Zoom stereomicroscope

[ivangallego24]

Hello, I have had the idea for quite some time to buy a zoom stereomicroscope, and I have seen this Bresser model, what do you think of it???
https://www.bresser.de/es/Microscop-a/M ... Trino.html

[imkap]

Not sure about that one, as I've never looked through it, but for that kind of money there are quite a lot of options in the used market, especially if you take your time...

[Scarodactyl]

It's a popular model, based on the Nikon smz-645 but certainly not identical.
I tried one and thought it was just OK but it was likely a bit defective. As such my overlong post about it was probably a bit of a waste since I suspect some aspects od the performance would be a bit better on a good copy, though the basic image quality and camera hookup info should be reasonable.
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=10661
That price seems overly high to me, this model on an illuminated stand is like 380usd from amscope or bolioptics, less direct from China.

[ivangallego24]

If I save a little more I could buy this model, what do you think???
https://www.bresser.de/es/Microscop-a/E ... x-63x.html

[Scarodactyl]

Haven't tried it, it is a bit newer and meant to look like the Leica S6 which had been recently discontinued. Oddly the binocular version looks very similar but the trinoc is more dofferent from the leica trinoc.

[Dennis]

I think it is a lot of money!

I think you could find something in same ballpark for half the price used.

-Dennis

[Alexander]

If I save a little more I could buy this model, what do you think???
https://www.bresser.de/es/Microscop-a/E ... x-63x.html

If you are prepared to pay that money you should look into the Motic SMZ171 and the Zeiss Stemi 305. Both are professional grade microscopes outperforming anything Bresser sells.

700 - 800 would buy you a used Zeiss.

[Scarodactyl]

I was not impressed with the motic smz171 when I tried it. Maybe mine was a bad copy but it did not seem particularly great.
In the US it's easy, if I wanted a nice general purpose stereo I'd aim for an Olympus sz4045 or 6045 and get a third party copy trinoc port (edit: not all of thr third psrty trinoc ports sre removeable). Total cost maybe 500 dollars for a very nice greenough that covers aps-c.
If you want new you can order these Bresser models near-direct from Chinese or Indian wholesalers (ie Ningbo) for much less, though the recourse if something is wrong will be very limited of course.

[ivangallego24]

So from what I understood, despite the high prices of these microscopes, you have to run away from the Bresser brand???
I believed that since they were already high prices they should have a more than acceptable quality

[Scarodactyl]

Bresser is an importer, they don't make their own. They provide service on what they sell though and may be doing quality checks to make sure you don't get any factory defects. But you're not getting a premium product like if you buy from a company like Leica or Nikon who designs and makes at least some of their own and also has more intensive partnerships with the outsourced factories the rest of their scopes are made in. Note that sometimes those premium products really are premium in quality, other times it's mostly premium in price.
As a individual hobbyist the calculus is very different from what it is for a business or academic client. Purchases of one-off used items, or riskier purchases direct from overseas, might make more sense if you really only need one and money is a more primary concern. If you need to outfit your lab with, say, 20 stereo microscope stations to train people on, you might want them all to be the same, none to be defective and if anything happens to be able to call someone for service, and a company like Bresser might be a significantly larger value add in that scenario, even if you can get the same model for less than half the price direct.

[ivangallego24]

It seems that the two models have a 10-year warranty each, that's a good sign isn't it?

[Scarodactyl]

It's certainly something. Stereos, even cheap ones, should last fine over that peeiod if not abused, especially in hobby usage.

[ivangallego24]

The model I have in mind right now is the motic smz 161, what do you think of this one???
https://moticeurope.com/en/smz-161-bled.html

[ivangallego24]

I was not impressed with the motic smz171 when I tried it. Maybe mine was a bad copy but it did not seem particularly great.
In the US it's easy, if I wanted a nice general purpose stereo I'd aim for an Olympus sz4045 or 6045 and get a third party copy trinoc port. Total cost maybe 500 dollars for a very nice greenough that covers aps-c.
If you want new you can order these Bresser models near-direct from Chinese or Indian wholesalers (ie Ningbo) for much less, though the recourse if something is wrong will be very limited of course.

Porque dices eso???

[ivangallego24]

I was not impressed with the motic smz171 when I tried it. Maybe mine was a bad copy but it did not seem particularly great.
In the US it's easy, if I wanted a nice general purpose stereo I'd aim for an Olympus sz4045 or 6045 and get a third party copy trinoc port. Total cost maybe 500 dollars for a very nice greenough that covers aps-c.
If you want new you can order these Bresser models near-direct from Chinese or Indian wholesalers (ie Ningbo) for much less, though the recourse if something is wrong will be very limited of course.
Porque dices eso???

[Scarodactyl]

To me the view through it seemed much like any of the cheaper routine greenough stereo microscopes in its class, not as good as eg a Nikon smz-2b or olympus sz40. I haven't had them side by side for a comparison, but it just didn't stand out to me as a particularly excellent scope. That said it may have been a bad copy, it was used and shipped poorly as I recall. I wouldn't say it's a bad option, but if I wanted to spend that kind of money for a stereo microscope I'd aim for a used one of a known good model.

[Rorschach]

I would definitely go for a used Wild stereozoom (M3Z or M8 being the best options). Extremely good value for price and being a CMO, they are super modular making future expansion easy. Also, there is a lot of parts available online in the used parts market like eevilbay. An added benefit is that surprisingly many of the more recent Leica stereomicroscope parts will be directly compatible.

Forget the Chinese brands...

[ivangallego24]

And do you think the same of the compound microscopes???
Or the white label ones are better in this type of microscopes???

[Alexander]

Same! The only Chinese brand I would consider is Motic.