http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=cm_sw_em_r_dp

I want a good microscope, and this one, on paper, appears to be quite the bargain.

I'll need to get a few more eyepieces to expand the functionality of the 40x objective, but that's fine as its eyepieces are 30.5mm which are common, and cheap.

It has coarse and fine focus adjustments, and a mechanical stage that appears to be mechanically acceptable.

The diaphragm is of the adjustable iris type, and the illumination system uses cheap halogen bulbs, with a variable intensity (controllable, apparently, by a rotating disc similar to a volume control on a walkman)

It has the ability to accept a digital camera while maintaining functionality through the binos (though I don't know exactly how it handles light distribution when all three are in play)

From what I can tell, the condenser is a fairly typical type, and should be compatible with a darkfield condenser from amscope.

The construction overall appears to be decent, but this initial guess, in the past, has been faulty in some cases.

Anyone know what I'm talkin about? Have any experience with variscope?

My primary interests are examining the environment around me, and within me, so having non oil-immersed powers such as 800x, and 640x would be good for that. Then with the oil immersed objectives, the smaller details could be enhanced somewhat.

I've never used oil immersion before, and I'm wondering if it's possible to use oil immersion without contaminating the sample with the oil by using slide covers.

so, slide -> sample -> cover -> oil, but I'm not sure if that's how you're actually supposed to do it or not. I assume there's instructions in the manual, but I like external input as well.

What oil?

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser..._Immersion.htm

"Immersion oil" is the only description I've found so far. I suspect there are other types of oil which may be cheaper and/or more abundant than "Immersion Oil" while maintaining the refractive index and with an observable viscosity.

In the link above, it would appear that the sample is between a cover and a slide. If that's the case, then I am most pleased, as that would allow the sample not to be contaminated with oil, while being observable through 2000x magnification.

what are you planning to use it for? looking at a few things or doing real research?

That depends on your definition of real research..

I don't get paid for it, nor do I have a specific goal in mind, but that doesn't mean there won't be 10lbs of notes to go along with each observation. Purely for my own benefit, and maybe anyone elses that's interested, but I'd like to be as proficient with the device as possible. Discovery is the keyword, here.

Some of that comes from having good equipment, and I expect whatever microscope I get to be definable as good.

I would expect good for 300-400$.


Additionally, as my reading has indicated -

Having an oil with a refractive index > 1.4, glass covers, water with refractive index of 1.33, whatever the refractive index of the sample is, and the NA of the condenser being 1.25, should allow for some, if not good utilization of the numerical aperture, thus yielding a finer image.

Is this an accurate assessment?

if you are willing to spend ~300$ then its a good investment IMO.
i have no clue, i have used a microscope but without oil.

I've used oil immersion many times. Yes, it's quite possible to use a coverslip (even recommended), but I strongly recommend that you fix the coverslip to the slide first, otherwise things will move around.

See here for more tips:
http://www.olympusmicro.com/primer/a...immersion.html

As for the quality of the microscope, I trust microscopes made in Japan (Nikon, Olympus) or Germany (Zeiss) ... with others you take a gamble, IMO. But, there do exist some other companies in other countries that do make reasonable quality microscopes, but I don't remember their names.

I agree. Those are the big three in the microscope world. Arguably Zeiss have the best optics.

it is a gamble but you have the odds in your favor that it will be just fine.

I'm gunna go ahead and take that gamble. Hopefully it'll work out, otherwise I may have to return something for the first time in my life.

You could always try an older one, look at american science and surplus and see what they have there.

Thanks for that site, man. I think I'll be doing a good bit of business with them for the supplies they offer!

The maker (variscope) does not say on their website where they are, and whois cannot find them. This does not give me a warm feeling.

I would NEVER buy something like a microscope without being able to first see it and look thru it. YMMV

I bought stuff from them when I was still in school, graduated in 91 so that shows how long they have been around. Sometimes old stuff is better than the new if you know what to look for. ChikFilA has these science things in kids means, beaker, evaporating dish, etc so I'm starting to do little things with my kids and eventually will buy stuff from AS&S as they get older.

My suspicions are that this company is rather small, and may not have too many unique customers..

and sometimes the business owners do more work than allows for their website. In some cases, the advertisement is just to provide a basic interface for customers that already know about them. Hence the off-site distribution. Perhaps the small company found some regular customers that keep them afloat, therefore the popularity may not be too outwardly focused on the rest of the world.

Don't know, but I'm going to find out.