This is a complex device to review because light magnification is a complex undertaking. And it has taken many centuries to perfect. So let me just cover a few issues that I think you should know about before buying.

There are many nice things about this instrument. It has a metal limb or frame: it comes with a number of lenses; it also comes with a phone holder/viewer (more about that later); an electronic lens for attaching the microscope to a computer (more about that later); it has two light sources - above and below depending upon whether the specimen is opaque or not; it has two power sources for the light, battery or plug-in; it has a nice carrying case.

Some issues: because my phone has multiple lenses, the phone hookup which I was hopeful would be useful did not work well for me. I sometimes have difficulty looking through lenses, even a binocular type as here. I could not get my phone to work with this instrument. So I was going to try the electronic lens that attaches to a computer but the software is contained on a three inch disc - my iMac does not have a disc reader. I searched the house and our office to see if I still had a disc reader around and could not find one. So I cannot, sadly review the use of the electronic lens - something I had high hopes for. It would be more useful for the manufuacture to put the software on a thumb drive or perhaps make it possible to download it. I could barely understand the directions for using the lens in any event so I may have missed alternative methods (if they exist) of downloading the software. The parts of the directions for using the disc that I could understand hinted that even using the disc was sketchy - there was mention of your anti-viral software being alerted. Hmm. That is concerning.

The lenses seem to work nicely, but as you know as magnification decreases the field of view and thus the amount of light moving through the specimen goes down. There is an iris on this instrument (under the staging area there is a wheel that you can turn with holes in it that lets in more or less light from the light source) but there is no condenser (a device that concentrates the light so that the specimen has more or less contrast). So that is an issue if you plan on using the highest magnification settings.

As to what else is included that is clearly listed in Kentfaith’s material concerning this instrument and I don’t need to waste your time going over that here. Overall it is a nice instrument - it does make some compromises and you have to decide if those compromises are important to you or not. For everyday field use (looking at pond water, etc.) this is a very nice instrument and will serve you well. For very serious lab work, etc. this will not do.