Pipette Tips Purchase Guide

Pipettes are essential laboratory instruments in biological research, and their accessories, such as pipette tips are used in large quantities during experiments. Most pipette tips on the market are made of polypropylene plastic. However, even though they are all made from polypropylene, the quality can vary significantly, high-quality tips are typically made from virgin polypropylene, while lower-quality tips may be made from recycled polypropylene plastic.

How to Choose the Right Pipette Tips for Your Application？

Key Features of Quality Pipette Tips

1. Pipette Compatibility — Ensures easy loading, smooth ejection and securely sealed for accurate and reliable pipetting.

2. Defect-Free — The shape and surface of the tips are flawless, with good verticality, and concentricity, low CV, and low liquid retention, ensuring precise liquid handling.

3. Pure Raw Materials, No Additives — Utilizing pure materials avoids the release of contaminants that could affect experimental results.

4. Clean and Free from Biological Contamination — Tips should be free from biological risks, manufactured and packaged in a sterile, cleanroom environment (at least 100,000-class clean room).

5. Compliance with Quality Standards — High-quality pipette tips from reputable manufacturers typically come with quality certificates (pipette tips that are certified free of RNase, DNase, DNA, pyrogen, and endotoxin), confirming that contamination levels are below specified detection limits.

Precautions for Low-Quality Pipette Tips

1. Pipette tips made from inferior raw materials

Clear Tips produced from inferior materials may not be 100% pure polypropylene and may contain impurities (such as trace metals, Bisphenol A, etc.) or additives. This can result in tips that appear excessively shiny and transparent, with thick, non-elastic walls, and the potential for leachables that could affect experimental results.

Conductive Tips produced from inferior materials may result in poor seal consistency, impaired conductivity and increased risk of contamination, leading to inaccurate measurements and inconsistent results during experiments.

2. Pipette tips produced with Poor Manufacturing Process

Pipette tips produced with poor manufacturing processes may have heavily inconsistent dimensions, leading to poor seal consistency. This is particularly problematic for multichannel pipettes, where inconsistent liquid levels can affect accuracy.

3. Low-Quality Pipette Tips

Poor-quality pipette tips may feature uneven inner surfaces, flow marks, or sharp edges and burrs at the tip. These defects can result in substantial liquid residue and inaccurate liquid dispensing.

Guide to Purchasing Pipette Tips

1. Materials

Colorant Materials: Commonly known as blue pipette tips and yellow pipette tips, these are made by adding specific coloring agents to polypropylene.

Release Agents: These agents help the pipette tips detach quickly from the mold after they are formed. However, the more additives included, the increased probability of undesirable chemical reactions occurring during pipetting. Therefore, it is best to avoid additives whenever possible.

2. Packaging

The packaging of pipette tips mainly comes in two forms:

Bag Packaging and Box Packaging

3. Price

Pipette tips in bag packaging are typically divided into three price ranges:

Imported Pipette Tips: For example, Eppendorf tips cost around $60–$90 per bag, while brands like BRAND and RAININ typically range from $13–$25 per bag.

Imported Brand, Manufactured in China: A good example of this category is Axygen, with prices generally between $9–$20.

China Domestic Pipette Tips: The price for domestic tips generally ranges from $2.5–$15. (Best pipette tips manufacturer and supplier Cotaus from China, provides affordable pipette tips with good compatibility.

Additionally, box packaging and refill packs are available. Box-packaged tips generally cost 1.5 to 2.5 times more than bag-packaged tips, while refill packs are 10-20% cheaper than boxed tips.

4. Pipette Tip Specifications (Cotaus pipette tips available)

10 µL (clear tips / universal pipette tips / filter tips / extended length pipette tips)
15 µL (Tecan compatible pipette tips / filtered tips for Tecan MCA)
20 µL (robotic pipette tip / universal pipette tips)
30 µL (robotic pipette tips / Agilent compatible pipette tips)
50 µL (automation pipette tips for Tecan, Hamilton, Beckman / universal pipette tips, filter tips, clear tips, conductive tips )
70 µL (Agilent compatible pipette tips, filter tips)
100 µL (clear tips / robotic pipette tips / universal pipette tips)
125 µL (robotic pipette tips)
200 µL (extended length pipette tips / yellow tips / robotic pipette tips / universal pipette tips )
250 µL (robotic pipette tips for Agilent, Beckman)
300 µL (robotic pipette tips / universal pipette tips )
1000 µL (universal pipette tips / blue tips / extended length pipette tips / wide bore pipette tips / robotic pipette tips)
5000 µL (Tecan compatible pipette tips)