The Tundra is supposed to be aimed at the same audience as this microscope. It's Thermo's smaller, cheaper, easier to maintain microscope. They are essentially trying to close off the bottom of the market from their competitors (JEOL and Hitachi). They are rightfully concerned that if people start buying 100 kV JEOL and Hitachi microscopes to learn/screen with, they will start preferring those when they go for large data collections, and that will erode the cash king that is the Titan Krios 300 kV TEM.

It's quite new, and there are many many issues with it, from a value standpoint. First of all, its' really not much cheaper than their previous budget 200 kV Glacios, and it's not much cheaper than JEOL's 200 kV offering as well. But there are rather insane compromises that make no sense.

They are saying that you need less space for the microscope, and while that's true, you also need an additional "loading station" that is quite large and necessarily complicated, that you don't need for the 200 kV and 300 kV microscopes. As an example, the loading station is a large desk that needs its own liquid nitrogen source - not needed on other microscopes. It has a computer that loads clipped grids into an autoloading arm - not needed on other microscopes. It uses the same expensive 12-grid cassette, but you can only use I think 5 of the slots in it, and only one at a time - again, not needed on other microscopes, which can load all 12, at the same time.

The microscope needs manual nitrogen filling, you can't just hook up a tank to it. You need to manually open the microscope doors, and pour nitrogen in, which is an awful idea for new users and seriously limits its autonomy. You can't just queue things up an forget about it any longer.

So in terms of ease of use, they've added a ton of complexity, but they haven't really reduced costs all that much. It really seems like a double miss.

Where it gets insidious, though, and Thermo displays their true hand, is on the software side. This is somewhat esoteric to those not in the field, but basically Thermo has always (since they were Phillips, and later FEI), sold their microscopes with a scripting package that you can purchase. You can then use that scripting package to control basically every aspect of the microscope. That lead to the development of open source software such as SerialEM, and Leginon. Those software packages are single-handedly responsible for the automation of data collection that has enabled cryo-EM protein structures. It would not have been possible on Thermo scopes without it, and frankly, Thermo didn't have the foresight to design their software to be capable of the techniques those open source packages employ. i.e. the exploding field of cryo-EM that Thermo capitalizes on by selling many 5 million dollar Krios microscopes every year would never have existed to begin with, if it weren't for the scripting package. And every year, people come up with new, ingenious ways to use that scripting package to do new, innovative things.

Well, now with the Tundra, Thermo has gotten rid of the scripting package. You are stuck using their data collection software. You can't even manually align the microscope anymore - everything is "automated" for "ease of use". Additionally, they've introduced multiple new APIs, some of which you are required to buy separately, if you want access to specific features. Essentially, they are going for two things: artificial market segmentation, and trying to get users locked in on their software from the ground up. It has not been well received, and has severe limitations, and in my opinion, could really use an antitrust investigation.