T490B-DK Compound Trinocular Microscope, WF10x and WF20x Eyepieces, 40X-2000X Magnification, Brightfield/Darkfield, Halogen Illumination, Abbe Condenser, Double-Layer Mechanical Stage, Sliding Head, High-Resolution Optics

The only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. In terms of bang for the buck, this may be the best techie man toy ever. PROS Impressive presentation. It's huge, at 14-1/2 inches tall without a camera and almost 20 inches tall with a compact digital camera on the trinocular port. It would be a little taller with an SLR/DSLR camera. Well constructed with a really solid feel to the whole thing. Knobs that move, such as the focusing knobs, the condenser positioning knob, and the stage positioning knobs, all move smoothly. The optics are quite good. Achromatic (and not planar), obviously, at this price point. But certainly good enough for students and hobbyists like me. This is no toy in the cheap sense of the word. This is a serious instrument. Overall, a great value at the $380 I paid this T490B-DK kit. (Which is the T490B microscope bundled with its optional DK-DRY100 darkfield condenser). I recommend you save yourself $90 by buying the T490B without the darkfield condenser. You can add the condenser at any time. EDUCATION Ideal for homeschooling. As an 8-10 year old child circa 1950, I was given a cheap chemistry set and a toy microscope. I was never able to do anything with the chemistry set and the microscope was a useless piece of junk. Great idea. Encourage your kids to develop an interest in science by giving them scientific toys that do nothing but frustrate them. If you're lucky enough to have a child who's interested in science, the smartest thing you can do for them would be to buy them this microscope and a few (2-4) boxes of prepared slides. The benefit is not just the "discovery adventure" from getting really good views of really small things. You put your child down in front of a device of this size and sophistication and the message to the child is clear: "I am taking both you and your educations seriously. Very seriously." And it will also entertain you and impress your friends. CONS (remarkably few, and they're nits) The user's guide is lame, to put it charitably. The good news: what little assembly is required is reasonably obvious after looking at the pictures and I had no real trouble cobbling it together. If you do have any questions, AmScope has really good phone and website chat support. The eyepieces have limited eye relief. So, if you wear glasses, you might have an issue. I'm extremely nearsighted, but I just take my glasses off and let the microscope's focusing optics compensate for my vision. If that isn't going to work for you, meaning you will have to wear your glasses, your eyes will be too far from the eyepieces to see the entire image at one time. I.e., you'll need to move your head around to scan the entire image. (The eye relief is the maximum distance your eye can be from the eyepiece and still see the entire image the device is forming.) ASSEMBLY SUGGESTION There is an opening in the top of the binocular head for the camera mount tube. This opening has a plug in it you remove to install the tube. But there is no plug for the tube itself. So, if you don't have a camera to go on the tube, don't install the tube at this time or you'll just have a path for dust to enter the binocular head. DARKFIELD MICROSCOPY Darkfield microscopy is really cool stuff. If this topic is new to you (as it was to me), now would be a good time to check out the Wikipedia article. Although I purchased the darkfield condenser with this microscope, I haven't had much experience with it yet. Darkfield is really intended for use with unstained specimens, and as I only have prepared slides all of my specimens have been stained. The darkfield views I'm getting are pretty dim, and my guess is that the stain is absorbing much of the light that would otherwise be scattered by the unstained specimens. I don't know how this will work out in the long run, but if I learn anything interesting I'll update this review. BOTTOM LINE Great bang for the buck. Really cool man toy. Wonderful child educational tool. Highly Recommended !

This is an excellent microscope. It's easy to use, has great optics in the eye pieces and objective lenses, and both of the condensers that come with it are of decent quality. It was easy to add polarization to for even more versatility in viewing specimens. The top tube for attaching a camera (adapters sold separately) works great, allowing for both photos and videos. For its price, I cannot think of a single reason to give it less than five stars. Were it twice the price, I'd probably ding it a star for claiming to provide 2000x magnification, when 1000x-1200x is the maximum actual (i.e. usable) magnification a microscope can provide using light in the visible spectrum. Anything above this is just further enlarging these magnification limitations and issues that come with maxing them out. It's a solid, capable microscope with great overall quality, especially at this price. I can comfortably recommend it, even for use in science classes in schools.

