Carson Pocket Micro 20x-60x LED Pocket Microscope Handheld STEM Toy (MM-450)

I bought this as a gift for someone and after trying it out, I really want to buy one for myself. I don't see how I could complain about this pocket microscope when its as cheap as it is. Of course the image is inverted like some of the other reviews mention, that's how microscopes work. Most lab microscopes are inverted, you'd have to buy a specialty or electronic microscope in order to solve that issue. This little guy fits in one hand and has a plastic guard so you can avoid accidentally scratching the lens. The top wheel adjusts magnification and bottom wheel adjusts Focus. If you are having trouble because the wheels are "stiff" as others have reported, simply place the microscope on a flat surface againts the plastic, adjust your view until it looks in focus and then bam you instantly have a microscope at the perfect focal point of whatever you place against the plastic. I for one love that the wheels aren't going to be accidentally bumped out of focus while youre trying to look at an object. They are firm but not so firm that its actually difficult to turn them. It's just right. When it comes to magnification strength its accurate to the listing. you can see the fibres that make up your clothing or the dots of ink that are printed on a linoleum countertop. It's amazing that something like this is widely avaliable for anyone to use. If I could change one thing about it, I'd add a lid / lens cover that you could put on for travel. Overall its a quality purchase

We've had this for over 4 years and it's really quite valuable in our home. It works wonderfully and better than i could've expected. The magnification is clearer, if not better than our larger standard one. (Naturalists and homeschoolers here.)

I got this for my wife, who buys and sells vintage silver jewelry. She needs a good loupe for examining hallmarks and signatures. I'm able to use this microscope just fine, although I have to agree that it's so very touchy even when fully zoomed out, to keep your subject in the view field. And then, since your actually seeing a mirror image of the piece you're looking at, you have to keep this in mind when you make the adjustments of the piece you're looking at. Even the smallest movement of the piece can take whatever you're trying to examine right out of view, and this is exacerbated by the fact that you need to move the piece in the opposite direction of where you feel it should go. Hard to explain. I can do it, but my wife has all but given up because it's just too much of a bother to keep he subject in focus. The focus and zoom wheels are so hard to turn that it's nearly impossible to move either of them without again having to move your subject back into the view field. I just leave it zoomed out so I never need to touch that adjustment, and then I set the focus wheel to "very close" and then move the scope up and down (away from and closer to the subject) a tiny bit to get the subject into clear focus. You also need to make certain that the scope is perpendicular to the subject, as the depth of field is so short that even a small piece of jewelry will present as sharp-focus in one place and very soft-focus in others. With some patience and practice, this can be an excellent tool. But do the practice part before you really need it, or it'll be a frustrating experience. Except for the tight, hard to turn adjustment wheels, this is a very nicely made scope and the built-in light is well placed to light up your subject. Seeing your subject in mirror-image takes some getting used to, but the clarity of the view, IMHO, makes it worth the effort. At it's price, it's also a bargain. Fits in your pocket, too.

i tried it on my phone, and i saw each individual pixel! give it a try. it was easy to use. it looked wierd but worked well.

Perfect. Easy to use. Not crazy powerful but enough to foster and satisfy curiosity

Fine build - the clear plastic could be a little better. The light switch could be switched on and not momentary requiring you to keep your finger pressed in one position. DOUBLE DIFFICULT because you're working with A MIRROR IMAGE. Totally unintuitive having the image go the wrong way while you're trying to align and find and focus the subject by tilting and lifting and sliding simultaneously at such a high a power. If I had known all that - I would have spared myself the pain. It's also not the best mag range - it's high, which is useful, but very hard to align, and half the max would probably be just as useful for daily use on slivers and such.. I'm not looking for bacteria.

I was in the search for a microscope to look at various microorganisms in my aquariums. I stumbled upon this and saw many reviews saying to just get a loupe. So, I purchased this microscope and a JARLINK 30x 60x loupe to compare. The microscope has MUCH better magnification. The proclaimed 60x magnification on the loupe is a load of crap. The microscope on 20x magnification zooms in more than the loupe with 60x magnification. In terms of clarity, they're both great but the microscope remains clear even with higher magnification. The loupe does have its advantages though. It's, MUCH easier to use. You just put the lens directly on top of whatever you're looking at and you'll see it. On the other hand, it's a lot trickier with the microscope. The lens is positioned pretty high up and far away from the contact surface (of what you're trying to look at), so trying to line them up can be very frustrating. Your hands have to be still so that when you adjust the magnification you don't lose what you're looking at. Not to mention the image is reversed, so you have to remember right = left, up = down, etc... very hard to control at first, but I got better and better at it and it's quite manageable now. Also, the loupe has MUCH brighter LED lights. This makes the loupe a lot better at viewing through transparent surfaces like through glass/plastic with bad/no lighting. I am impressed by both. The loupe is amazing for its ease of use, but the proclaimed magnification is a lie. If you want to see something very tiny in better detail and don't mind spending half a minute trying to locate & adjust the magnification, then the microscope is better.

LOOKS BETTER to the naked eye than in the pictures. Seems you can only get your phone to focus so well on the subject through the lens. And speaking of taking photos -- it's definitely a pain! Every tiny movement of the microscope and your phone changes what it sees, auto focus really struggles, and auto brightness often blows out detail in the picture. I find I have to adjust ISO, shutter speed, and manual focus to get a decent pic, all while trying to move the phone and microscope as little as possible. But I don't hold that against this microscope. There are other more expensive ones that eliminate those problems, but this is great for a cheap thing to carry around and look at cool bugs with or whatever. The focus wheel is fairly stiff on mine but it's manageable. It's amazing how much detail you can see with even just 20× magnification! I feel like I need an eye patch keeping one eye closed this whole time though. Haha