[KFC]

I was going to get a mircoscope and I was searching on ebay. I found a Amscope that sold superizingly cheap microscope and I was wondering if anyone bought a microscope from them and how relayiable they are and if it is worth buying?


Site: http://www.amscope.com/

Product: http://store.amscope.com/b100b-ms.html

[intothevoidx]

Man, I asked practically the same question ages ago....I didn't really get a good response.....I, as of yet, have not bought a microscope either.

[KFC]

Yah, I'm still waiting on it.

[Phi for All]

KFC said:

Yah, I'm still waiting on it.

Waiting on a response to your question or waiting on the Amscope you ordered?

[KFC]

Still deciding wether to get it.

[Phi for All]

People don't always respond in the negative when asked a question like this because they feel it's unhelpful. Assume the response so far from the 157 views you've gotten is, "No, I haven't bought a microscope from Amscope and I don't know how reliable they are or if it is worth buying."

It doesn't hurt to keep bumping this thread so more people see it. :D

[KFC]

PM Me if you hear anything about the qulity of Amscope microscopes in the way-a-way future or post for every to see.

[Daphniadance]

Im a brand new member, and I actually found this by searching about the scope that I just purchased. I didn't know that the company was completely online, but that may keep down their overhead and help explain why their prices are so very low. I must say it is very beautiful, I did not however buy slides so I cant even use it yet. Amscope however as far as ebay goes has a very high rating and they have thousands of purchases, many of whom spent way more money than I did. The shipping was rather high, but it did show up in perfect condition. I will have to actually use it before this can be of much use to others, but thus far I am impressed.

[lifebird]

Daphniadance have you had a chance to fully try the scope yet?
Anyone else?

[otherstuff]

My advice, having tried and used many scopes would be to buy used, either a Leica, Zeiss, Olympus, Nikon. If you want it new, try a Lomo multiscope. While the initial investment would be higher, the overal satisfaction will be better. Amscope like many others has a very limited number of attachments, the construction quality is dubious. You could soon want phase contrast, darkfield, oblique illumination. You could be wanting to collect different objectives like apo's, you will be wanting compensating eyepieces for those. You will be wanting aplantic condenser with high ap like 1.4. Who knows an attachment kit like a rotating stage with polarisation etc.

Don't be fooled with cheap microscopes, the advantage of buying used good quality would be if you sell it, you'll get back most if not all of what you have invested.

[freshwater]

My education is botanical (sub university level) and I have been educated to work with microscopes. Now I'm working in industrial watertreatment, so I don't need a mic for my job. And as for a hobby the Leitz, Olympus mic's are a bit too expensive! So when I saw the mics from Amscope on the internet (ebay) and I had read the description (thay state that the mics are manufactured by the same people as Leitz, Olympus etc) and the feedback score of the company on ebay, I took the "risk" and bought an Amscope compound microscope (Trinoculair for biologist, with filters etc) in May this year. I don't regret this purchase for a moment. This summer, I did, for the government, investigations on the influence of ultrasonic sound on freshwater specimens, like bleu-algae, protozoa etc. I took twice a month about 20 samples on serveral locations for intensive microscopic examinations. in August I bought the phase contrast set. The scope is very easy to work with, solid and stable, the images are very clear, the field is wide enough. Even if you have to look at many samples it is not tiring. The halogenlight is good adjustable (brightness & iris) and with the 400x phase-contrast condensor the mic can also be used as a darkfield for the 4x and 10x magnifications. The table is smooth movable (side-ways and level). The mic comes with plastic cover. I use a 3.0 megapixel digital camera which fits perfectly on the top third occulairtube. If you want you can expand the scope with a fluorescence kit, but I don't have any experience with this.
So I'm very satisfied with this scope. These months I'm doing investigations on protozoa in freshwater, just for fun.
I hope this information helps you further with your choise, if you have more questions, let me know.

[sweetbreeze79]

I just bought an amscope 40X-2000X DOCTOR VET LAB TRINOCULAR COMPOUND MICROSCOPE on ebay. I love it! It's gorgeous too! It is a good quality heavy duty microscope, just like the ones in the university. I can see this being in a professional lab as described. It also has a 5 year warranty. So far so great!

[Educo]

I bought a b-100 model and the clarity at any power setting is attonishing!
You will never be sorry you bought an ansco microscope.
Great company to do business and the prepared slides are a steal for the money asked.