The buzzing sound bothers me a lot m. I’m not sure if that’s how is supposed to sound. Just like previous comments if you have glasses 👓 gotta take them off. I’ll update later once I get to see real stuff

This microscope works well. It is not as good as a Nikon or Olympus microscope, but it is not too far off the mark, and an excellent value for the money. Lightfield illumination is good, and there is no issue with the illumination. The darkfield is a bit trickier, all the adjustments have to be good. I would have liked cross polarized filters, which produces a better image of unstained bacteria than the darkfield. The 40x, 100x and 400x all produce excellent views. The 1000 and 1000x oil are somewhat limited due to a very restricted depth of field. I purchased a 2X Microscope Adapter for Sony E Mount (NEX/A7/A9/QX/VG) Mirrorless Camera. With a Sony A6000 I get excellent photos, but with a smaller, rectangular field of view.

Love the scope. I've just stared to play with it, but so far, the clearness of the objects is great. I like the two options to adjust the light on the slides. The scope seems to be very well made. It came with all the items pictured in the ad, PLUS the additional lenses needed to get to the 2000x magnification. Come with a plastic cover only. Lenses come in their own little containers for protection. My only complaint so far is Amscope no longer makes cases for their scopes. I will be taking this back and forth to school and need a good, sturdy case, I'm having problems finding one. Just something to think about. Also, and I read this before purchasing the scope, there are no real directions on how to use all the features on the it. I think this is a great scope for college bio students.

I purchased this purely out of a renewed interest in biology and I could afford it. I've spent an entire weekend looking at water I collected from a local lake and my mind is simply blown. I am a photographer and backyard astronomy buff. I demand high quality optics. And this delivers. I wasn't prepared for how good it would be. I mostly use the 4/0.1 and 10/0.25 objectives with the 10x ocular and the detail and definition are sharp, detailed, and surpass my expectations. When you get into the 40/0.65 and 100/1.25, it strains the limits of an acceptable image. But I'm new and there may be something that I don't understand, but look forward to learning. Build quality is very good. Seems it will last years with proper care. If you wondering if this really is the right scope, I can only say it is for me. I am very particular about quality as most people are. I want my money's worth and this microscope delivered. I am very pleased.

Very well made. Adjustment knob movements smooth and steady like scopes that cost thousands. Image quality is very good for the objective lenses supplied. However they are Achromats which are not the same as the very high end scopes that may have Plan Apochromatic objectives. But, a just a single high end Plan Apochromatic objective can cost several thousand dollars. So, for the money, this scope is excellent.

The microscope arrived promptly. Unfortunately it was missing the 100xs objective and the mechanical stage was obviously used as it had several irremovable blemishes likely caused by caustic reagents. I have returned it. The microscope itself is a very good unit for the price. The lenses I could test were clear, the Abbe Condenser is an excellent light source, although it does get warm quickly and the dark field accessory worked as advertised. I would advise anyone buying an AmScope or any other brand of microscope from Amazon to check it over thoroughly to ascertain that it is, in fact, new.

Perfecto

I really like this microscope. My only confusion is the high power oil immersion lens. For some reason my high power objective does not indicate that it is an oil immersion lens but after reaching out to the seller I am assured that it is. Although I have not been able to see anything online indicating oil immersion lenses will ever not have an oil indicator embossed on them. I still have yet to try it out though because I haven't had anything I needed that high of magnification. Hoping for the best when I do!

This is a very high quality microscope. The metal structure is solid and perfectly aligned. Optics are sharp. Right out of the box I was able to watch amoebas and stentors - amazing! I got the Darkfield option but it is not adjustable. The darkfield ring is permanent. I don't think this was worth the extra £60. A set of darkfield plastic rings costs way less (or free if DIY). The halogen lightbulb gives nice full spectrum, bright and warm yellow light. Recommended over cheap LED microscopes. There is however heat dissipation issue. The metal base becomes hot. I will need to attach some sort of pads to keep my hands resting there! I previously bought a £100 cheaper microscope. It was faulty so I had a chance to buy another one. The AmScope T490B is so much better in every way.

les enfants ont eu un choc face à ces petits vers translucide et gigotants, trouvés dans un peu de terre récupéré d'une plante.

I bought this microscope a couple weeks back and I'm so happy with it I think it's a gorgeous piece of equipment for the money you spend on it I have done microprocessor microscopy with it and biological microscopy with it I'm quite happy needless to say your objectives are good the build quality is fantastic and it comes with a halogen bulb which means more colour accuracy in your samples