Digital Microscope

Reviews

I've had mine for about a week. The adjustments aren't smooth; actually they are rather sticky. When adjusting the viewpoint it moves up or down laterally or in an oblique so you don't keep the same view. With my microscope there was a piece of something (maybe a piece of black plastic) stuck to the optics that is not easily removeable. It creates an irritating obstruction. The video camera is placed on an unadjustable section or rather it is screwed into place. You have to turn the whole microscope to adjust magnification. The construction and finish are very cheap. Plastic pieces press fit together and finished, internally, with some form of gray paint. With software issues: I have XP...there were no problems, the window should have been expandable to view object details with clarity.

It does not support the mac, and the software will constantly die when in windows 7, even though it says that is supported. You can also tell that a lot of corners were cut with this, as it is completely plastic, and I already see some cracks on it even though it has barely seen any use.

My 12 year old has been having a lot of fun looking at slides he has made.

A great microsope for a beginning scientist. Being able to attach it to a computer makes it so much easier for the young scientists to use.

Perfect for beginner, light weight, durable, easy to use, needs ON OFF switch for light, rather than turn reflector/light around. Overall worth the money.

Reviews

PROS: - USB powered; no power cables or batteries required. - Stand included - LED lighting with 3 modes (off, low, bright) - Video Capture capability - Snapshot capability - Adjustable focus CONS: - Stand isn't heavy enough to allow full extension of boom - Short focal length makes it tedious to view objects with varying depth levels - Focal adjustment knob tends to readjust for a few moments after being set MYTHS: - Myth: Video capture mode similar to a cheap webcam - Truth: It's quite nice, indeed. Simply adjust the framerate with the included software. 90fps looks great. I like this little gizmo and I consider myself quite particular when it comes to electronics. Definitely worth the cost, although it's not "lab quality" equipment. If you want lab quality, then avoid USB microscopes altogether ;)

Considering that this product is only about $50, I am pretty impressed. I had a difficult time finding drivers that would make this work with the Mac - iChat would see it as a USB web cam, but that wouldn't let me do digital zoom. I tried a number of different programs that work for very similar products, such as the Dino-Lite, but to no success. Finally, I ran across "miXscope", by Eric Hangstefer, of EdH Software. It supports this USB microscope as a QuickTime capable device, and lets you do digital zoom, take snapshots, video, timelapse sequences, and more. The combination of this microscope and miXscope got me what I was after. The images produced are decent -- once focused, you can see quite a lot of detail. I bought this to do some kitchen table examinations of bugs and leaves and things with my son (8) and his cousins. They had a great time. Examining the legs, wings, and shells, of cicadas, flies, beetles, etc was fun and interesting. In short, for the price, I think this is an excellent product, especially for sharing with kids. The lens is well protected by the clear ring of plastic around the lights, and I've dropped it onto the floor a few times with no apparent ill effects. I have only two minor complaints with this product. 1. I wish the lights were better & brighter. With supplemental lighting, it's good. 2. The stand that comes with it has no heft to its base at all, so it's too easy to move out of position. I suggest attaching it to a heavier base such as piece of wood or just taping it to the table while in use to keep it motionless.

The Digital USB Microscope Video Camera I purchased works just as it is supposed to. However, the software is not entirely Windows XP compatable, and my system has become somewhat unstable since I loaded the software to run the microscope.

I hunted for the best digiscope for the money all over ebay, amazon, onlinesciencemall, shopping dot com and others. This appears to be it. Here are the highlights: -I am able to get a good focus & resolution shot at 100x; beyond that it's a bit fuzzy. 100x means that 1/16 inch wide part shows up as 6 inches wide on the screen. That's good enough. You can just double the zoom on the screen after that. -taking a movie is the best option; start the movie by clicking the mouse on "start capture". Playback the movie on windows media player and take a screenshot (printscreen saves the image to clipboard). Copy to word (right-click, paste)or openoffice then export the file to .pdf to reduce the file size. This works fine. -The movies are very large size. 300MB in one example. The file could be uploaded to Google docs as opposed to emailing this behemoth. -An improvement would be to take a snapshot with the mouse as well. It's impractical to press the red button without going out of focus. It's possible to tape the red button shut and just keep the last shot. -The scope lights stay on, but the lighting of the live image is controlled on the screen. Thus there is decent lighting control, although it could be improved. - I would not buy a model without the stand. I use business cards to shim the height as necessary. -It runs on the power from the USB; no batteries or other power supply nec. -This is adequate for preliminary and possibly final forensic photos. It is not the best device, and certainly no match to the lab stereomicroscope. It does however, pick up where the microphoto camera leaves off and can save time/expense in sending the part to a lab. -If you are a forensic scientist or engineer (like me) I'd say it's a great companion to a portable laptop and worthy of the forensic toolkit. -Again, I believe it's the best bang for the buck, not the best.

