20 Questions With
Christopher Bacon

What’s the first question you ask a practice when they call looking to buy a mini C-arm?

“What are you imaging?” That one answer tells me almost everything. Hands, wrists, feet, and ankles — that’s standard extremity work and most refurbished systems handle it perfectly. If you’re doing knees or shoulders, field of view matters more and we start looking at flat-panel detectors. Podiatrists doing bunion surgery have different needs than orthopedic surgeons doing fracture reductions. The procedure drives the machine. Never the other way around.

New vs. refurbished — what’s the honest answer?

A properly refurbished unit performs identically to a new one in clinical use — same image quality, same OEM specifications. The difference is cost. A new Orthoscan TAU 2020 can run $90,000+ or more. A fully refurbished one we’ve stripped down, rebuilt, calibrated, and burned in for 48 hours runs significantly less — and comes with our own warranty on top. The only time I’d lean toward new is if you need the absolute latest software features or a specific configuration unavailable used. For the imaging itself? Refurbished is the smart play for most practices.

How do you know if a refurbished unit was actually refurbished — or just cleaned up and relabeled?

Ask for the refurbishment report. If they can’t hand you a document showing which parts were replaced, what tests were run, and what the calibration readings were — Don’t walk but run. At Minicarm.com, every unit gets stripped completely to the casters. We replace cables, power supplies, flex arms, and anything showing wear — not just the obvious stuff. Then we reassemble, calibrate, and run it for 48 hours continuously. That burn-in catches intermittent failures before a patient is on the table. Also ask whether the unit is HIPAA compliant — patient data wiped. A lot of dealers miss that, either because they don’t care or don’t know.

“That 48-hour burn-in period is critical. It’s how you find intermittent failures before a patient is on the table.”

Image intensifier vs. flat-panel detector — does it actually matter for most practices?

For most practices doing standard extremity work, a well-maintained image intensifier delivers adequate image quality at a lower cost. Flat-panel detectors give you better image clarity, wider field of view, and lower radiation dose. For shoulder imaging, pediatric cases where radiation reduction is critical, or high-volume surgical centers — those cases justify the premium. If you’re budget-sensitive and mostly doing feet and hands, an image intensifier unit is a sound investment. If you want the most future-proof system, go flat-panel.

What’s a red flag when shopping from any vendor — not just Minicarm.com?

Any vendor who can’t provide a detailed refurbishment report, offers less than a six-month parts-and-labor warranty, avoids extended warranty options, can’t explain which components were replaced, or says shipping will take more than a few days should raise immediate red flags. Be cautious of dealers who simply resell machines they never refurbished themselves — what we call “flipping.” In those cases, you’re often inheriting the previous owner’s problems. They purchase the unit, clean it cosmetically, and ship it out looking fine, only for issues to surface a few months later. And if a seller can’t clearly explain who will service your machine, how support works, or how quickly they can be onsite when something goes wrong, that’s a serious concern. Service shouldn’t be an afterthought — it should be part of the conversation before you buy.

You resolve 85% of issues remotely. How is that possible?

Because I helped design these machines and spent a decade in the field servicing them, I know every failure mode they have. When someone calls and says “the image is grainy” or “I’m getting error XYZ” — I’ve seen that a hundred times. More often than not, it’s a settings issue, new user issue, calibration, or cable connection the user can fix with guidance in 15 minutes. We walk them through it on video if needed. The 15% that needs a technician on-site are genuine hardware failures, we also can triage most of these issues so on our first onsite visit will be our last. Keeping 85% of facilities running without waiting for a site visit is the goal. Downtime costs real money and frustration for both your staff and your patients, we completely understand this..

What’s the most common problem you see in the field — and how does preventive maintenance help?

Hardware failures — especially image quality degradation or power supplies beginning to fail — are common issues over time. Systems may get stuck in start-up, feel sluggish during operation, or show subtle drops in performance. Because these problems usually develop gradually, users often don’t notice the change until image quality declines or a surgeon calls it out. As components age, output stability can drift and overall consistency starts to fade. The good news is that most of this is manageable with regular preventive maintenance. Think of it like an oil change versus an engine rebuild — PM is the oil change, helping you catch small issues early before they turn into major downtime or costly repairs.

“Manufacturers have an incentive to sell new machines. We have an incentive to fix yours correctly, timely and budget friendly— because a happy customer calls us again and refers their colleagues.”

A practice calls — the manufacturer quoted $12,000 to fix their unit. What usually happens when you look at it?

We’ve seen this many times. The manufacturer’s default answer is often “replace the whole assembly” when the actual issue is usually significantly less expensive. We troubleshoot to the root failure — we just don’t just give a boiler plate response, that happens to be extremely expensive and in the majority of cases completely unnecessary. In some cases our video support resolves the issue. That story is on our testimonials page — the physician quoted $12,000 and we fixed it for a fraction of the cost— that’s not unusual for us. It’s pretty much every day.

How long should a properly maintained refurbished mini C-arm last?

15 to 20 years with proper maintenance. We have customers running Hologic Fluoroscan, Orthoscan and OEC units that are 15 years old and still performing well. The machine is the smaller part of the investment. What you spend on service over its life determines total cost of ownership. Machines that get a proper, knowledgeable and regular PM and that have issues addressed promptly will outlast machines that run until something goes down hard and some times catastrophically — every time. Our PM’s are not just a signed piece a paper, they are very thorough and many times catch issues that we see coming, due to our thoroughness, that the users don’t see yet.

What’s the biggest mistake practices make when buying a mini C-arm?

Buying on price alone without asking about service. I’ve seen practices save $3,000 on a unit purchase and spend $8,000 on emergency repairs six months later because the unit wasn’t properly refurbished and the dealer has no service infrastructure. The purchase price is the beginning of the relationship — not the whole thing. The right question isn’t “who has the cheapest unit?” It’s “who can support me when something goes wrong at 7am before my first OR case?”

What five questions should every practice ask any mini C-arm vendor before buying?

Simple. Ask these five, and listen carefully to how they answer:

If any vendor hesitates on any of those five, that tells you something. We answer all five immediately, because we’ve built the infrastructure to back it up.

Where is mini C-arm technology heading in the next five years?

The big changes won’t be hardware revolutions — most modern mini C-arms already use flat-panel detectors — so the real evolution is happening in software, workflow, and connectivity. Expect smarter dose-management tools, automatic system sensors and more automated image optimization that reduces the need for manual adjustments during cases. Pulsed fluoroscopy and improved low-dose imaging will continue to expand as facilities focus more on radiation safety.

Why Minicarm.com? You could have gone many directions after Orthoscan. Why this?

It started because there was a gap in the market that nobody was filling the right way. I spent a decade in the field watching practices get taken advantage of — overcharged for repairs, sold equipment that wasn’t truly refurbished, and left without real support once the sale was done. I knew the technology inside and out, and I could see exactly where the industry was falling short. Minicarm.com was built to change that — real refurbishment, real service, honest pricing, and a team of friendly, fully trained experts who actually answer the phone when you need them. When a surgeon calls at 7 a.m. because their unit is down before the first case and we have them back up and running in 20 minutes over a video call — that’s the part of this work that means the most to me. That level of responsiveness isn’t something a generalist dealer can replicate.