The UltraSlim Blue Light LED Transilluminator. The best option for mini and midi gels! Made for researchers!
Year end savings! On sale and free shipping through December 31, 2024!
There are many choices for a blue light transilluminator and there is a reason this system is one of our best sellers.
The UltraSlim Blue LED Transilluminator offers exceptional value at this price point. In fact, with its competitive price, high build quality, and "just right" LED brightness, we think this is the best system for your research efforts and funds.
This compact, ultra-slim device is perfect for imaging DNA gels up to 12 cm x 10 cm stained with various safe dyes.
Key Features:
Compatible with multiple DNA stains:
SYBR Safe
Ethidium Bromide (EtBr)
Gel Green
UltraPower DNA Safe Dye
Midori Green
MaestroSafe stain
108 high-intensity, side-illuminated 470 nm blue LED bulbs
Outstanding signal-to-noise ratio
Optional white light pad available
Adjustable amber viewing screen for clear visualization and easy band extraction
Benefits:
Compact design saves laboratory space
Suitable for various "safe" DNA stains
Excellent gel visibility for accurate analysis
Versatile functionality with optional white light pad
The UltraSlim Blue LED Transilluminator combines affordability, compact design, and high-quality imaging capabilities, making it an ideal choice for researchers and laboratories working with DNA gel electrophoresis gels.
Imaging Hood included with every system
An imaging hood is included as standard with every system. The imaging hood provides a simple and affordable way to capture images of your gels directly onto a mobile device.
Optional White Light Panel makes the UltraSlim Blue LED transilluminator even more versatile!
Do you work with protein gels? A white light panel is now available with the UltraSlim. This enables scientists to view and image nucleic acid and protein gels with a visible stain such as Coomassie blue or Silver Stain. The white light panel can be used external to the system or can be placed in the UltraSlim Blue LED Illuminator.
Safe to use and does not damage DNA
Despite the increased interest in "safe/non-toxic" DNA gel stains such as SYBR Safe or GelGreen, many labs still use UV transilluminators on the bench. Exposure to UV can cause sunburns to skin or eyes. Additionally, UV can accidentally crosslink and damage your DNA. As the UltraSlim uses blue light, there is no risk of sunburn or damage to DNA. Simply put, this is a safer system to use on the bench.
Will I see my bands? Yes, you will!
This is a commonly asked question and concern from anyone looking at purchasing a blue light transilluminator online. The picture above was captured at a customer lab in Cambridge, MA. It is an image of a DNA gel stained with SYBR Safe placed on an UltraBright blue light transilluminator (the larger version of the UltraSlim).
As you can see from the reflection on the screen, this image was captured with the lights on in the room. In fact, the system was placed directly under a ceiling light. The UltraSlim blue LED transilluminator is ultra bright!
GFP positive and negative clones on a colony plate on the UltraSlim Blue LED Illuminator. Image courtesy of Christopher P.
1. No Separate Pieces. No Need to Purchase or Share (eww!) Amber Viewing Glasses
The UltraSlim has an attached variable position viewing screen/cover. Should you wish to extract bands from gels, simply lift the cover to a comfortable viewing angle and it will remain in place. The cover never touches your gels. Additionally, you do not need to worry about losing a separate cover or glasses with the UltraSlim.
2. High Sensitivity Using 108 high intensity LEDs, the UltraSlim-LED illuminates a wide range of samples, producing fluorescence in even the faintest of bands. The illumination is high intensity and uniform, giving high quality images for publication or analysis.
3. Outstanding value
Every UltraSlim Blue LED illuminator ships with an imaging hood and .2mL of MaestroSafe Nucleic Acid Loading Dye. This makes it an outstanding value for the lab as it provides a complete gel staining, visualization and imaging solution at an incredibly low cost.
4. Build Quality.
Despite the affordable price, what separates the UltraSlim from other systems at this price point is the build quality. This system is made from high quality materials that are built to withstand the rigors of day to day use in the lab. Many of our happiest customers are researchers who purchased a similarly priced system that did not last a year. Don't make that mistake. We stand behind the quality of the UltraSlim and it is backed by a one-year repair or replace warranty.
1. How even is the illumination? The UltraSlim Blue LED transilluminator is very compact and has two arrays of 54 high intensity 470nm blue LEDs. As the UltraSlim illuminates samples from the side, it provides a low signal to noise ratio (S/N) and extremely even illumination throughout the entire sample. A built-in filter/lid provides the optimum viewing conditions and is ideal for band cutting. Some blue light transilluminators use bulbs, which create "peaks and valleys" of light intensity.
