I absolutely love our "teaching lab" 400mhz Varian NMR. It has a robotic sample changer that holds-I think-80 samples. It's actually in high demand for research use as anyone in the department(including me) will tell you it gives a better proton spectrum than the 500mhz downstairs, although the 500 does do better on two-dimensional spectra. It's bad enough that teaching labs have to reserve time at the beginning of the semester(and some research groups are notorious for wanting to run "just a quick proton" even when someone else has time reserved)The sample changer is also loaded at eye level. I'm 6'2" and can reach the top of the magnet without a ladder(it's a bit of a stretch) but the "dimensionally challenged" folks have more trouble. The sample changer is a god-send for them. It's also great to be able to queue a bunch of samples, and especially for long runs that go overnight.
Our big 700mhz(again, also Varian-both the magnet and spectrometer) has a sample changer, but it's a 10 hole turret that's on top of the magnet so you still have to climb up to get to it. The magnet is tall enough(I think it's about 9 feet tall including the feet-they had to rework the drop ceiling to be able to fit it) that there's a 6' step ladder next to it. Many folks don't bother with the changer for a single sample, although of course it's a big convenience if you have several to run. I rarely use that one-the Biochem folks have it monopolized most of the time and I rarely need that much resolution. The 500mhz doesn't have a changer, although it gets by with a 3-foot step ladder.
I still miss the old 90mhz Varian magnet where you had to press a button that "launched" the tube and turbine out which you had to catch it as it poked out the top-it would fall back down if you didn't grab it. Very few people could get it on the first try, although after using it enough I rarely missed it. Sample loading/unloading now is controlled from the computer and the magnet will hold the turbine at the top of the tube for you to go up and grab. Of course, with the computer usually 10 feet or so from the magnet and the need to climb the ladder to get to it, that's really the only practical solution.
I think everyone is really unhappy with Agilent over the whole thing. I learned GC and GC-MS on a Hewlett-Packard 5890, so have always had a really strong preference for their GCs just because of my familiarity with both the software and hardware. The Agilent 7820 we have now is a great instrument but fundamentally isn't a lot different from the 5890(in fact, I think someone who knows how to use a 5890 could probably seamlessly transition to using the current 7890). I'm so mad over the NMR thing, though, that if I have any part in the next purchase cycle Shimadzu(or anyone other than Agilent) is getting our business. We have a dozen Cary UV-Vis spectrophotometers around the department, and I'll encourage going somewhere else for them also.
It's amazing how many people Agilent screwed over with killing their NMR line, and we're not talking chump change either. If I had to guess, I'd say that Varian probably had a 60-70% market share of the US NMR market, and especially at a university you can't just ask for a new NMR every year or two. They are designed to be continually upgraded, and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect at least a 20 year service life out of one.
vNMRj isn't exactly intuitive, but it's enough of a defacto standard and is so familiar to so many people that killing it off isn't winning them any fans either.
