes to New Zealand. They conducted an "independent" study between their ATP and Neogen and 3M. They said their ATP swab was the most sensitive, followed by 3M and then Neogen.
Take it for what it is worth....I haven't used 3M, but I have used Neogen about 10 years and we had a lot of issues with very inconsistent ATP results from swab to swab, even though sampled same exact surface area. A lot of 0 counts where there should have been some ATP (visible buildup). Granted Neogen was relatively young at that time so maybe their swabs have improved. We ditched them after only a couple months and went back to Charm Sciences.
I have had the opportunity to use MVP Lightning, Charm and 3M Biotrace. I have not used Neogen but the current unit they have looks promising on paper. Honestly, each unit we have used seemed to work well. For us it came down to the customer support and price. We were using Charm for several years but there was a change in our representative and we no longer had the same level of support so when our contract was up we switched to 3M Biotrace and the support has been great with them.
A few tips we learned over the years:
- A representative should be willing to come to your facility to train employees and help you set up your unit or at least provide some type of individual help in setting up initial program maybe through Skype. They also should be available for any follow up questions.
- Suggest you look into leasing the unit from the company and request that any repairs and yearly calibrations are included in the contract to include shipping, if you can get it, so there are not any additional unexpected costs. At least get pricing for leasing versus purchasing unit and what each will come with and what the costs are for yearly calibration and any maintenance if you decide to buy instead of lease. We had purchased our units once and the cost of repairs on one of the units is what caused our company to decide to lease. You just have to consider both options and what will work best for you.
- If leasing unit be sure to request a new unit within so many years; we usually get new units with our contract renewal every 3 years.
- Also, suggest you request to try a unit for a short time to see if you like it and what kind of support they give before committing to a contract.
At my previous employer, we had been using MVP Lightning units (the older version), and were looking to possibly upgrade. We had representatives from 3M and Neogen come to demonstrate their units, and we were able to do some hands-on testing with them. We also had MVP come with their new Icon unit and do the same. Everyone provided "data" that showed that their unit was superior (of course), and to be honest, it was difficult to wade through all of it to determine who was truly the best. In the end, we decided that it was basically a wash, and that we would decide based upon how user-friendly the units were. We finally settled on the new MVP Icon unit, as we found it and the supporting software (and company support) to be the easiest and most helpful. My advice would simply be to figure out which unit works best for you - have each company send a rep with a demo unit, and have them leave it for a few days (or longer) so you and your team can try each one out...and decide for yourself which one you like, because I don't think there is much difference in the long run between any of the top fore-runners (MVP, 3M, Neogen, and maybe Charm?) in terms of accuracy.
Hi! Maybe information here could help you.
I prefer 3M
Attached Files
Hi! Maybe information here could help you.
I prefer 3M
Hi Tatyana,
Thanks for the interesting file.
It seemed to me that the (ATP) text/conclusions (eg Pgs 5,17) in the attachment are not in total agreement with the data shown. Curious.
It is also interesting to note the difference in conclusions with those shown in the link in Post 2.
Just responding to Ryan - Charm products are available in NZ - have used them in a previous company there.
I have had the opportunity to use MVP Lightning, Charm and 3M Biotrace. I have not used Neogen but the current unit they have looks promising on paper. Honestly, each unit we have used seemed to work well. For us it came down to the customer support and price. We were using Charm for several years but there was a change in our representative and we no longer had the same level of support so when our contract was up we switched to 3M Biotrace and the support has been great with them.
A few tips we learned over the years:
- A representative should be willing to come to your facility to train employees and help you set up your unit or at least provide some type of individual help in setting up initial program maybe through Skype. They also should be available for any follow up questions.
- Suggest you look into leasing the unit from the company and request that any repairs and yearly calibrations are included in the contract to include shipping, if you can get it, so there are not any additional unexpected costs. At least get pricing for leasing versus purchasing unit and what each will come with and what the costs are for yearly calibration and any maintenance if you decide to buy instead of lease. We had purchased our units once and the cost of repairs on one of the units is what caused our company to decide to lease. You just have to consider both options and what will work best for you.
- If leasing unit be sure to request a new unit within so many years; we usually get new units with our contract renewal every 3 years.
- Also, suggest you request to try a unit for a short time to see if you like it and what kind of support they give before committing to a contract.
Thanks for your tips. Will definitely take than into consideration!
Our supplier is Charm Sciences which I doubt distributes to New Zealand. They conducted an "independent" study between their ATP and Neogen and 3M. They said their ATP swab was the most sensitive, followed by 3M and then Neogen.
Take it for what it is worth....I haven't used 3M, but I have used Neogen about 10 years and we had a lot of issues with very inconsistent ATP results from swab to swab, even though sampled same exact surface area. A lot of 0 counts where there should have been some ATP (visible buildup). Granted Neogen was relatively young at that time so maybe their swabs have improved. We ditched them after only a couple months and went back to Charm Sciences.
It appears as though the studies, assuming they are indeed independent, are just as inconsistent as the ATP tests they're studying.