A**Z
Much Better Than Expected
I did a lot of research about digital microscopes. I needed one because I make my own electronics, and I was tired of magnifier to inspect components after soldering. The microscopes with better rating also were quite expensive. Then I found this. I read all the 1 and 2 starts reviews, then the 3 and 4, to see if there were any similarities in issues. The most common issues were related to zoom, lighting, and documentation. The only issue I actually found was with the latter. Documentation sucks. I still do not know how to take still pictures -- just video.That aside, however, I found zoom was extremely good, and so was lighting. Maybe people having "issues" don't know how to operate microscopes, or got defective units. I had no problem zooming into parts you can barely see with the naked eye. Most importantly, I'm able to see every detail, that even the tip of the needle I use to remove soldering debris looks too big.Lighting can be adjusted, but I didn't have to do any adjustments.Pros:- Size. It is big enough to do the work, but not bulky.- Weight. It is very light, but steady- Zoom. I have a Cannon camera with 1200x zoom and, I must say that the microscope does far better zooming- Lighting. LED lights are well placed and illuminated the subject very well, especially when zooming- Adjustable focus. Just with regular lab microscopes, it is very easy to do the zoom-focus steps with this scope- Large screen. The screen is, in my opinion, the right size.Cons:- Documentation. It seem that it was done by a kid. Not very good, and not very much info online.- Tilt/Rotate: Tilting is easy, but the rotation has an issue, because the looking mechanism doesn't work well. It keeps loosing up.- SD Card slot position very bad. It is very difficult to insert/remove the SD card, as the slot is very closed to the back of the screen.- Taking still picture a challenge. I've been trying to find out how to take still pictures, but all I can do is take videos. There are no instructions on how to accomplish this, which buttons to press.- Navigation button not intuitive. The layout of the buttons is good, but what they do is not intuitive. And, again, the documentation sucks.Overall, I would recommend this microscope. It is very good for the price.
A**R
A fair quality magnifier for home use
This is a fairly well made inspection style electronic magnifier built to consumer standards. It is not a lab grade instrument or even a "pro-sumer" product. Not even close. It has a few issues, but no show stoppers (at least for me).I bought this for working with surface mount electronics. Adjusting the unit to the highest position gives a field of view on the stage of just over 1 inch wide by 1/2 inch high, and provides a bit more than 4 1/2 inches of vertical clearance between the stage and the light ring. The distance from the center of the field on view and the bracket that holds the support post is 2 1/2 inches. This is a bit tighter than I would like and the magnification is on the high side, but it's workable for circuit boards of Arduino Uno size or so, and there's enough room to get in there with soldering tools.Lighting is provided by six LEDs that circle the lens assembly. This arrangement is best suited for illuminating non-glossy items. It doesn't work so well for shiny things like solder joints, unfortunately. You need diffuse illumination or at least lighting off to the side to minimize glare.The two largest issues I'm currently aware of are the focus mechanism and the documentation. The focus adjustment is annoyingly jerky and causes the on screen image to bounce around. As for the documentation, I found it to be almost useless.
K**A
Not an actual "microscope" - please know what to expect
This is a good, functional inspection scope for the money. This class of devices are usually used to inspect circuit boards, details on finely printed material, etc. For the price, this scope is well made and serves this purpose well.However, it most definitely is not a "1200x magnification" microscope to view biological specimens for classroom use. I think many parents are looking at this scope with the hope of using it in education : please be warned that there is no way you can observe microscopic bioorganisms with this. The magnification is perhaps 4x - 10x at most.I use it exclusively to inspect circuit boards and to read fine print on integrated circuits (chips). The software is functional, if not very intuitive. The battery life is adequate, it already comes with a SD card that can store a lot of photos and videos. Taking photos or videos is very easy, you just choose to operation mode (photo or video) once; adjust the vision and push one button to snap a photo. It can also be connected to a PC in webcam mode, but for some reason the image quality in this mode was atrocious.If you need a reliable inspection scope for electronics, jewelry or hobby work; and have a limited budget, this scope is definitely recommended. If you are looking for an actual microscope to view biological speciments for educational purposes, please look elsewhere for a classic design compound microscope - there are many high quality examples here on Amazon.
M**K
Excellent for the price. Lots better for close work than glasses.
The magnification is set by moving the LCD/camera assembly up with the gear wheel on the back pole. So the object being examiner has to fit under the camera to achieve higher magnifications, which might be as little as 1 and1/2 inch. I use this scope for printed circuit boards and I keep the scope at the top of the pole which gives me 6 and 1/2 inches to work under the camera (more if you tilt the pole back), which is sufficient for soldering. Focus is achieved with the knob on the front bottom of the LCD. LED brightness adjusts with small wheel on back of LCD housing, and brightness is good with appropriate range. There is a 1x,2x,3x,4x digital magnification as well that is handy when you do not wish to move the position on the pole to get a little more magnification. Back pole can be tilted to change distance and angle of viewing. Self contained battery is handy when for quick views where no charger is handy. Large screen is a lot better than using those magnifying glasses.
Trustpilot
2 months ago
3 weeks ago