Buying a Microscope 2010

This is the 2010 update for those of you in the market for a student microscope.  Some companies have dropped their prices making the decision-making process more difficult.

For an explanation of the parts I mention, you can see my original post or this guide.

The microscope with the most features and the best price is Bargain Microscopes' Student 1000x.  Besides having the additional 1000x oil immersion lens, it has professional-grade halogen lighting, coaxial focus nobs, iris diaphragm, and a mechanical stage.  It costs around $245 with shipping, far less than other 1000x scopes.  (Oil immersion is really great for looking at blood cells and other objects of similar size.)

You don't need an oil immersion lens or halogen lighting for high school biology, though.  The Sonlight Ultra Microscope has the same features only with fluorescent lighting without the 1000x lens for $230 with shipping.

If price is the biggest factor you can get less expensive microscopes if you give up some combination of fluorescent lighting, mechanical stage, or iris diaphragm but you won't be as happy (in my opinion, anyway.)

GreatScope's SAF3 has fluorescent lighting, iris diaphragm, and a clip stage for $211 with shipping.

Home Training Tools' Home Microscope has fluorescent lighting but a disc diaphragm and a clip stage for about $187 with shipping.  A mechanical stage costs $25

Bargain Microscopes' Student 400x has tungsten lighting, disc diaphragm, and a clip stage for $175 with shipping.

I could not find a scope with tungsten lighting and an iris diaphragm.

For something a little more eclectic you can look at Bargain Microscopes' Rechargeable 400x and camera.  The microscope has LED lighting (takes less power and is a step up from fluorescent), a disc diaphragm, and a clip stage; it is also rechargeable so you don't have to be near a plug.  It has a camera that you can insert into your eyepiece and plug into your computer with a USB port.  It captures video and still images.  The package is $210 with shipping.

That's the round-up for this year.  I hope you find something you enjoy!

Comparing microscopes offered at Homeschool Buyer's Co-op

First let me mention Homeschool Buyer's Co-op. They arrange group discounts from various companies for their members, and membership is free. Discount amounts go up as more members purchase a product.

They have a lot of science offerings, some of which have purchased.

Currently they are offering discounts on several Bolden microscopes through October 13th. Only now that all of them have reached the maximum discount are they worth the price. Shipping is $15 per scope.

My First Lab Microscope, now down to $83, is comparable with Kids' Microscope at Home Science Tool for $95. No fine focus. The optics are O.K. (some of my biology students use this model.) It will do the trick.

The Premiere Student Microscope, now at $131, is comparable with Great Scope's SF3 for $149. The SF3 has fluorescent lighting but no coaxial focus ($179 for that option.) Bolden is also offering a cordless version with LED lighting now at $137.

The Premiere Advanced Student Microscope, now at $197, gets you the 100x oil immersion lens and a mechanical stage along with the coaxial focus nobs. Bargain Microscopes has a $175 model with the 100x lens, but without a mechanical stage (a very nice feature costing $25 at Home Science Tools) or coaxial nobs (makes little difference to me.) Bolden's LED cordless version is $203.

Next closest model is Great Scope's SF4 for $209 (+$10 shipping) with coaxial nobs and fluorescent lighting; add a mechanical stage and the price goes up to $248. Home Science Tool's comparable model is $240 with a mechanical stage and fluorescent lighting.

Buying a compound microscope

Do I need one? What kind do I need? What’s the difference among them? How much do they cost? These are all common questions when homeschoolers think about microscopes. The answers depend, of course, on your family’s science enthusiasm and budget. Let’s say you are looking to buy a “good” (ie. high-powered, compound) microscope, then where do you begin?

Check out this link to Home Science Tools to see a list and labeled picture of compound microscope parts.

Of these parts, you will most commonly be choosing from these options:

Eyepiece: the vast majority of microscopes have a 10x eyepiece, with or without a pointer in it. A monocular scope has one eyepiece; a teaching or dual-head scope has two independent eyepieces so a teacher and student (or camera) can both view simultaneously; a binocular scope has two eyepieces for one person to view using both eyes. Each is progressively more expensive, especially binocular microscopes.

