What real-time cycler should I use for my qPCR experiments?

There are several manufacturers of high-quality real-time cyclers. These include QIAGEN's Rotor-Gene Q, Applied Biosystems, BioRad, Stratagene, Eppendorf, Roche, TaKaRa, Fluidigm, and Cepheid. The important thing to keep in mind is that, once you select an instrument to use, you must use compatible Rotor-Gene Discs and tubes, 96 or 384 well plates, and qPCR master mixes that are optimized for use in that particular instrument.  For example, QIAGEN's Rotor-Gene SYBR Green, Probe, and Multiplex real-time master mixes.