MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Hello,

a long time ago I've got these circular coverslips from China at low price and their quality was rather good (but need an alcohol bath before to use them!)
But recently I've ordered new ones and this time : very bad quality..... Impossible to clean them with alcohol and surface was bad with small cracks and even with micro breaks....

Therefore anybody knows where it could be possible in Europe to buy good quality round coverslips (18 and 20 mm)?

Thank you for your help

Look up Warner instruments.
https://www.warneronline.com/sites/defa ... rslips.pdf

For Europe, contact Multichannel Systems.
https://www.multichannelsystems.com/pro ... nstruments

Note: I sell their products in Australia.

Useful links, thank you

Rather frustrating to see Log in for price everywhere, but I suppose they have their reasons

MichaelG.

Thank you for links

Yes, as MichaelG I also dislike these steps to know prices.....

Zeiss themselves sell high precision cover slip. Round one are available.

You need to register and log in to see prices in their web shop.

Yeah, I can understand the frustrations.
They tend to discontinue items without noticing anyone, and their website often contains discontinued products not yet archived. Moreover, there are many items that cannot be sold to you if you are overseas, they must send you to the local distributor. Aside from being a manufacturer, they also distribute products from other companies (like Sutter Instruments, you save thousands by going direct), add that to the feedback loop. Multichannel Systems is a distributor as well and they likely price things with accordance to exchange rates, so it is impossible to put a blanket price unless they upcharge which is... bad for you, you do not want that, you end up paying more. "Free shipping" is a honeytrap too. If they simply use the 24h exchange rates, they will get people asking why the price is different, and a purchase order with different prices cannot be processed, this creates lots and lots of headaches. It is not friendly to the average buyer accustomed to sites such as eBay, their main customers are really larger institutions such as universities.
Warner is a division of the Harvard Apparatus conglomerate, I can write another stupid essay ranting about that. They are a good company but the expansion has created divisions with competing products and enquires are lost in the ether because of the web of contacts...

tl;dr: common practice with decent reasons, but indeed a double-edged sword. They do not really care about hobbyists.

The #1.5 types (non-H), say 18mm round ones, which I recommend are around $45 USD.
Not cheap.
Do not buy them from Fisher and those distributor stores, they are of course marked up.

What you can also do is to simply cut round ones from good quality square coverslips which are often cheaper.

Thank's for comments

and for the joke about " to cut square coverslips"

I recently bought a pack of super cheapos from China and have been pleased with the result so far, reasonably round, not seen any with scratches or other flaws yet and within thickness tolerances I'd expect (not great, but reasonable given the price)

Perhaps quality from China changes according to plants and also time?
Could you tell me plant name where you have bought yours please?

dtsh wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 13, 2022 3:02 am

I recently bought a pack of super cheapos from China and have been pleased with the result so far, reasonably round, not seen any with scratches or other flaws yet and within thickness tolerances I'd expect (not great, but reasonable given the price)

Not all Chinese coverslips are the same. Some are badly stained and practically, cannot be cleaned. Given the fuss of handling of coverslips in general, such stained coverslips can really upset.

I would suggest to contact a recognized LOCAL supplier of laboratory stuff who caters to institutes, universities etc. Introduce yourself as a serious hobbyist, and ask for quotation for, say, 500 coverslips. I believe that they will agree, although their usual unit of sale might be 1000 pieces or more. The price will be higher than the cheap coverslips listed on eBay and such, but very likely lower than the premium cost demanded by large businesses. Just my experience.

Another thing people can do is group buy.

Thank's Hobbyst46 for your suggestion, but in France all laboratory stuff suppliers only sell to companies or schools, but never to private individuals!
And seldom French companies selling to private individuals only have a few basic laboratory stuff don't agree special orders........

@macro_Cosmos
Seems very difficult to group people for such things....

But who knows, perhaps asking how many persons would like to buy good quality circular coverslips (18mm)

I have had good enough circular coverslips from China/eBay.
Rarely do any measure .17.
Not had the cleaning issues described but I've had sides which have not survived storage.
With the way glass is produced my best guess would be that .17 are selected out and random thickness are sold off as budget.
I've been wrong enough times to be happy to be corrected.

Hi Milou

Near France, in Spain:

https://www.daselab.es/cubreobjetos-por ... -c100.html

They aren´t bad....

JA

This might be one case where you might just buy them from Amscope or some other larger broker of cheap microscope stuff. Since they are selling almost worldwide, they should have a fast turnover and have a good reason to obtain if not great quality, at least good quality at a reasonable price.

Thank you for address in Spain and information about Amscope. I'll check this

Here is a recent collection of microscopy material sources, mostly in Germany, it is no problem to get round cover slips:
http://www.mikrohamburg.de/Linklisten/L ... 202021.pdf

With round chinese cover slips I have made the experience that their thickness varied a lot, up to 0,25mm, and they weren't even cheap.