Invisible wrote:
> but beyond that I don't see why it would need to cost more. 

In the US, I'd say it's because if the device fails and all your blood 
samples warm up and you lose $1M of revenue, you could reasonably expect 
to sue the company that made the device to get your money back.

It's called "incidental damages" here.

If that's what you're paying for, then that's a big part of the price 
difference. If the company doesn't warrant that the device will actually 
work, then I couldn't say. Around here, a $20 thermometer is going to 
have a warranty that says "If it breaks, you might be able to get your 
$20 back, but that's about it."

> If it doesn't, it's a worthless piece of equipment. So... why the 
> sticker?!

Liability control. If you can't tell when it's broken, and you overdose 
someone because your mass spectrometer misread how much drug was in the 
solution, it's much more expensive than if you (say) ruin an 
experimental car engine by putting the wrong mix of fuel in it.

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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