2. What is the wavelength of the LED bulbs? The wavelength of the LED bulbs is 470nm.
3. What is the life of the LED bulbs? The bulb life is ~30,000 hours (continually).
4. What is the warranty? The UltraSlim Blue LED transilluminator carries a one-year warranty.
5. What if the UltraSlim stops working? We are an authorized Maestrogen distributor and we stock spare parts in our New Hampshire, USA facility. In the unlikely event you experience an issue with the UltraSlim, you can ship the system to us for a repair. If it is still under warranty, it is covered 100%. If it is not under warranty, there will be a small charge for the repair. The average repair cost is $125.00.
6. Who uses the UltraSlim blue light transilluminator? This system is used by many life science research laboratories. Universities, government labs, teaching laboratories, biotech and pharmaceutical labs have all purchased the UltraSlim.
7. Are blue LED illuminators better than UV? This is a commonly asked question and the answer in some cases would be yes! Of course it really depends on the type of stain you are working with. For example, "safe" stains would be more optimally excited using a blue light. On the other hand, Ethidium bromide is more optimally excited using UV light. You can still see EB stained gel bands on the UltraSlim Blue LED Transilluminator. However, they may be less intense when compared to UV excitation.
8. Is blue LED the same as UV light? No, it is not. Blue light is typically safer to use than Ultraviolet light. Blue light does not burn skin or eyes. It also will not crosslink your DNA. That being said, you should still follow all lab and OSHA safety guidelines when using the UltraSlim Blue LED Illuminator.
9. What wavelength are blue LEDs? Typically the wavelength is 475nm. 10. What are some common applications of blue LED illuminators? Common applications for the UltraSlim Blue LED Transilluminator are visualizing gel bands on a nucleic acid gel, excising (cutting) DNA/RNA bands from a gel. If you use the foldable imaging hood, gel documentation using a mobile devise would be another common application.
11. What types of samples can be imaged with a blue LED illuminator? DNA gels, RNA gel, GFP colonies. Really anything that can be excited at ~475nm and has an emission peak at ~525nm.
Dimension - 21(d) x 21(w) x 3 cm
Gel size (cm) - 10 x 12
Wavelength (mm) - 470nm
Power - DC 24v 0.65A, plugs into 110V outlets
Weight - 1.3kg
Ordering information
Catalog number: NEB-SLB-01W (blue light only)/ NEB-SLB-03W (blue light and white light)
Country of origin: Taiwan
Ships from: New Hampshire
Typically ships within 24-48 hours upon receipt of order
our lab is very happy with this purchase- the size is good, the price was great, we are able to visualize the bands very well, and it is so nice to not worry about UV light as the blue light exceeds expectations for visualization.
T
Trevor Nicks
Buy this!
This is 100% worth the purchase. Significantly cheaper than traditional options while being equally effective and taking up less space.
P
Peter Gil
Great service and equipment!
The customer representative did a great job responding to my questions and then getting the package out ASAP. Highly recommend.
J
Jonas
Surprising contrast and price
Really stood out price wise when searching for new equipment and after using it I can say it produces some really nice contrasting bands in the gel, even without the photo hood it comes with.
N
Navin Pokala
relatively inexpensive, works really well!
Inexpensive compared to Fisher, VWR, etc. Works really well! Wonderful to be able to cut bands without having to wear goggles. Definitely recommend!
I really like the gel cast, very convenient and a lot less messy. The whole system works very well with the SmartDoc Imaging enclosure too. The only downsize is the size is more than I need, if we have a system that just make for one 96 wells plate plus the ladder, that would be great!!
I wrote to Transilluminators.com before purchasing to make sure the caster would work with my biorad gel trays and they confirmed this for me, which I very much appreciate! The caster works pretty well overall, and it is the only one I could find on the market at my time of purchase. Good overall experience and I would purchase from them again.
Pretty easy and safe to use - you don't have to hold iphone to take a picture of the gel with the UV light on. A cheap substitute for expensive gel imager.
Great image quality and easy to use. Perfect for a teaching lab.
Bought this for a teaching lab. Our existing system created multiple workflow bottlenecks when multiple students needed to image their gels at the same time. Taking turns using the imaging system and then having to transfer files from a shared device attached to the imager to students' accounts. This SmartDoc imaging system takes great pictures using students' phones. There's really nothing i can complain about for the quality of the image I need for the purposes of a teaching lab. The system is a fraction of the cost of a traditional lab imaging system and students are happy to have the images right on their phones for them to access. I'm getting a few more of these.
