M158 Series 360-Degree Rotating Monocular Head Compound Microscope - 40X-1000X Magnification - Includes LED Light and USB 2.0 Digital Camera

Being the type of person who enjoys different things at different times, I purchased this microscope so I could look at the world that I cannot see. I had an old USB microscope which was like 30 bucks and it did not look good even at 40x. This microscope is AWESOME to say the least. This microscope compares to the ones used at the local schools and one of the hospital labs in my area. The image is clean and detailed and lets me look at everything perfectly. The only complaint I have, and it is not with the microscope itself, it is with the digital imager, is the low resolution. Once I installed the software from the disc and attached the camera, the computer recognized it right away and I was up and running within 5 minutes, most of the time was to install the software. The camera is only 640x480 so do not expect high quality images with it. Using it with the microscope at 40x, the picture is clear and I love it. Once you go to 250x, the image gets blurry because the camera cannot pick up the detail the microscope shows at this level and at 400X FORGET IT! I feel a 1.3MP or even a 2MP camera would be much better for the magnification that this microscope can achieve. I understand the cost would be more, but it would also be worth every penny. I have no tried the 25x optic since the 10x shows me what I need and want to look at right now. PROS: High Magnification Excellent Clarity Easy to use LED runs off batteries or AC power. I like the battery option so I can take it with me and make slides on the fly while out and about looking at things. CONS: USB Camera quality sucks for anything higher than 40x magnification. The microscope quality is what I was concerned about so no star reduction because of the Camera. It is nice to have for low magnification images to share with friends online. Has pointer built into objective lens and that irritates me but is handy when trying to point something out to another person. If there was an option to get rid of it, I would love it. I am not going to knock off stars because this is just a peeve for me. Conclusion: If you are going to buy this to use with a computer most of the time and want to use high magnification, skip this and go for one with a higher resolution camera. If you are going to use this with kids or the occasional digital image, this is more than enough for any household use and I would recommend it to anyone. I have already had three of my friends by this microscope for their kids and they are loving it. Kids do not care about the quality of the camera so that is a plus for it. I would certainly buy this microscope again but I would skip this exact one with the camera and get the one without it since I am not going to be using it often enough.

This is a great little scope. I'm using it for a basic home schooling lab. I'm not a professional biologist. I majored in physics, but I took 7 semesters of biology, including microbiology, in college so I've spent some time looking through microscopes. I was really impressed with the camera. It makes teaching way easier because I can point out things on the screen rather than having to manipulate the slide where the pointer is indicating what I'm talking about, and it was super easy to set up. The only feature I wish this scope had would be an x, y adjustable stage. It's really a pain to try to adjust the slide manually especially at high magnification. Also, at the highest magnification, the objective lens is incredibly close to the slide. I know it's always going to be close, but this is closer than I'm used to. Be very careful, and always start at lower magnification and work your way up. Those minor gripes aside, I don't think you're going to find a better scope for the money. This is a solid beginner to intermediate scope, and you can definitely get some great educational value out of it. I have some plant leaf cross sections, and they look crisp and clear like pictures in a text book through the camera. It's really easy to point out features like vascular bundles, stomata, and all of the different types of cells. Obviously, the quality of your slides are going to be just as important as the quality of the microscope. When I've had an issue seeing something it has consistently been the quality of the specimen that has held me back, and not the quality of the scope itself. There are most definitely better scopes out there, but not at this price point. It feels durable, it's got some heft to it. The stage adjustment knobs turn smoothly with a good amount of resistance, and they stay where you put them. One issue I have is that there is no light source above the stage. There is a light source below the stage. I was a little frustrated with this because the picture of the product clearly shows a light source above the stage. So if you're viewing opaque specimens, you're going to need to provide your own light source. That's not a huge problem as I have light sources I can use for that. Note that there are two different pictures for the item. There is the picture at the top of the page, and the picture in the product description. Those pictures are of two different scopes. The picture in the product description is the scope you get, not the one at the top of the page. I deducted a star for that because I felt it was a little misleading. That's a marketing error, and not a manufacturing defect, or problem with the scope itself though.