[wdonovan]

I bought one and I'm sorry. The scope itself is OK. The camera, their 5 megapixel top-of-the-line, is garbage. I spent a number of calls to their tech line and experimenting, researching..... what I was doing wrong. By the time I got their tech lady to admit that the camera just doesn't not give a good image, it was over the 7 day return period and they agreed to take it back by charging me only 35% of selling price. Here's shots taken 1) with the Amscope and 2) with a cheap point and shoot held above the eyepiece (very low tech). Apparently, the Amscope is just a video camera and can not take still shots that don't look like a cartoon. Of course, they bill it as a "high resolution, high quality" camera.

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[CharonY]

I kind of have a hard time to believe that they are usable for high-end applications. I am tempted to get me a bino, but I do not think I would like to try the fluorescence system. And they spelled "Canon" wrongly on their site...

[Peter_Klim]

I'm interested too. What makes me even more cautious with these scopes is the extreemly high power for the money they're selling for. I'm not looking for high power but instead for high value.

[WEC]

I purchased an AmScope "40X-1600X Trinocular Biological Compound" microscope (model T490A) through Ebay and I've had a few weeks to "break it in". Here's my short review, for what it's worth to anyone considering a simular purchase.

First, my purchase price was under $300. Overall, I would rate the unit as mid-grade, but a very good value for the price. (Keep in mind that having used some very high quality lab microscopes in the past, my saying that this unit is mid-grade is not a bad thing; it should be more than adequate for home/hobby or basic lab work.) I consider this unit an excellent choice for anyone looking for a quality, full feature microscope who does not wish to spend $1000 or more for a more "professional" unit.

The controls are tight (i.e. no slop or play) and seem to be well constructed. The optics are sharp and clear. The lighting controls are very good, although the lens assembly for the halogen light on my unit has a couple of black specks inside the sealed assembly. (It doesn't affect the performance.)

At this point in time, I do not have any negative remarks to report on this microscope. I am very pleased with my purchase and feel safe in recommending this brand to others for their consideration. I'll be sure to post an update in this forum if anything changes.

[Vladi]

I bought an Amscope compound dual view microscope with mechanical stage 40x-1600x and an extra 25x eyepiece. The microscope is very well built, good optics, looks professional to me but I'm only amateur. I'm very happy with it so far (I purchased as well 200 premade slides). The price is great, quality great, I highly recommend it.

[opoce]

I bought a stereo binocular 3,5 - 90x. I mostly use just 7 - 45x anyway as I use the microscope for examining handwritten texts. As I couldn't afford to invest into a better brand I finally decided to risk and go for Amscope. I can compare the optical quality to Zeiss and Leica I used to work with at my workplace and it's almost comparable. Along with the scope I bought a halogen fiber optic illuminator. There are see some negatives - first unless the intensity is at its maximum, the light has bad yellowish shade (which is normal for halogen lights) but the problem is that Amscope doesn't sell a filter to fix this. It's then very hard to get one somewhere due to the particular dimensions of the slot (so Zeiss filters won't fit in). Another annoying thing is a very noisy fan the illuminator contains. Unfortunately I found out it can't be replaced as easily as you can do it with your PC. I believe a better fan would be worth a little extra money bouyers would be pleased to pay. This way it's annoying. So all in all the quality is very good and I can recommend the brand. And Amscope could broaden their offer selling also the filters (so far they sell just the useless coloured ones) and make their Chinese comrade suppliers to install BETTER FANS!!! ;-)

[North Woods]

Congrats! After much looking I find that this thread has the most useful info on Amscope I have come across.

Click image for description:
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-3262099438073_2072_91912206

Being quite satisfied with their smallest least expensive low power stereo scope I have been looking for information on a trinocular microscope similar to what opoce purchased, mainly for viewing insects.

http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-3262099438073_2072_3259568

It was useful to hear about the color of the halogen light as I will be using a digital imager and wonder if anyone has experience with any of the other Amscope lights.
I have asked Amscope this question and they responded quite promptly but didn't know anything about the K color of their various lights.
I am considering this one but have no detailed info on it.

http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-3262099438073_2072_86810903

I have other questions, one relating to general optics but will keep my first post short. :-)

Greg

This post has been edited by North Woods: 19 September 2009 - 05:20 PM