Nice little microscope, picture is reasonable Its actually a very high quality stand it comes with, and does not look at all cheap. Very educational, we keep it plugged into the PC, and my kids love looking at things from the garden Picture is reasonable quality, and does produce some nice close up pictures. We were quite pleased with this, does the job very well as a microscope. Just adjust the focus wheel, and picture comes into focus, image is quite sharp, when focused correctly Had no problem connecting it to PC, dont know what others are complaining about. Money well spent on an educational thing, for children (4.5 star rating)

Reviews

You get what you pay for. This is a toy, not an instrument to encourage and/or teach a child about science. I'd categorize it with the toy doctor kits on the market. If your child is really interested in microscopy, then get something with decent optics(glass) and a bit more heft(metal). I'm really surprised that Meade, a leading optics manufacturer, endorses this product. It's the reason I bought it.

I expected the microscope to be at least functional, but it wasn't. The light would not turn on when turning the mirror (yes, I did put in batteries and the light did work, but not the way it was supposed to). Very difficult to focus through the eyepiece. I returned it.

I bought this for Xmas for my 10 year old granddaughter. Not only does she love it, but her 3 sisters, ages 7 through 14, also have been loving it. The kit comes with everything you need to start discovering, except for batteries. After looking at scrapings from under their finger nails, they don't bite them anymore. Disgusting but effective in breaking a bad habit.

I agree that the microscope is of awfully poor quality. Also the light is too sharp and it hurts to even look through the scope. I don't think the scope itself has any metal in it; it consists of that plastic that is made to look like metal. It isn't very expensive compared to other (real) microscopes, but it's definitely more of a novelty and just won't hold up long as a real tool.

This kit comes with everything your little scientist needs to get started exploring the microscopic world. We did purchase some extra pre-made slides, but the package hasn't even been opened yet! I only gave this kit 4 out of 5 for durability because in the first two days we went through BOTH of the light bulbs provided. They each burned out after about 30 minutes of use. Not sure why this is, but we are going to try to find replacements. However, the mirror light source works well too, but must be used during the day.

Reviews

For the price, this is one heck of a microscope! Good quality optics combined with an awesome slide stage (the caliper based movement makes moving the subject just slightly even at 1600x magnification). It takes decent quality jpg snapshots and "just worked" with Mac OS X. The micrscope also comes with a really good quality hard sided zippered case and global power adaptors. The instructions kind of suck; they don't make it clear that digital zoom only works if you also set the snapshot resolution less than the native 1600x1200, for example. The one design issue is that the buttons have a good solid >click< to them. Why is this a problem? Because at higher magnifications, pushing the snapshot button can cause the image to blur as vibration is transferred to the optics.

For the price (less than $200.00 at Amazon) this is an fine little microscope, solidly built, portable (with a light-weight, well-designed case), easy to set up, and simple to use. The manual is clearly written and useful (except for at least one minor error: the camera icon is not on the lower left but upper left of the LCD screen ["Taking Images" p. 7]). The camera functions well. The high resolution still images I took (of blood and blue cheese) are fairly clear, and the videos of a tiny drop of aquarium water show an astounding assortment of active (albeit soon to die) microorganisms, probably in better focus than the ones observed by Leeuwenhoek. I now know why my fish seem to do well even if I forget to feed them. Illumination is appropriate, though clearly best suited for viewing transparent or semi-transparent specimens. I was especially surprised by the large amount of internal memory which, coupled with the video file format (3GP, normally used in mobile phones) permits a stunning number of image and video files to be stored. Downloading to a computer using a USB cable (supplied) is very easy - the camera simply shows up as a removable disk. If necessary, shareware conversion programs for 3GP to AVI or MPG format can be found and downloaded in a matter of minutes. The date default setting to January 9, 2031 is, however, more than a bit futuristic and might be a bug. The microscope I ordered did not suffer from the black spot on the monitor mentioned by several reviewers. I recommend this microscope for anyone who doesn't expect to get a $2000 instrument for one tenth of the price.

This is a present I brought for my son, it is very easy to use and also has a good quality. My son like it so much!

