Buying a microscope for viewing bacteria in Norway

[katastrofa]

Hi,

I want to buy a microscope for viewing microorganisms (yeast, cheese mold). I live in Norway, and have troubles finding local distributors for the brands which get good reviews online (AmScope, for example). I don't want to buy from Amazon or eBay because of possible warranty repairs. I'd prefer a shop located in Norway.

I found two places which have a decent selection, but could not find any reviews online:

https://no.frederiksen.eu/nettbutikk/bi ... ikroskoper (Norwegian manufacturer, it looks like)

https://www.mikroskop.no/butikk/mikrosk ... -mikroskop (online reseller)

Is Fredriksen Scientific a good brand? Are there any microscopes which you would recommend from the selection on these websites? My budget is up to 10,000 NOK, approximately, but I don't want to spend too much on a first microscope.

Thanks

[Javier]

Welcome!

They seem to be, at least some of them, rebranded chinese microscopes, very similar to the brands that you mention. IMHO, this trinocularr, plan objective would make an amazing starter scope:

https://www.mikroskop.no/produkt/mikros ... o-blue-lab

Good luck!

[synnus]

Your budget is already large, so consider the Olympus CX23.

[katastrofa]

Thanks. Is it necessary to buy a phase contract microscope for viewing bacteria?

[75RR]

I want to buy a microscope for viewing microorganisms (yeast, cheese mold).

Perhaps some more details on what you are going to view and why. Are you going to make beer or cheese ... business or pleasure?

[dtsh]

Thanks. Is it necessary to buy a phase contract microscope for viewing bacteria?

Not necessary, but phase contrast can be very handy as in a lot of cases bacteria can be viewed without staining.
I'm nothing near an expert on the topic, but my understanding is that staining and culturing are the basis for identifying a bacteria.

[patta]

Finn.no is your friend
search "mikroskop" and put "ya varsler"
wait a little and nice used microscopes pop up now and then.
may need some work to put them in good working order
That was my case.

The Frederiksen, they are importer/leverandor for schools; as written in previous posts, the microscopes are more or less the same models as from Amscope. They are probably able to send it faster/give a better price / give free retur because they're based in Norway.. Same for Mikroskop.no. Honestly I don't know, never bought from them.
Pick similar (if not identical) models from different brands and compare... remember to add a cool 25% MVA to prices from outside!

if you can drive to pick this up... not really for your application, just as example
https://www.finn.no/bap/forsale/ad.html ... =233576424

or this nice baby 30$, looks like a toy but isn't, weight a ton- just to get started easily!
https://www.finn.no/bap/forsale/ad.html ... =236567808