Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Opinion on product, please!

My son wants a microscope for his birthday next month. I thought one that can be used to look at a rock and look at bacteria would be best. Could someone please tell me what this particular one offers? Thanks!

http://shop.australiangeographic.com.au/-Deluxe-Microscope-for-Kids-68-Piece-Set-P959.aspx

And this, too. Thanks, again!

http://shop.australiangeographic.com.au/-60AZ-Beginners-Telescope-For-Kids-P1039.aspx

If you want one that can look at rocks, that one won't work. You need one that's a "dissecting microscope" and it willtypically have much lower magnification. (like 20x) Still very cool. I actually had forgotten about them until we saw one while I was at college reunion. They had flowers in there.

I also forget how old your son is, but if he's on the younger side, you might want to consider one that has a projection screen and/or the style that has two things to look through, as the "wink" is hard to do.

Thanks for your help! I couldn't remember what specifications were needed, but I remember now about the lower magnification. I had planned to buy another one, but the store no longer stocks it, and I can't recall the brand. It had 20x/40x/400x magnification and was around $200. I figure a higher price means better quality... This particular one means I can also buy the telescope.

My son will be seven. I will probably get the projection screen.

We picked up a handheld Celestron digital ~$60us to connect to DS' laptop: http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-Del...766&sr=1-1&keywords=celestron+microscope

It is pretty cool and we can do rocks and some smaller items. And having it up on the screen, it is easy to take snapshots and to discuss things together. However, it only goes to 150x and doesn't have all the cool slides that a full kit has.

I'm with Portia. I'd ask at a local college/uni, or a technical/magnet high school with a good science program.

Higher price, unfortunately, does NOT always mean better quality, and often the 'student' microscopes with the best optics don't have lighting or apertures which are truly adequate to make use of them fully.

All of the people we know who have bought their kids microscopes successfully have done one of two things (or some combination):

a) surplus/used educational/professional model,
b) hacked/pirated components to make a Frankenscope.

Nothing turns kids off more than a difficult-to-use, inadequate microscope. Unfortunately, the 'kid/intro' microscopes are all of that ilk.

I can sometimes use those kind-- but I've got decades of experience behind me. That's the problem. Kids who lack that kind of experience actually need BETTER tools that are more forgiving. Unfortunately, you're probably talking $1500 USD for a truly good microscope with magnification sufficient to what you're after.

Dissection scope.... well, I can recommend this--

SpiderEye Portable Microscope

It's a little 10X without an integrated light source-- but it is surprisingly good quality, has a nice field of view, and is EASY to operate, and-- because of the supports and design, can be used as a monocular dissection scope. DD has had one of those since she was about your son's age, and she's used it for everything from looking at krill to examining feathers, butterfly wings, fingerprints, and crystal structures in rocks.

Get a penlight to go with it, though. More light is definitely the key to making inexpensive optics shine.



Try before you buy. I can't emphasize that enough.

Thanks, everyone. I haven't really the access to universities, etc, to test things out. Not immediate access, and I've only got four weeks. I'm not sure where I could go in-store to try before I buy. There is a specialty camera shop I might look at (but it's in the city and I hate reverse parallel parking lol); any other sellers are through medical supply representatives.

I don't think I need a fancy microscope, just something for fun. I'm going to have to think about this!