I had an ordinary optical "200x" microscope and saw a few shaky, interesting things in a drop of water on a glass slide, I but had no good way to take a photo. Holding a digital camera up to the eyepiece was problematic at best. I'd heard of USB microscopes that connected to a PC, such as the QX3. Checking the reviews on Amazon quickly dissuaded me from that. Then I found the Celestron 44340. It had a built-in 2MP digital camera. Images were saved to internal memory and transferred to the PC via USB cable, or to a SD card. I was also concerned about getting good images. In books like Guide to Microlife (ISBN 0-531-11266-7), there were excellent photos in darkfield illumination, as well as the usual brightfield. The Celestron 44340 did both, although darkfield only worked at the 4x and 10x objectives. I got a set of glass slides, glass cover slips, some depression slides, eyedroppers, and containers. After the summer rains, there were many places to collect samples, as well as from shorelines of rivers and lakes. I was able to successfully image in brightfield and darkfield rotifers, amoebas, flatworms, copepods, ostracods, shrimp hatchlings, vorticella, bursaria, diatoms and algae, and a variety of fast-moving ciliates. In addition to digital photos of up to 2 megapixels in size, I also recorded movies of a few seconds to a few minutes, sometimes switching between 4x magnification to 10x or 40x to get more details, and even switching between brightfield and darkfield. If I found something interesting, I could use software to extract a still image. The only CON I can think of is that when the microscope is turned off then back on, the internal date and time resets to 1/9/2031 8:00 PM, so any photos or movies taken all have that date, unless you manually set it every time.

This product is great! I got it for my two kids (7 & 8 yrs old) for Christmas. They loved it!! It's so nice to have the LCD display instead of looking through a small hole...expecially since my son has eye problems. The magnification is awesome. We looked at money, salt, hair, and the slides that come with the microscope. The microscope is made well (not plastic) and it comes with a great storage bag to keep it safe. This is awesome for school aged kids. I'm buying more prepared slides because my kids are so excited about learning with this "toy".

Reviews

The box of glass slides feel "special and grown up." Gave a micrsoscope and Usbourne microscope book to my daughter for 7th birthday. She is wild about it all.

I purchased this set of slides for my daughter's eighth birthday. They were great! It is now a year later and she still looks at them. How many kids... heck, how many ADULTS can say that they've seen what a dog intestine looks like!?!? Each slide is clearly labeled with what it is and there is an index card that you can browse instead of taking out each slide. The box is a nice quality and feels somewhat like the quality used in high school and college chem sets. If I had to think of a drawback, I would have to say that it is the cost versus selection. Now, I do understand that each slide is made by hand, one by one. There is no way to construct something like this mechanically. So, that WILL increase the cost. However, with only 25 slides, they may get a bit boring for an adult after seeing them a few times with the same microscope. And, although Celestron makes other sets, as well as a larger "combo set," the cost of buying every one of them is a bit daunting. Overall, they are a great starter set with the quality you would hope for. I am not disappointed at all and will eventually purchase all of the remaining sets.

Wonderful looking slides, all two of them considering that the other 23 slides were completely destroyed. The box does seem to be to big for something that is this fragile to be shipped in the mail. Would be better if purchased in the store where you can make sure they don't get destroyed.

Great for classroom and home use. Comes in a wooden box to hold each individual slide. Excellent value for product and money.

My mom got these slides along with the duo-scope for my daughter about a year ago. She has loved looking at all the different structures which are easily visible with the stains used. I am a scientist myself and have been helping her 4th grade teacher with science each week. These slides have been wonderful to demonstrate many of the topics we have covered. There are both longitudinal and cross sections of plants which nicely demonstrate tubules in plant stems, there is one of pollen. All of these have helped the topics "come alive" to students as they can actually see in the microscope what we are talking about, not just a picture in a book. Human body is covered in 5th grade and I'm sure I'll be using these next year to assist in teaching that as well. If you are a teacher or homeschooling parent you may want to consider these for your class!

Reviews

Very fun, very durable (it's been dropped numerous times onto hardwood floors), and quite entertaining for all ages!!! My kids sometimes catch me using it without them!! :o)

My kids love this little microscope to look at bugs and stuff. Its cheap, light, battery included and inspires scientific interest. Wish I had one as a kid.

Got this based on the blurb on CoolTools. The 20-40x magnification lets you see a surprising amount of detail; more useful and interesting than I expected. LED is well-positioned, plenty bright enough, and nicer white color than the old incandescents that cheap microscopes were always saddled with. Cheap, unfussy, and very easy to use; enough so that my five-year-old has used it to examine every flat surface and textile in the house, plus hair, paper, her own fingerprints...it's been a stream of "Oh! That's amazing! Look at that!" No idea on battery life; the momentary light switch (you have to hold it on) is a little frustrating when you're trying to focus on something tricky, but on the other hand it won't be left on either. Oh! Make sure to look at a "white" pixel on your LCD or iPhone. Highly recommended. If this breaks, we'll buy another.

For the price, this thing is great. I'm not super worried about damaging it, it's light, and the LED puts enough light on the subject to see things well.

