UM05 Handheld USB Digital Autofocus Microscope with Steel Stand (up to 320x on 22" Monitor) and Measurement Functions

Decent desktop scope. I use it for getting close ups on bees and other insects - more than adequate for this. I love the fact you can take videos/snapshots of your samples. It is made of plastic, so feels a bit cheap, but the optics and internals are good. The autofocus generally works, but it can take awhile when you make adjustments.The software absolutely sucks. It is a Chinese made scope and software, and clearly something was lost in translation. If you have something that can interface with the scope, you are better going that route. If not, well be prepared for a steep learning curve while you try to figure out what the buttons do.

First the good news: I liked the seller (Oasis Scientific Inc.). They seemed to be genuinely nice, good people who sincerely tried to help me get this product working properly. They even called me -- amazing!Now the bad news: the product itself. Gee whiz, where do I begin? There appears to be no way to get the device out of the "default setting is operating microscope" mode (that quote is from page 68 in the manual). I repeatedly clicked the button that SHOULD exit that mode, and every other button I could find that might possibly relate, all to no effect. While images from the "microscope" (more about that in a minute) appeared on my computer screen, after countless attempts on two different computers (a Vista 64-bit desktop and a Vista 32-bit laptop), the remote control functions never worked. Those functions are one of the primary benefits of this model (assuming they work), and why this is so expensive, so when they don't work, this is just another cheap "microscope," but it isn't inexpensive.Calling this a microscope is a bit of a stretch. The "320x on 22" monitor" is like saying I am 20 feet tall on a movie screen.The white LEDs that illuminate the object being viewed often reflect off it and wash out portions of the image in addition to making colors appear too pale. Turning the LED intensity down (or off) can solve both problems but create another: an overly dark image. I usually obtained the best images by using natural light and *carefully* adjusting its intensity, such as by blocking some light coming in from the window. Question for the engineers who designed this device: There's an easy way to correct this problem. Can you think of it?Even on its best setting, JPEG images from this device were very disappointing, exhibiting pronounced blockiness and blurring. I assume they are compression artifacts, yet I can't produce equivalent distortions in Photoshop even when I save JPEGs with a quality of 0.I could never get the autofocus to work unless the "microscope" was relatively far from the object. Even when it worked, it would have been much faster to focus manually because the autofocus zoomed in and out, and in and out, before finally settling. The autofocus motor and gears sound like they're made of cheap, tinny metal and cheap plastic gears. For $190, I expected better quality.Because the autofocus is so poor, it'd be nice to have a manual focus on the stand like some other models have in which screwing a knob changes the height and hence focus.Besides the fact that part of the software (the remote control functions) never worked for me, some of the other software was also annoying. For example, no image would appear until I clicked Setting > Input Device. Oh, come on . . . can't that be the default? I also couldn't find any obvious way to set preferences, such as image size & quality and the default location to save images.I installed the software from the included CD. A newer version is available from ViTiny's website, but it is a .rar file, which Windows (Vista 64-bit) will not open. It is utterly ridiculous to supply software updates in a format that Windows will not open without searching for a utility written by someone I don't know or trust, from a website I don't know or trust. Expecting me to go on a wild-goose chase, and waste more of my time, figuring out how to install that new software (which may or may not solve the above problems) is RIDICULOUS.Ultimately, I returned the device to the seller and received a refund for it. Even-steven? Not quite. I got my money back but I'll never get back the many hours I spent TRYING to get this thing to work and communicating with the seller. This was so frustrating that I coined a new term: junkphobia, referring to a fear of buying products because too many of them are junk that wastes our time or fails prematurely. Ethical manufacturers should compensate users who lost time, money, or both as a result of product flaws. Instead, too many manufacturers do anything they can get away with. If their products cause you to waste time, too bad; their profits are more important than doing the right thing.UPDATE: I strive to be fair, so I revised my rating from the original one star to four stars after receiving a comment from "experimentist" (see below), who seems to be the manufacturer. I am impressed they took the time to investigate the problems I experienced. He/she seems honest, so I'll assume the microscope I returned did indeed function acceptably on their Vista systems. By looking through the manual, I see images captured with very good quality.

I have been researching scopres for a while and bought one with a manual focus. I found out that manual focus is a nightmare at high magnifications. You must be able to focus from your computer screen.This scope has software that allows the user to focus, zoom, manage the amount of light, take photos, videos, and do much more. It is by far the best scope I have seen and is at a very good price point given its quality. I use it 5 days a week to view ant behavior. The Queen ant is about the size of a chihuahua on my computer screen.Do not listen to other posts that state that this is a manual focus only. I have owned this scope for about 8 months and my guess is that they just did not see the manual focus in the software. Also, the stand is not at all flimsy. in fact, it is solid and very versitile. One can point it in almost any direction. It is a fantastic product.

I purchased this USB microscope so that I could take quality pictures of coins and do highly detailed close-up examination as well. I have only worked with the scope for a few hours, but was very impressed with the ease of set up and super quality still photos it produced on my laptop. No problems installing software or hardware.- The metal stand feels a bit flimsy and is totally manual control, it also controls the field of view / magnification, which I learned through trial and error. If you put the scope right next to the object, you get high mag/high detail, if you move it up the stand you get a wider view and lower magnification. Once I figured that out, it was perfect for looking at the whole coin, or just a key detail of the coin with the scope closer in.- The auto focus took a bit of getting used to, but eventually I figured that out as well--when you move the scope up and down, you need to run the autofocus to get a clear picture. No problems there after the learning curve.- Great pictures, directly onto my laptop. The software is a bit kludgy, but it works and I was able to get what I wanted. Key appears to be appropriate direct / indirect lighting, depending on the object you're scoping. There is an LED light on the scope, but that tended to get some unwanted reflections, so I used indirect lighting with much better results.Overall, you get what you pay for. There is a learning curve with this (especially for newbies like me), but once I figured it out, this was a great little scope at a great price, and exactly what I was hoping for when I ordered it over Amazon.

At first I was disappointed with the level of magnification, but after I got used to its operation I managed to get it right, The auto focus is well worth it.

We use this whole banding wild migratory song birds. We have it connected to a computer and 35" tv screen. Guests and school groups visiting the station can see what the bird bander is doing and it's helpful for skulling the birds. The auto focus is a bit hard to work with because the birds and our hands move but it's still very handy.