Best AmScope Dental Lab Binocular Stereo Microscope 10x 20x 30x 60x Deals

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List Price: $700.00
Sale Price: $149.95
Today's Bonus: 79% Off

This microscope does what it's supposed to do. For example, when looking at rocks that look smooth to the naked eye, I could see incredible, 3D detail of crystalline structure. (This may not work for all rocks; your experience may be different. But you will see things that you didn't realize were there.) It's built well. The eyepieces are a little loose, but it's not a problem. It comes with 2 sets10x and 20x. It's almost identical to a Celestron stereo microscope, but $50 less. I'm glad I save the money and got this one. Another good point: it uses standard halogen light bulbs instead of proprietary bulbs that cost $20 each, like the bulb in the Swift student microscope I replaced.

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I looked around at various scopes before I picked this one. I looked at one from Home Science Tools; "Objectives are parcentered, parfocalled, and achromatic to prevent color distortion and stay in focus when you switch magnification levels." But it was more than I wanted to pay and had only two levels of magnification. Then there were the OMAX scopes. They look reasonably good, but I went with Amscope.

Based on an Amazon review of another stereo scope, I was careful to get a scope with halogen illumination rather than incandescent lights. The halogen gets hotter, but the brightness is nice. Also, this particular scope gives you bottom or top illumination, or both, with a turn of that knob on the specimen stage. This is very convenient. I t is especially nice when you are looking at the various aspects of a feather, for example.

The scope doesn't weigh much but has a solid feel. At this price point you wouldn't expect a vernier focus, but the main focus has a good balance of stiffness vs ease of turning. The illumination knob is set far back on the base. Among the various low-cost stereo microscopes, this probably has the most space between the optical center and the focusing upright, so you can look at larger specimens than in other scopes.

The field of view is pretty wide, and the eyecups keep you from smashing your eyes on the scope.

What keeps this from 5 stars? Only one of the eyepieces has adjustable focus; and it does not show the focus midpoint. I like to set my adjustable eyepieces at zero diopters, then focus the scope so the fixed eyepiece is in focus. Then I adjust the adjustable eyepiece. Can't do that here; you have to guess.

If you switch objective or switch eyepieces -switch power, in essence -you must refocus. Here is where you miss having parfocal optics. But this is inexpensive.

Unfortunately I did not find this product when I searched Amazon. Instead, I found it on Amscope's website, where it cost $7 more. But either place, it is a good scope for the money.