I bought this pocket microscope for viewing gold ore samples in the field and general viewing of small objects. It works great. It is a bit awkward to handle as the light needs to be held on continuously while viewing and adjusting the focus, but this prevents prematurely killing the batteries by forgetting and leaving the light on. I can't say this is not a good feature as I have killed the batteries on my other one and they run as much as $5 each. Cheaper hearing aid batteries may work in place of the more expensive electronics batteries. They did on my other one. They will need to be the same physical size. The LED illumination is important to me as the battery life is much longer than with conventional lights.

Reviews

Does what it is supposed to do, magnify. Little depth of field so hard to use to see details on a large 3-d item (one that does not lie flat).

This little microscope so very much out performs its price tag. We're completely happy with it. The software installed on Vista with no effort, the scope itself works beautifully. Captured images are excellent. While every aspect could use a little tweaking, it's a ridiculous bargain as is and we've already (1st day) spent hours using it. Five Stars. If we had spent five times as much, we would only knock off one star for value. BTW: amazon's price is the best we found.

I am waiting to use this product till Christmas it is a present for my 5 year old. She loves microscopes and hopefully she can do this by herself! :O) once she gets into the microscope activity she can play for hours. :O) I am hoping it will make her more excited about science! We will see! UPDATE!!! AWESOME!!!! For my 5 year old this product is awesome!!! She pretends she is on CSI NCIS or Bones or something in the like she can pretend she is doing some feild work then reports to me on the "computer" image... too cute... this has peaked her interest in the feild of science, and biology. She "hunts" for anything that can be magnified, she even took a picture of her tounge. Its so cool... I feel that if you have anyone that is interested in microscopes this product is perfect! you dont have to "focus" the image, it does it for you automaticly.

This little machine is amazing. Only wish that zoom was more clear, but it sure beats the heck out of the regular scopes. Not hard to use and everyone gets to be amazed at once. No more missing out on things. Pretty much plug and play. Very nice price and fast shipping.

This microscope works in Linux by installing the "microdia" webcam drivers. It has the 0c45:6270 webcam chipset. Just search Google Groups for microdia and follow the instructions there.

Reviews

Celestron has never failed to amaze me with their products. I needed a way to economically perform visual inspections of surface mount electronic assemblies and they provided me with the right equipment. Well done. Surface Mount Technology - Principles and practice, Second Edition

This is the second Celestron microscope that I've returned right after receiving it. This is no more than a cheap toy. First off, it is incredibly small (~2.5") and all plastic. There is no stand or base provided so you have to hold it by hand. Given its lighness, resting it on its front end enables it to move with the slightest distubance. The hand held aspect means that keeping the distance from the objective to object constant is virtually impossible as is necessary for viewing at high magnifications. That didn't really matter because for some reason the device would not focus at higher magnifications anyway. The only images I was able to reliably view were those of macro objects such as fingernails and coins, on the lowest magnification settings. The included software did not work on a Mac and performed poorly on a PC. The help menu only suggested that the generic 'webcam' setting be used for a Mac without any real description of how to configure it. The digital picture had very poor contrast in the image. The previous Celestron microscope I purchased had to be returned because it would not focus at any point other than at the extreme top end of its travel. ie, objects with any thickness at all were permanently out of focus (eg a leaf). Save your money and get a real optical microscope. There are some excellent all metal ones from amscope with high quality glass optics and quality machining available for $135 on ebay.

I believe that there is a problem with using this microscope at high-power in that the magnification-level slider can hang up on an edge. If you don't push it down all the way it will not focus. The slider (on mine at least) seats about 1/8" over the edge. Once I got that worked out with a little extra push and wiggle it was able to focus. As for the microscope in general, so far so good. The software loaded easily and runs well on a computer running Vista. At the lower power magnification in particular we've gotten some great images. The higher magnification works ok, the images are not quite as sharp but still acceptable for the money. I've downloaded a high-power capture we got without a lot of fuss. It's a little difficult to focus at the higher power; twisting the focus ring generally causes the microscope to move enough for you to temporarily lose whatever it is you were focusing on. My biggest concern and the reason I haven't given it another star is durability. It doesn't seem to be extremely sturdy; the potential for an early demise is there especially with children using it. It's advertised for 13 years and up but even at that age I'd be a bit concerned. That said, we're happy with the purchase so far. The microscope has worked as advertised. I don't think there's anything better out there for this price.

This is my second attempt to get an inexpensive 'microscope' for my kids (ages 6 & 8. At the lowest power it is OK - I could not get it to focus at any higher power. And think about it, at a higher power, one just could not "hold it by hand" and get focus. It might be OK for doing things as advertised - (at low power) - i.e. look at coins, rocks, etc. The 'camera' part works OK - again at low power, but I only used it a couple of times. As for viewing prepared 'biological' slides, it is OK at the lowest power where you can set the thing directly over the slide. For the lower power levels, just get a jeweler's loupe (and save a lot of money).