[LeftField]

If we buy a proper microscope, I want it to be a really good one. My husband has his eye on one that plugs into the computer. But I don't think we're ready for that yet. I saw a portable microscope on the Noeo Science site. It's called the "100x Illumax Pocket Microscope". I also found it on this website:
http://tinyurl.com/2q9al6

It magnifies up to 100X, it's less than $20, it's portable and it can take slides. I was thinking it would meet our temporary needs since I have two young children. They both enjoy slides but they just aren't ready for a "real" microscope yet. Also, if we owned a real microscope, they would want to use it all the time and I think they might manhandle it. I think they need something more along the lines of a toy and, unlike many toy microscopes, this one actually does go up to 100X. And, of course, it's very inexpensive.

Has anyone used this?

 

[moominmamma]

I don't know this scope at all, but at that price I would assume it has inexpensive plastic lenses, and at that magnification I would assume the resulting image quality would be pretty poor. Not to mention that stabilizing the specimen and focusing the image is tricky at the best of times at 100X. With almost no stage and a tiny plastic focus wheel mechanism, I'd be sceptical whether this instrument would actually prove useful to children. We had a hand-held magnifier that cost about $30, with a 10-15X magnification, and it had nice crisp optics and was quite easy to focus at that magnification. Still, my kids struggled with monocular viewing under the age of 8 or so.

Miranda

 

[chfriend]

We borrow a friend of ours that plugs into the computer. It rocks. (My kids are 6 and 2.)

 

[LeftField]

Thank you!! I really appreciate the feedback. I don't know what to do. Actually, I do know what I need to do. Somewhere in the garage in a box is the microscope I had as a child. It's old and clunky but still functional. That would be a great way to figure out if they are ready for a microscope yet.