Cadwell Sierra Wave EMG Machines

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I am an unabashed Sierra Wave fan.

The lease/purchase decision is purely one for you and your accountant. I purchase all capital equipment provided I have the cash. Just my preference because the effective interest rates are really high on most medical leases.

I use reusable electrodes and concentric needles (I'm cheap, but not that cheap), and can always tell when the electrodes are going bad by the 60hz noise with my Sensory studies.

I would buy directly from Cadwell (I buy all my stuff from them)-GREAT customer service, quick turnaround time. If I'm spending a buck or two more, so be it. They are a wonderful company to work with.

I am a nobody. A solo practitioner in Rural Oklahoma. They treat me like I am their most important client.
 
Cadwell is great. Our group tends to buy all of our equipment, so I can't really comment on the lease v purchase option.

I've used disposable and reusable electrodes, and with picking up a few tips/tricks here and there, I'm actually faster with the reusables.
 
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I lease my first wave, bought my second. It depends on your financial situation. Discuss with your accountant.

Buy from Cadwell. The service they provide is second to none - fast and reliable. They can solve most issues over the phone, and if not, within warranty will provide a loaner free of charge, out of warranty for a small rental fee (<$100 for a week usually, often far less). They send the loaner/rental out before you send yours in, so there is no gap in unit availability.

I use disposable electrodes. They are cheap and easy to use. Ripping off all that tape for non-disposable is a PITA, to me, as is cleaning the non-disposables. I keep a full set of non-disposable, as they come with the unit, but rarely use them, except the ring electrodes.

I have the system set up so customized, I can do a routine single limb R/O CTS (median and ulnar motor, w/ F-waves, median, ulnar and radial sensory, plus needle exam) and have the report done in 15 min often. 20 minutes if we're being "chatty." A simple BLE exam this am took me 30 minutes.
 
I use a 2-channel, which works fine. A few years ago when I inquired, they said it would cost about $4000 to upgrade to a 4-channel.

The main reason I would like it is so that swapping out the ring electrodes for the bar would take less work, but it's not worth that price. Plus I have enough wires hanging around, getting tsangled, etc. I don't need more.
 
All the machines we had in training were 4 channel amplifiers. Now that I'm buying a machine, I'm racking my brains trying to think if there is anything I would actually need 4 channels for in the scope of my practice (Sports and Spine). Any opinions on whether a 2 channel amplifier should be just fine?
I use a two channel. I do Blinks, and Facial N. studies. I do rep stim exams. The only thing you need a 4 channel machine for is if you plan on doing evoked potentials.
 
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