FOUND - WTB - Compound microscope for viewing pond water microbes

[krame]

Hey all.

I have a stereo microscope that I bought from a member here and now I'm looking for a compound microscope.

I'm not terribly serious about this hobby, but I love going on hikes with my 6 year old daughter and it adds an extra level of fun by giving her "jobs" to perform. AKA play in the mud, pond, and/or stream.

I plan on buying the Swift 380T, so $370 is a pretty hard budget cap, but I'm hoping I can find something either better at that price or comparable but cheaper......or maybe something better and cheaper? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Trinocular is a luxury. I'd rather have a better scope than an extra tube and I heavily prefer the native ability to use a DF.

Thanks! Hope to give someone here money in the near future!

Edit: looking to purchase in about 8 weeks.
Edit #2: I live in the US

[mookerific]

Just a heads up. Microscopes pop up in Amazon's "Amazon Warehouse" at heavily discounted pricing. I just snagged a 380T in "Very Good" condition, which really meant that the thing just had damaged packaging - I took the chance because they now offer free returns on AW items. Thing is brand new. Cost? $219.

Keep checking and you'll see one pop up. I saw a few over the last few alone.

[krame]

Well that's pretty darn helpful. Thanks!

[Red_Green]

Trinocular is a luxury. I'd rather have a better scope than an extra tube and I heavily prefer the native ability to use a DF.

Honestly, I wouldn't buy a scope without a 3rd trinocular port. I view it as a must have rather than a luxury. Having the ability to take pictures and videos on the fly. Then again for me, microscopy is both hobby and work. I'm also an avid Inaturalist user and post my observations on there. I also use my observations in technical reports and presentations and what not.

So for me, I pretty much need it. It's also nice to set it up so you can watch it "live" on a big monitor. Assuming I had a monitor, which I don't.

I can understand the extra costs though. Worth the sacrifice imo. I mean realistically, if one wanted to snap pics they could use there cellphone with an eyepiece adapter for cheap.

[dtsh]

I have microscopes with and without the trinocular head. If imaging is a huge interest then I think a tinocular head would be a necessity, but an inexpensive cellphone adapter works fine for imaging. No, they aren't as fancy, but to truly take advantage of the trinocular head typically requires significant additional expenditure of money to get better results than a cellphone to the eyepiece.

Especially for a first microscope I don't consider them a terribly important item on the bill, nice certainly, but not a requirement unless serious imaging is a primary goal.

[mookerific]

Hey all.

I have a stereo microscope that I bought from a member here and now I'm looking for a compound microscope.

I'm not terribly serious about this hobby, but I love going on hikes with my 6 year old daughter and it adds an extra level of fun by giving her "jobs" to perform. AKA play in the mud, pond, and/or stream.

I plan on buying the Swift 380T, so $370 is a pretty hard budget cap, but I'm hoping I can find something either better at that price or comparable but cheaper......or maybe something better and cheaper? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Trinocular is a luxury. I'd rather have a better scope than an extra tube and I heavily prefer the native ability to use a DF.

Thanks! Hope to give someone here money in the near future!

Edit: looking to purchase in about 8 weeks.
Edit #2: I live in the US

Just happened to see that Amazon is selling new 380T's for $314 for a "Limited Time Deal"!

[krame]

I saw that too!

I actually need to close this topic, I just bought a used scope.