Even though the gel electrophoresis results are not as precise one would still be able to rule out a suspect based on a large difference in size between a sample found at a crime scene and a known suspect’s sample. And then you would probably check more sites than just DS180. Im guessing the chip can then be used if samples look like they somewhat match but to really confirm.
So let me see if I get this right. You did the extraction, PCR, run the gelelectrophoresis and then take the bands from the gel and run that on the chip?