Please Help Me Find the right Microscope

[ermaclob]

I would like to get my self a solid go to compound microscope that has decent quality and wont be a pain to use. I'm a fresh out of college biology student and have had the pleasure of using a bunch of scopes in my time in school. Unfortunately i never paid much attention to what brands or models they where nor to closely at the quality of there parts, as i will say i came across one or 2.....poopy ones. So im some what in the dark, when it comes to finding a quality one for my self. I would like to buy a new scope at around....... preferably bellow $300.

The things that i would like the scopes to have are: solid build quality (no cheap plastic parts in important places ), trinocular, mechanical stage, swap-able condenser for dark field, decent quality 4X,10X,40x,100X magnification lenses, coarse and fine adjustment.

Simply put a nice reliable microscope that i could use for very long time for all sorts of thing with out out growing it would be nice.

Im in real desperate need for an up grade as what i use now is a (don't laugh) "My First Lab Duo-Scope" which all though entertaining... is toy.... and not very user friendly for looking past anything 100X magnification or up.

so can you guys point me in the right direction and tell my a few models i should look at? ive looked around and see that there are alot of Chinese distributors that sell what seem to be decent scopes but it would seem that there are some people that would say other wise.

Thanks

[apochronaut]

THE BUDGET , is always the most important thing when buying a microscope. Unfortunately, being a prominent member of the Mafia of the acquisition of stuff, The Budget controls how to acquire The Widget and always makes you an offer, you cannot refuse.

I am going to assume you are in the U.S., so that makes life a little easier for you. Second hand offerings are as numerous and as cheap as is possible within the continental U.S. and as well, so are new offerings. While I might normally be inclined to recommend a new microscope, when assisting in the purchase of a first low priced instrument and the opposite, when the buyer has more money to play with; your budget is very much controlling your choice of widget. You have to go second hand in order to get what you are looking for, at 300.00, although there are a couple of decent offerings of new microscopes under 300.00, that mostly meet your criteria. The main problem is that , if you buy new; you are not going to get plan ( flat field) optics and as well there will be a significant number of plastic components in the microscope. If you buy used, you definitely can get plan optics and you can get one with no plastic in it at all..

I took a few looks at what was around on ebay this morning, on your behalf and see a few current options. Originally, I was going to post them here but a few look pretty good and if I do, there is a good chance someone might choose to snap one of them up, before you can; so I will send a p.m.

[Crater Eddie]

With only 1 post can he use the PM feature?
CE

[ermaclob]

THE BUDGET , is always the most important thing when buying a microscope. Unfortunately, being a prominent member of the Mafia of the acquisition of stuff, The Budget controls how to acquire The Widget and always makes you an offer, you cannot refuse.

I am going to assume you are in the U.S., so that makes life a little easier for you. Second hand offerings are as numerous and as cheap as is possible within the continental U.S. and as well, so are new offerings. While I might normally be inclined to recommend a new microscope, when assisting in the purchase of a first low priced instrument and the opposite, when the buyer has more money to play with; your budget is very much controlling your choice of widget. You have to go second hand in order to get what you are looking for, at 300.00, although there are a couple of decent offerings of new microscopes under 300.00, that mostly meet your criteria. The main problem is that , if you buy new; you are not going to get plan ( flat field) optics and as well there will be a significant number of plastic components in the microscope. If you buy used, you definitely can get plan optics and you can get one with no plastic in it at all..

I took a few looks at what was around on ebay this morning, on your behalf and see a few current options. Originally, I was going to post them here but a few look pretty good and if I do, there is a good chance someone might choose to snap one of them up, before you can; so I will send a p.m.

I did receive your PM. tho i cant seem to respond. Thanks for your help ill look into those scopes they seem nice if well taken care of.

If anyone has any other suggestions i still open to them.

[zzffnn]

Welcome to the forum!

For $300 budget in US, I would suggest getting a used American Optical (AO) Spencer microscope. AO series 10 or 110, for example.

I am sure apochronaut would recommend the same brand, maybe the same models too (if not higher end models). He is our AO and general technical expert in this forum and always provides quality and honest advice.

[Charles]

Welcome Erma.

I don't believe you can get a microscope that is: New+trinocular+mechanical stage+quality for $300. Used, you can.

If you are in the US or Canada and want a good quality, durable microscope, which can be upgraded , your best options are used American Optical/Reichert, Zeiss, Leitz, Nikon and Olympus. A new Amscope with those features would run you about $500-800. Going with used, you could get a very nice durable microscope for that $300 with all the features you listed, but...there could be issues with electrical, damage, misalignment, needs cleaning etc, but parts are readily available.

Here is a nice example of an American Optical 110 with trinocular head, mechanical slide and five objective turret with four Planachro objectives and 1.25 condenser:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/AO-One-Ten-Mic ... 1438.l2649
The seller states it doesn't turn on but most likely the bulb is burned out but sometimes the electrical may have shorted out. You wouldn't need the camera which is attached but the phototube could be used. But for less than $130, it would be well worth it, if I was looking for a good quality microsope. If the electronics was fried, I could keep the trinocular head, the turret with objectives, condenser, mechanical stage and look for another working body or return it all and get my money back since the seller offers a 14 day return. The same can be said for many of the used quality microscopes available on ebay.

[amanda1]

Look here: http://www.amscope.com/40x-2500x-led-si ... stage.html

And here one more: https://www.amazon.com/OMAX-40X-2500X-T ... B01BPJJ3FM .