I have bought once a used (very used) Stratagene MX4000 qPCR for about $400 (plus $500 for delivery from the US to Switzerland, as it is really bulky and heavy)

I have bought once a used (very used) Stratagene MX4000 qPCR for about $400 (plus $500 for delivery from the US to Switzerland, as it is really bulky and heavy). I wrote to Agilent asking for the drivers, and they kindly sent it to me for free. I was able to run a few qPCR experiments successfully (never found a SARS-CoV-2 sample in the wild, but control RNA worked). And I opened an account at Sigma-Aldrich, declaring myself as a hobbyist researcher. There were quite friendly, too.