In the coming years, genetic test results will be increasingly used as indicators that influence medical decision making. Novel instrumentation that is able to detect relevant mutations in a point-of-care setting is being developed to facilitate this increase, frequently as a spin-off from recent research in the area of biothreat monitoring. This market review will describe the current generation of instrumentation that is most suitable for use in a point-of-care setting; it will also try to identify some of the technologies that will make-up the next generation of instrumentation currently being prepared for the market.