I want a Microscope.

[Larry Edgerton]

I want a microscope for looking closely at the world I live in, not one limited to just slides. Doesn't have to be the worlds most powerful, or the latest and greatest, but versatile. Not crazy expensive.

One thing I would like to be able to do is look at tooling edges. And leaves. And dollar bills. And bugs. and -----, you get the idea.

Anyway...... If anyone knows anything about such things and has a recommendation I would appreciate the input because I know absolutely nothing.

Thanks, Larry

[Bill ThompsonNM]

One thing you might consider is a little microscope that connects to a computer. Price varies widely but some at the low end get pretty good reviews on amazon. Google. USB microscope or video microscope

[John McClanahan]

While 200 or 300 power sounds impressive, you may want to look for something in the 50-80x range. High magnification makes for very very shallow focus, and positioning of the part gets difficult. The image is inverted (left to right or upside down) and it gets disorienting. Something in the 30-50x range would be better suited for 3D objects. If you ever want to do any kink of work under it, 10-30x would worth considering. The USB models would be worth looking to.

John

[sarah schell]

You might also want to consider a fiber optic light source. If you want to look at things that light won't pass through, you'll need that, as the light on a microscope passes through from underneath.

[John Pratt]

There are several inexpensive microscope macroscopes on the market. It really all depends on how much your willing to spend and how far you want to magnify. You might check out RFInterscience for a few inexpensive one that can double as a telescope.

[John Coloccia]

For my money, I'd want a stereo microscope. Something with a zoom lens would be the bees knees.

[Jamie Buxton]

This guy has done remarkable work looking at tool sharpening using a $30 "toy" USB microscope (a Intel QX3 digital microscope) --- http://bladetest.infillplane.com/index.html There are now later models with higher resolution -- the QX5 and the QX7.

[Mike Davis NC]

I have a used NIKON stereo microscope made for viewing dissecting procedures. It is great for looking at tool edges and surface finishes. Goes from about 15 to 90x and is very easy to operate. The advantage is you have room to actually work on the object under the scope.

I borrowed a USB scope from work and made some knife edge photos. The clarity is not as good as live observation through a quality scope, but good enough for simple comparison of sharp tools. The advantage is digital storage of your images for future viewing and comparison to other shots and the ability to send images through e-mail.

Neither of these would do for viewing cells or other extremely small things.

[Jim Koepke]

I searched > microscope telescope < and found a lot of sites, one selling a "pocket microscope telescope for $8.95.

Changed the search to > pocket microscope telescope < and found a lot more.

I bought one of these back in the day before things were made of plastic.

For carrying around in the yard or trips it is OK.

It all depends on what you want to do.

I also have a small collection of magnifiers from 2X to 20X.

jtk

[Jim Laumann]

What you want is a "steroscope" - basicly a set of binoculars for looking at objects at very close distances. A microscope - as previously noted, is designed for looking at things which light can pass thru - ie cells.

Jim

[Bob Riefer]

My previous employer sold a ton of Dino-Lite handheld digital microscopes. Versatile and easy to use. Might be a good choice for your range of applications. You can also buy an arm to hold it in place as needed.

[Rich Engelhardt]

DARN YOU LARRY!!!!!!!

I remembered all the hours I spent as a kid drooling over the gadgets in the Edmund Scientific catalog.
I got to wondering if they were still around so I googled them.

http://www.scientificsonline.com/

There's the link......now it's your turn to spend a few hours on that site!

LOL! :D

[Stephen Tashiro]

I know one surplus dealer who attends that auctions where the local university sells excess property by the pallette. He often has microscopes. See if there is such a dealer in your location.

The guy I know has a modest website called EdgarDigital.

[Larry Edgerton]

Glad I asked, I would have bought the wrong thing for what I want to do.

Larry

[Mike Davis NC]

Here's a good place to look.

http://www.sciplus.com/singleItem.cfm/terms/7669/cartLogFrom/froogle

[Don Orr]

Check eBay also. I found a reasonable unit there for a good price.

[Bryan Morgan]

I want a microscope for looking closely at the world I live in, not one limited to just slides. Doesn't have to be the worlds most powerful, or the latest and greatest, but versatile. Not crazy expensive.

One thing I would like to be able to do is look at tooling edges. And leaves. And dollar bills. And bugs. and -----, you get the idea.

Anyway...... If anyone knows anything about such things and has a recommendation I would appreciate the input because I know absolutely nothing.

Thanks, Larry

Depends on what you want to spend and the quality you are looking for. I bought my wife a really nice though slightly older stereo microscope from a lab on e-bay. If I remember correctly I won it for around $200. Its a made in Japan Olympus. Goes up to 1000x. You can see blood cells with it, no problem. Freaked me out the first time I saw white blood cells, with their spikey look to them. I thought I had mutant cells or something. You will have to get blank slides and covers to use something like this... they are cheap though, 500 slides were like 5 or 10 bucks and the covers were a couple bucks for a billion of them... :)

[Ryan Mooney]

+1 to sciplus, they are a little cheesy but are pretty up front about the quality you're getting (if they say its good it probably is, if they make a snide comment.. well.. its probably cheap at least :D)