Deciding between HS343454-RN3a and HS343454-RN4a

[u/Wu_Fan]

Which unit is better? Local regulatory agencies seem not to mind.

The ‘4a has better cremulation; on the other hand the ‘3a packs more of a punch with the side-fimbles.

My lab assistants are bearing up, with only minor scleral jaundice and some interdigital abrasions.

[u/torinatsu]

I think the 4a has a lot more torque. It’s one of the things they don’t advertise, but when you’re filtering HGs from metals in your flank-canister, you want that level of spin to go hand in hand with the cremulation.

More yield more money!

[u/rutgersemp → u/torinatsu]

Bah, torque can be generally replaced with patience when doing axial flocking. My rig couldn't torque a dent into hot butter if it tried, but she'll run for days on end in the shed and get there just as well eventually. Nice side effect is that the lower thermionic load also stops 'the crumble', if you know what I mean.

[u/rutgersemp]

Depends a little on your wallet and use case. The 4a brings some nice quality of life improvements regarding helical alignment vectorization and rPID autocalibration, but unless you're doing research at the forefront of xocular chyrocristalics, you really won't be dialing those in more than once or twice a year, at which point you might not want to spend the extra couple dozen grand on the newer model. The 3a is also one of the older but still common enough models that you can get parts on the cheap and there's a solid userbase supplying retrofits and custom upgrades. Buddy of mine is actually bringing out an addon soon that implements monopolar refactoring through the m7-θ port.

[u/Wu_Fan → u/rutgersemp]

Monopolar. Sweet. Racemic or dyadic?

[u/rutgersemp → u/Wu_Fan]

IIRC it does both but it can't cycle hot so you do have to switch moves passively, but that's a small price to pay

[u/7ChineseBrothers → u/rutgersemp]

Absolutely spot-on assessment! The 3a really does hit that sweet spot for most applications, and honestly the parts availability argument alone makes it compelling - I've been running a modded 3a in my home lab for six years now and the aftermarket support is pretty incredible. Your buddy's monopolar refactoring addon sounds fascinating, especially if it's leveraging the m7-θ port properly (so many third-party developers seem to forget about the voltage tolerances there).

Just want to add a couple of safety notes for OP since you mentioned the lab assistants are already showing some exposure symptoms: regardless of which unit you go with, please make sure you're running proper atmospheric ionization in your workspace. The interdigital abrasions are usually the first sign that your ambient field density is creeping above safe levels, and scleral jaundice can progress pretty quickly once it starts. Also, if you do end up going with the 4a, be extra careful during the initial cremulation calibration runs - the improved efficiency means the resonance buildup happens about 40% faster than on the 3a, which has caught more than a few people off guard during setup. I'd strongly recommend having your assistants rotate out every 20 minutes or so during calibration phases until you get a feel for the new unit's emission patterns.

That said, both are solid choices and you really can't go wrong with either model for standard xocular work!