[Equineguy]

Greetings and salivations....

I have purchased an Amscope T680 ( trinocular ), it resembled the one I use at work the most ( Olympus CH30 ) ( also use a Nikon alphaphot 2.... but prefer the Olympus ).
The quality, feel and overall options are very very close to the Olym CH30. The optics have been great, and very comparible to what I have been using for 15 years. I bring mine to work and actually use it instead of the Olympus, which I am heavy into the microscopy work for hematology, parasitology, microbes, etc etc etc. Only time will tell if it will last 15+ years as the olympus, but so far, all has been great. Stage remains tight, no focus drift, lighting is great and the optics have been just as good ( I actually upgraded to Semi-plan ).

The down falls.... the add described a swing out filter holder, did not have it. But it did have a screw out filter ( not a big deal to me, but they did send me a replacement. ). They sent me a 20x objective instead of the 20x oculars. They paid for the return and switched them out.
( Gotta admit... customer service was great, even talked to the owner ).

I was not happy with the ocular pieces. Not used to the small field of view ( which stamped on the ocular is 10x/18mm... more like 15mm diameter if you use some calipers ). I had some American Optic oculars that are about 22mm diameter, and that makes a world of difference. ( not to mention, the AO stuff is metal construction, not plastic like the Amscope oculars).
Needless to say, the 20x oculars are pretty much worthless, and pretty much gives empty magnification over 40x obj power.
I use 15x/22mm AO oculars with a scale reticle, and have never been happier.

In retrospec... knowing what I know now... I probably would have gone with an Omano OM139 just because it has infinity correction for about what I paid for the Amscope.
The main reasonings: it has 30mm ocular ports ( vs the 23mm ports ) so I could get bigger field of view. And infinity correction.

What I would miss if I did go with the Omano.... the 5 objectives. Dang it is nice having 4x/20x/40x/60x/100x on one scope. I use 60x a lot, and when mixed with the 15x oculars.... I am pretty close to 1000x without oil, with good enough detail. On oil at 100x.... very nice ( 1500x )

And...... thats my views on Amscope. I am happy.

[Frustrated]

I ordered a microscope that was sent out via UPS 5 days ago. It was last scanned by UPS 3 days ago at a location ( @ 30 miles away) 3 days ago. When I called UPS to ask where the mic was, they said it was missing and I should contact Amscope. When I told Amscope, they said there was no problem!

Mic is still missing.
So, I do not recommend Amscope.
I am starting to think they are a scam.

[Psycho]

Frustrated said:

I ordered a microscope that was sent out via UPS 5 days ago. It was last scanned by UPS 3 days ago at a location ( @ 30 miles away) 3 days ago. When I called UPS to ask where the mic was, they said it was missing and I should contact Amscope. When I told Amscope, they said there was no problem!

Mic is still missing.
So, I do not recommend Amscope.
I am starting to think they are a scam.

That is nothing to do with Amscope, UPS have lost your package in transit and are liable for it if you have insurance on the postage, I would get in contact with UPS especially since you have seen it on their system.

[Equineguy]

Sorry it has not worked out. UPS is usually very good in investigating and tracking where it went. If they scanned the package enroute, Amscope has no financial resposibility... they did thier part. I would hound UPS and the last known scanned location. The package should have been insured, mine was. My neighbors about 2 miles away have received packages from UPS/FedEx and USPS as our street numbers are close. Some strategic calls to managers helped reduce that.
But as far as Amscope being a scam.... they have been the real deal for me, as I have purchased more and have been satisfied.

Hope you find it!

[ar-ex]

I just received my XSG-109L Binocular microscope from Amscope. It is working GREAT!!!!! Optics excellent. Construction solid. Service good.
Don't know how to use the color filters that came with it. Any ideas!
Thx

[Peter Kemp]

Hi!

I bought an Amscope 100x oil/iris darkfield objective and condenser to fit to my Vickers M14. It works very well.

I can observe bacteria easily and reckon it resolves detail down to around .25 - .3 uM - with very strong illumination.

Attached is a photo of a spirochete using the above setup.

Best Wishes,
Peter

Attached image(s)

• 

[Genecks]

Peter Kemp said:

Hi!

I bought an Amscope 100x oil/iris darkfield objective and condenser to fit to my Vickers M14. It works very well.

I can observe bacteria easily and reckon it resolves detail down to around .25 - .3 uM - with very strong illumination.

Attached is a photo of a spirochete using the above setup.

Best Wishes,
Peter

The quality of sight and resolution is better than that when viewed through the ocular, right, Peter Kemp? Not so pixelated in RGB?

[jnwnnr]

Hi everyone. Recently i came across their website and i found their products quite cheap. I am very interested in fluorescence microscope that they are offering. Their prices are way lower compared to the prestigous ones by microscope giants. But I doubt their quality. Do fluorescence microscopes from amscope have the comparable quality to that of Nikon, Zeiss, etc... at a much lower price? The FLUOR lens from amscope, do they have comparable quality to lens from the giants? Is it just FLUOR, or PLAN FLUOR? I notice their NA is the same as the plan achro, as stated from the website. Has anyone bought any fluorescence microscope from amscope before? Can anyone here advise me?

