I do not usually write rave reviews, but I will make an exception in this case. I love this microscope. I bought it for electronics work, re-entering the hobby after a 45-year absence. Since then components have got smaller and my eyesight has not improved!
I first tried various magnifiers with mixed success; they get in the way of soldering and are not good enough for SMD work. I then considered getting a digital microscope, but the professional reviewers on YouTube always said things like “It’s great, but will never replace my stereoscopic microscope”. So, I looked at affordable stereo widefield microscopes with a boom arm.
I just want it for soldering (10x magnification) and do not need to attach a camera. I do need a boom, but the simple one on this product suffices. The base is heavy, so it is very stable. The light on this model is limited, but I complement it with a cheap LED bendy-light from IKEA that I already had. The two lights together work fine. The whole unit fits well on my very small workbench (50 x 80 cm).
Now I’m hooked, I use it for all my soldering, even THT on stripboard is much more reliable with this microscope. You can see the flux working and the joint ‘taking’. You know you have no dry joints, or stray solder causing shorts, or unintentionally broken strips because you can see them.
It has an adjuster on the left eyepiece, so you don’t need perfectly matched eyes to use it with both eyes open! The 10x magnification is more than enough and I will probably never use the 20x. I would have preferred one with 5x second lenses but could not find one at this price. Maybe I will buy some separate 5x lenses when the piggy-bank is full again.
The product is sturdily built and comes well packed. The enclosed instructions are no use, but one can download a better manual from the Amscope web site. One of the confusing instructions was the one to set the height you want first, then focus on the object. This is misleading. Height IS the focus on this product. There is no zoom facility. The focusing knobs on the side are just a fine adjustment to the coarser method of adjusting focus by sliding it up and down the pole. This suits me fine though. At 10x magnification, focus is achieved with the microscope boom near the top of the pole, so there is lots of space to work underneath it. With an adjustable chair, this gives me a comfortable working height for both viewing and soldering. The field of view is sufficient for soldering. It’s the first magnifier I have had that does not get in the way or require a third hand to hold it!
OK, so it does not have the bells and whistles of a fancier microscope -- if you need a camera port, a boom arm that swings away, or a zoom facility, then you will have to pay more -- but this model is excellent value for money. I recommend it for hobbyists with a limited budget for closeup work on a bench of modest proportions.
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Very good when using 10x eyepieces.
While this unit doesn't rival the high-end zoom binocular and trinocular offerings from "Mantis" etc (at many thousands of pounds) it does the job on a hobbyist budget, remarkably well.Solidly built - no flimsy plastic here, aside from the black snoot around the objectives.Good field of view, surprisingly good depth of field, bright, clear image, excellent working height and the heavy base supports a good working distance from the pillar, too. Plenty of scope for angling the head in different directions, the supplied gooseneck LED is bright and has a surprisingly good colour rendition, there's plenty of room for adding whatever accessory lights, polarizers etc you might need. While not as convenient for camera mounting as a trinocular, a camera can nonetheless be fitted either with an adapter in place of an eyepiece or some kind of passive bracket for a phone or webcam (see pic shot through 10x eyepiece with phone).The supplied 20x eyepieces were a disappointment to me, and I'd drop a star because of them if they actually added significantly to the cost, but in the event only about a tenner, so no big deal really. They have a much smaller aperture, and a much smaller image circle then the 20x, and it's hard to get the left and right eye images to cohere into a stereo view, they seem to heavily accentuate small misalignments between eyepeices, eye position changes, etc. For me, the 20x eyepieces will stay in the box, and if I need more magnification I'll try to find a 2x objective (which I think I've seen for this microscope). (The objective can be changed).The 10x eyepieces, though, are excellent.Overall, I'm very pleased with this.
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 September 2018
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magen1
Difficile da usare col 20X ma tra i migliori microscopi da elettronica nella fascia di prezzo.
Reviewed in Italy on 2 January 2020
magen1
Reviewed in Italy on 2 January 2020
Il montaggio è semplice e non necessita di alcun manuale, in caso di problemi basta guardare la foto del prodotto dell'inserzione per risolvere eventuale enigmi.
La qualità dell'immagine è molto buona per un microscopio "economico" di questa fascia di prezzo e il livello di ingrandimento 10x è già piú che sufficiente per effettuare ogni tipo di intervento di precisione; sostituendo le ottiche con quelle da 20x avremmo si un ingrandimento maggiore ma anche piú difficoltà a mettere e mantenere la messa a fuoco oltre ad avere un campo visivo molto piú ridotto, quasi come guardare attraverso una serratura e questo credo sia un limite imposto da questa fascia di prezzo.
Come anticipato in precedenza, la base (magnetica) del microscopio integra anche un illuminatore led a braccio flessibile ma con presa inglese (UK), fortunatamente pero' in confezione troviamo un adattatore di presa schuko; l'alimentazione è internazionale 100-240V. L'illuminatore ha una luce fissa non dimmerabile.
Tra gli altri accessori in dotazione troviamo i gommini oculari per un maggiore comfort, una chiave a semiluna, un fusibile di scorta (da utilizzare nella presa UK o nella base del microscopio) e un copri microscopio in PVC.
Con un modulo camera USB sarà possibile visualizzare l'ingrandimento direttamente nel PC rinunciando ad un monocolo, sfortunatamente non è incluso con questo modello.
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Donna W.
Very nice and well built tool! Perfect for electronics work
Reviewed in the United States on 14 September 2017
