MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

This is a product review of the following self-contained stage for stereo microscopes, or microscopes that have no provision for the usual type of stage. There are several different types of this kind of stage out there, but since I bought one of these (one of the reasons being it was cheaper than some of the others) I'm reviewing it:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07 ... UTF8&psc=1

The stage is rather small, but fits nicely onto the B&L Stereozoom base as shown in the images.

It has rubber feet so is resistant to sliding around.

The movement is smooth, even with a 2 lb (4.4 kilo) block resting on top. The extent of the movement is unusual: using the knobs on the observer's side, the top slide can move about 4cm away and/or to the left (see bottom image), but only about 0.5cm backwards or to the right (see middle image). This is personally not that big of an inconvenience. The gears are nylon, the slides are dovetailed aluminum, and I didn't take it apart so I don't know if there are any plastic bearing surfaces inside. The whole thing is made of satin-finished aluminum. It is cheaper without the slide clips.

For the price, I give it five stars (out of five), despite the small size and travel limitations. It's fine for what I use it for, and is of a simple design which should stand up to routine use if not abused.

Thanks for that. What's the height from footing to stage top?

Kurt,

From the metal bottom of the stage to its top surface is 14.5mm or 0.57".

From the bottom of the rubber feet to the top surface is 21.9mm or 0.863".

The whole stage measures about 4.1" or 105mm square. Pretty small! But big enough...

The clips are nice. They have a tab at the back that you can push down on to raise the front working part of the clip.

Like I said, there are other stages like this for sale out there. I have no affiliation with this stage maker, so I hope others will post reviews of some other models.

Thanks for sharing.. reasonably priced... movement limitations are not critical... They are sufficient...

BillT

I bought one similar to this a couple years ago: https://tinyurl.com/yye2wbwl . While it has its uses, it's largely unsuited to use with microscopes because of its rather generous bulk and heft, often unusable due its height (around 2") alone. It shines as a macro photography studio stage, however, where these attributes tend to be assets. I find the compactness of the one you present attractive for use with microscopes.