[scoped out]

Hi

I bought the 3.5x90X stereo zoom dual halogen scope: What a waste that was! Like pulling teeth to get answers. The fancy talk about service and product seems good when you read it, but they cannot answer simple questions or get back to you in a week. They cannot fix the broken parts or clear up the issues, in fact they were responsible for having me send it back for repairs and then forgot they had it. Then they claimed they sent the money back instead of fixing it and then told me they were too big and important to mess with it according to Ben Johnson in charge of internet sales after a 4 minutes try to find my scope conversation. He rushed me off the phone and said they sent me my money back. After a lot of time and check he had no clue and they did not send the money back and on top of his poor demeanor and total lack of customer care. In the mean time I have no scope, I am out major money, and I cannot imagine what he was thinking to be so rude. They talk a big game in their listings, but there is no knowledge base, I asked about the k on the hals too.
They did not return the scope or the money. When I tried to get my scope back or fixed Ben Johnson, five weeks head of internet sales with the company, told me I was sent my money back and to have a nice day. My bank denies this as well as ebay. Availability of anyone who can help is not what they do. I was totally insulted by this 4 minute brush off with this man. Bottom line greed appears to be their motivator. The scope lights were extremely orange and I could not get a true color readings on their best scope. The halogen lights do not come close to allowing clean true color.I was instructioned on how to send it back and did so. The person I had been dealing with was fired and she told me to go to their site and buy the same bulb again, hum...
Two big thumbs down on Precision World, Jennifer, Ben Johnson and Amscope. They appear to be the British Petroleum of microscopes!! Ebay advises me to get the police involved, with internet fraud to clear up my encounter with them. Just how I want to spend my time!!!
scoped out

This post has been edited by scoped out: 27 August 2010 - 10:07 AM

[Danrx1]

I am a new member.
I have a T680A Amscope. The optics are good and the trinocular I own is great, but they provide little documentation. I have been trying to get an owners manual from China since I bought the scope last Feb. The light stopped working and I felt they set the bar too high for me to send it back for free repair. I have had the scope for 9 months it has a 5 year warranty. I have purchased 3rd party objectives and installed them. I have phase contrast setup. They said in their email that I had to return the microscope exactly as I had received it. I don't have the original packing and don't remember how it was packed. So I am out of luck. If you buy an Amscope be sure to save the packing and remember how it was packed. That way if you need to use the warranty you can.
Dan

[charliethecat]

Here is my experience with Amscope. Short version: TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE, MEDIOCRE PRODUCT, WILL LIE TO YOUR FACE AND OBFUSCATE FOR MONTHS AND MONTHS.

As a former teacher, i had a small budget so i bought about 10 or so simple dissecting scopes for my students. They turned out to be good quality and I was happy with them.

I stopped teaching and began doing research at a major research institution (recently rated the number 1 engineering school in the country). My supervisor wanted a microscope on our limited grant money budget so I suggest Amscope.

We ordered a basic metallurgical microscope from them - payed about $4500 total, and it came with a 5mp camera.
The camera, I have to say is a piece of junk, generally.

However, what ensued after getting the microscope is the most absurd/ridiculous customer service story ever. The microscope was obviously flawed - the Kohler illumination system simply didn't work and we continually had bright spots and or just a bad image in general. So I sent it back, payed for shipping and expected for my microscope to be replaced immediately.
In the following months i was given story after story and eventually when I would call, they knew my story and stonewalled - i could never talk to anyone that knew anything. All the people in the know were always busy or on vacation, or no longer worked there. Finally after 4 MONTHS with no movement on their end I learned that my microscope was no longer in production and to correct the problem a new part had to be machined in China and sent over. A month later (seriously) I learned my microscope was actually IN china.
After about 5 MONTHS I got the university purchasing dept. involved and threatened a small claims lawsuit if they did not replace my microscope with one of equal or greater value asap. Another month went buy and after someone with some power at the university made some phone calls, things started to move and Amscope finally admitted that there was no way we could ever get back our microscope and that they would replace it, but that we would have to pay the $600 fee to upgrade to the next level microscope. I couldn't believe the gall these people had to demand that. I personally called and made them realize they needed to ship us one for free immediately (a miracle), which they are currently doing as I write this. We have lost a lot of money - we never had a microscope that worked, and during the intervening 7 MONTHS since i returned it, we have had to rent time to use the SEM on the university campus.

Amscope's customer service is BEYOND TERRIBLE, beyond the pale, beyond me ever recommending buying a microscope from them. In fact, you are better off throwing your money down the toilet as it will save you a lot of time and hassle. I do believe they generally have a good product in terms of optics and build quality. However, for the problems they caused me, for the lies they told me (I was told at least 2 or 3 times - i have email documentation to back this up - that a microscope was being shipped to me the next day), and for my money lost, I would be happy if this company went out of business. They deserve to be sued into oblivion. No business like this should be allowed to survive, and I hope the market puts them out of business and similar, better companies take up the market share.

STAY AWAY.

[pdjh]

I have just purchased the Amscope SM-1TX Stereo Microscope with LED-144S ring-light and MU300 camera.

The scope is superb, far better than I expected. Build quality, optics, and mechanics are all excellent. The LED-144s gives a very bright & even illumination, but its plastic and one of the screw thread inserts pulled out of mine. A minor problem which I can fix, but a metal housing would be more in keeping with the quality of the scope.
The camera I chose is of the cmos sensor variety. Build quality is excellent here too, but the image quality really is very poor. To be fair it is one of their cheapest cameras, but the images and description on their site lead one to expect a far better product. That's a pity, since their scopes really are excellent.

Anyone know of a reasonably good (ccd?) camera that fits this scope?

Anyone want to buy a cheap MU300

This post has been edited by pdjh: 21 December 2011 - 06:57 PM