Hello All,

 

I am about to embark on a new project which involves a world of spread plates and colony counting. I was wondering if anyone has experience of using one of those colony counting pens…

 

-Would you recommend it? (or is it a waste of money?)

 

-If you do recommend it what brand is best? (or is there little difference?)

 

-Is there such a pen which can record the count information from multiple plates? (or does it simply add up the total counts?)

 

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers!

 

 

I never felt a particular urge to use one and am not sure if they are very accurate (i.e. if they may miss a count if you do not push hard enough). I used to have a mechanical counter and a regular pen, but at some point I was faster and basically as accurate just using the pen as compared to someone using a tally counter. Still, if you can get one cheap you can try whether you like it.

 

AFAIK all just count up, so you have to write down the number before going to the next plate (usually I write the count on the bottom of the plate.)

Thank you!