Got this microscope and was able to install and use it quite easily. My reason for the low rating is that the eye glass came broken and the software CD that is supposed to provide the software and drive to view the microscope image on your computer came BLANK. But for these two issues, I think the scope is great, let me see if the customer service comes through with replacement, then will change my rating. First thing, apologies for saying the eye piece was broken, apparently it is a needle provided for a reason! The customer service was able to provide a link to download the software and the interface works great. I have had a lot of fun using the scope now with all the functionality and honestly very impressed. One thing I am learning quickly though is that getting to focus an image with the highest resolution or even at high resolution is a lot of patience and delicate movement. One small issue I have with the camera is the resolution, the image looks better using the eye piece than on the screen of you computer, of course this is a function of the camera resolution not being high, but for the price I don't think one can ask for more. One additional issue was the point of power plug in on the microscope, it seems to have come loose and moved in and I will have to see if I can connect, else will have to depend on the battery to power the lamp. Overall, its a good buy. I give it 5 stars because of the customer service and overall bang for the buck, but of course it is made in China and one will have to live with some defects.

Love love love this scope. 1000x is more than adequate level of magnification that I needed, and it is awesome seeing it all on the computer screen where you can save photos. I did not get the higher quality resolution for the computer screen and do think that this one is more than enough. The body is heavy and made of metal. The only problem I had in the beginning was that the stage limitor dial was not set correctly so I could not focus very well on some things. It does not come with model specific directions so you are left to figure things out on your own or download instructions online. BUT - it was easy enough to figure out and I am no genius. I had emailed the company about this and they did respond to me within 24 hours (but I had already figured out the solution, I was worried my scope had a manufacturer defect). Their customer service was excellent. Overall it was well worth the money for a very very decent scope from a good company.

The rating is misleading here. This is not about the function of the device, but how it was marketed, and what was provided to get me started. 1 - Was the item easy to open? No. There were no instruction outside of the box to guide a user as how to open a sensitive box like this, with sensitive parts. 2 - Was there an instructional guide to put the device together, an assembly instruction? No. You are selling a device to a first time user, not an expert in microscope. There you missed the notion of marketing in the first place. 3 - Was there an instructional guide for making the proper connection for getting start? No. There is no guidance in the box, nor on the website, as how to connect this device to the computer, what each gadgets on the device would do, and how to proceed with a test. This is not a gift for a middle school kids who needs clear instruction. 4 - A brochure is included in the box, which is useless, since the model number is no where on the box, on the device, nor in the brochure. I had to spent time to search your website for 20 minutes to find the right match. This is terrible marketing and also product with no guide. If Amazon would have not had the info on their website, I would be lost here. 5 - The CD that came with the package has only the software information, not the hardware assembly guidance. What good a surgery guidance would do, if you don't know how to use scalper?????????? 6 - The package content is not even matching with what the company introduces on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shzLj51FDis The eye piece which is attached to the body does not have a screw for fixing the and holding the lenses attachments. So the screw driver that the YouTube is using is not in the box. I take it this was a defect, and this was the way they come up with this sale price. 7 - There is no slide and cover slip for a specimen.

Look if you're like me and you want to get a microscope to blow your kids mind with science, this is a good one to get. Its sturdy, easy to use and powerful. My 7yo was screaming with excitement when she saw the little life forms swimming around in a drop of water from a potted bamboo plant. Worth the price.

Hello - I bought this microscope for my children to use for their science fair projects. Overall I am quite happy with it. The item was delivered quickly. Upon opening everything up, I realized that you need to have a code to download the user manual. If you order the item from Amazon, the code to download the manual will be on the packaging box. So don't throw away the box right away. Setting up the microscope was fairly easy. The reason we bought this model was because of the ability to hook it up to the USB port on a computer. This really makes it easier to see, instead of straining through a tiny eyepiece. Although as others have said, the resolution on the USB camera is limited, it works really well for what we needed it for. Some other minor points: 1) The LED light that is used to illuminate the microscope is fairly weak. There is a diaphragm under the stage that can be used to adjust how much light comes through. I wish there was some way to manually adjust the brightness of the LED instead of relying on the diaphragm. 2) The LED light burned out after only about a month worth of use. I think this is because my son forgot to turn it off one night (the LED is so faint that it is easy to forget that the light it still on). Overall its a really nice microscope and will work well for most needs. I've used higher end microscopes in the hospital before that cost thousands of dollars. Although the higher end microscopes do have better features, this does the job quite well for rudimentary purposes.

Worked well.