I ended up comparing Heska's Cuattro system to one other company for the final decision. What finally got me to go with Cuattro was they convinced me that their “upgrades” in the future would be considerably less expensive than other options. I'm only 1.5 years into a 5-year warranty, so that remains to be seen. Hopefully, I waited long enough after the system's release to get the bugs out and avoid costly major upgrades and advances in the near future.

For financing, any company that offered zero percent financing had a leg up with me. I bought this system later in life (I'm 59), so I had enough personal money to lend the purchase price to the clinic and have the clinic pay me back at 6 percent interest. I was earning just a little over 1 percent where the money was sitting, and I had faith I'd get paid back!

The best thing about converting from film is quality of image and the ability to change the image using a computer if you didn’t get it quite right. Because of the speed, we take 25 percent more. Everyone said we would, but I was skeptical.

Instead of telling clients, “We probably don’t need to take an X-ray today,” because of the time involved, it's become, “The best thing would be to take an X-ray today.”

I feel like we're making more money today at our busy, five-doctor practice than before we bought the unit even after factoring in the monthly payment.