Nosepiece with Objective lenses: All scopes will minimally have a triple nosepiece, which has 4x, 10x, and 40x objective lenses that, with a 10x eyepiece, give a total magnification of 40x, 100x, and 400x. A quadruple nosepiece adds an oil immersion lens (100x) that is a nice extra requiring you to keep a small bottle of immersion oil on-hand.

Light source: you have a choice of 4 types of electric light, each progressively more expensive. First is the standard tungsten light, which gets hot over time and dries up your specimen. It’s not as bright as other types, but still works just fine. Fluorescent lighting is cooler and brighter, so this is a nice extra. LED lighting is cool, bright, and takes little power to illuminate and is almost exclusively in cordless microscopes. Halogen is the brightest though it also gets quite hot and is more expensive. It’s best appreciated with a binocular scope.

A word to the wise--check how easily you can get replacement bulbs. Microscopes last a long time, often longer than companies, and you don't want a microscope to be rendered useless because you cannot replace the bulb. See if it has a standard bulb that you can get at a hardware or lighting store.

Stage: A basic microscope has a stage with spring clips to hold slides. If you want to scan over a slide, you need to move the slide around with your fingers, which works fine. A nice extra is a mechanical stage in which the slide is held by an arm and you can move it around more smoothly and precisely using knobs for the X-axis (horizontal movement) and Y-axis (vertical movement.)

Other things you might see: The coarse and fine focus knobs may be separate or, preferably, coaxial (one inside the other.) The diaphragm, which adjusts the amount of light coming up through he stage, may be a multi-holed disc or, preferably, an adjustable iris. These scopes are also parfocal (stays in focus) and parcentered (stays centered) when switching objectives.

I have not found any one place with the best price for all types of microscopes. My 3 top sites are the following:

Home Science Tools http://www.hometrainingtools.com/ This is a homeschooling family company. A comparison chart of their microscopes can be seen here. I had to look in the catalogue I had for shipping; it is $5 plus 5% of order total, so somewhere between $10 and $15.

Bargain Microscopes http://www.bargainmicroscopes.com/ This is a typical company. All their student scopes can be seen here. Shipping is shown with the product, and runs between $20 to $25.

Great Scopes http://www.greatscopes.com/ This is another homeschooling family company. Their chart is here. In the order section at the bottom of the page they list shipping as $10.

Keep in mind that you can buy a mechanical stage for most clip stages from Home Training Tools for $24 + shipping.

Tungsten, Monocular, Basic Stage:

• Triple nosepiece: See the Kids’ Microscope for $95 at Home Science Tools: (Note: you cannot add a mechanical stage to this model. It has separate focus knobs and a multi-holed diaphragm. It has lesser-quality lenses.) Also consider the $110 model at Bargain Microscopes, with better lenses and adaptable stage.
• Quadruple nosepiece: See the $174 model at Bargain Microscopes.
  

Fluorescent, Monocular, Basic Stage

• Triple nosepiece: See Great Scopes SF3 for $149.
• Quadruple nosepiece: See Great Scopes SAF4 for $209. If, however, you want a mechanical stage, then see Home Science Tools Home 1000x Microscope for $240.
  As of this writing, you can get a free halogen upgrade at Great Scopes (normally $35.)

Binocular scope

• You can’t beat Bargain Microscopes $276 model, which includes a mechanical stage, halogen lighting, and magnification up to x1600. It’s certainly the best value if you are an enthusiast and have the budget for it. The only thing this model is missing is coaxial focus knobs, but for that option you would need to buy a $375 scope at Great Scopes or a $399 scope at Home Training Tools.
  

Note that the only non-cordless LED microscope I could find is the National Optical LED Microscope from Home Science Tools for $220 (triple nosepiece, basic stage, separate focus nobs.)

Accessories: Home Science Tools and Edmund Scientifics sell a la carte accessories.

As an additional note, I want to mention low-powered microscopes. These are not the pocket or kid microscopes, but rather those used for viewing large objects. If you are more interested in viewing highly-magnified large specimens instead of thin, slide-mounted specimens, then consider a low-powered microscope. All 3 sites carry several models, the price mostly dependent upon magnification.

Last update: 29 September 2008