MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

I’m finally ready to buy my first microscope with a $400 budget for scope, and an extra $150 for slides, polarization film , and a 60X dry objective.
I know I would be happy with either the Amscope T490B or the Swift 380T, but which would you choose and why . Perhaps there is a scope I’m overlooking.
All I want to observe are “animalcules”. Stentors, hydra, rotifers etc. Thanks, Jim.

If you are looking at either company's trinocular microscope, here is the Swift 350T for less than $260 with free shipping if you are in the US. https://www.ebay.com/itm/SWIFT-Pro-40X- ... 1196.m2219
And a Swift 380T for less than $273 with free shipping:https://www.ebay.com/itm/SWIFT-40X-2500 ... 1438.l2649

Thank you Charles, both look like great deals.

Those scopes have feature, performance, and (pretty much) price parity. However, I tend to prefer the Amscope for one reason: it has more compatible upgrades. You can get a darkfield condenser for it, or a phase contrast system. Can't do that with the swift unless you are a 3D printing wizard.

For brightfield and patch-stop darkfield, the two will be equivalent.

Also, consider a 20X objective. I spend 80%+ of my time looking through the 20X. It's a great balance of magnification and ease of use. When you get up to 40X and 60X, things get finicky. Small depth of field, darkfield stops working well, etc.

If you send your money to me I will spend it wisely.

farnsy, I just responded to another post regarding the 20X objective. I think it would have been a better choice for me. I rarely use my 40X or 60X objectives. I have a hard time chasing critters at 100X and the jump from 100X to 400X seems too much for me.
Greg, darn it, I already spent the money. Maybe you can help me next time, lol!

I use 20x quite a bit. I use a lot of dry filters and they
Work well at 4, 10 and 20x. Oil dark field works well for me at 10, 20, 40, and 100x with an iris objective.
Greg

I’m thinking about a 20X someday. Perhaps for Father’s Day. My dark field condenser is a dry one and only works really well at 40X and 100X. At 400X you can see the quality of the image starts to suffer. Maybe an oil condenser instead for Father’s Day!
Jim.