T340B-LED Siedentopf Trinocular Compound Microscope, 2000X

Images:I've put up a series of images taken through the 40x. The first one is shot through the eyepiece (followed by a detailed crop of that image). After that we have images shot right down the camera port. You can see how much the eyepiece restricts the field of view, and also how much it increases the apparent flatness of the image by cutting out the outer edge of the lens where most warping and aberration occurs.The light is biased so that I could get a better look at the shape of the cells.Update:After a couple of weeks of use, I still like it quite a lot. I have decided to dock a star for the eyepieces, though, and because I've found that the filter holder is slightly off center, which makes it impossible to get a stop filter to work properly with the 40x objective.I'd consider carefully if you want to actually use the camera port. I kind of like it, but realize that half your light is going up this third pipe instead of into your eye. It's convenient, but I wonder if I shouldn't have just used a binocular port instead.There are some limitations to how you can upgrade the scope as well. There doesn't seem to be a path to add Kohler illumination for instance. The led light and the frosted lamp focusing lens actually works very well to produce a nice, even light. But there is a little irregularity left to it, and if you wanted to take it that extra mile, it just doesn't seem to be possible.The lamp is more than bright enough under most conditions, but when adding filtering or using the 100x objective, you might wish it was a little stronger.About the 100x and the oil. I'm really not sure the 100x is worth it. I'm not sure you see that much more detail in the 100x than you can see in the 40x, and the chromatic aberration is much worse. It's also kind of a pain to switch to oil, and the focus is /way/ out from the 40x, so it's a little tricky and it's possible to completely lose your focus.I'm adding a few images I took tonight of a living blood sample as examples of what you can see through the scope and the image quality you'll end up with when using it.--------------------------------------------------------------Original:First this is based off of just a day of usage, so basically here come initial impressions. I may revise later.I'm very happy with the quality and capability of the scope. My previous experience with microscopes are just what I had in high-school and college. This scope is better than anything I've used before.The scope seems to be very solid mechanically:It uses solid metal construction with the exception of a few dials and the lamp lens-holder. The focus moves fluidly and precisely and holds position perfectly. The mechanical stage also works very well, and the slide clamp is a nice touch.There are two low-points, mechanically:#1 - The head is secured by a single screw which makes sure a lip on the head shaft is pushed under two overhanging notches. When the screw is fully installed the it pushes the head and tilts it very slightly to the side. This doesn't seem to cause any imaging problems, but it just doesn't feel right.#2 - The camera port doesn't have any way to adjust focus. I knew this when I ordered, but it would just be really nice to have a way to keep the camera and the eyepieces in focus together. I'm going to experiment and see if this can't be done by putting a fixed spacer in front of the camera mount.Optically this system is pretty nice as well:The light is bright and neutral colored. It does get hot, but not /too/ hot. Living things do tend to stay living for a while. The filter holder is convenient to access (though very shallow), and the iris works smoothly and firmly. The objectives are better than I expected. They feel heavy and sturdy. I thought they looked kind of cheap in the photos, but in person they are pretty nice. They are solid steel, brass, glass and rubber. The 4 and 10x are in perfect focus across the field. The 40x is flat across maybe 90~95% and the the 100x starts to get a little fuzzy somewhere under 90%.There are several flaws in the optics though:#1 - The focus is not perfectly matched between each objective. When moving from 10 to 40x, I have to turn the fine adjustment more than a quarter revolution to refocus. Going from 40 to 100x is even worse, with or without oil it's pretty difficult to find the focus. I think it's more than a full fine knob revolution out.#2 - None of the eyepieces are great. The 10x "Widefield" is just not that wide. It's not bad, but you're definitely trapped in a little circle that blocks out three fourths of your normal range. The worst part about the 10x is the relief, though. I have to force my eyes open as wide as they'll go and press my lashes up against the eyepiece. It feels like my eyeball is about to touch the glass. It's absolutely impossible to wear your glasses, so consider if you need more than the simple correction options built into the head. On top of that, one of the 10s seems to have some sort of flaw that blocks a very small portion of the view (turning the circle of light into a flat tire of light).The 20x pieces were surprisingly good after that. They look cheap from a distance, but up close the construction is clearly better. Even though they are smaller, they're heavier than the 10x. I'd say that the 10x was designed to look nice, and the 20x was designed to work. The field of view might actually be slightly bigger than the 10x, and the relief is definitely better. I've switched to the 20x as the "normal" piece now. Even for the 100x objective it's better. Yes you see more diffraction patterns and there really isn't much more detail than you can see in the 10x, but I find it's still nicer to have the image blown up a little further.Neither design is exactly good, and I think I may spring for a better set as one of my first upgrades. Strangely all the AmScope lens upgrades are for 30mm mount. This looks like one area where Omax is doing better.Other notes:Take the oil out of the box and throw it straight in the trash. Actually you might want to wear gloves while you do that. Some of it has probably seeped down the side of the bottle. This stuff stinks, gets everywhere and burns the eyes. It's ceder oil, and while very traditional it's not very good compared to what's available now. If you're getting this scope, buy some synthetic objective oil that won't evaporate and plasticize. That way you don't have to clean the oil off if you're not going to use the scope for a little bit.The download key for the manual is on the outside of the box.I was tempted to get the dark-field condenser model, but then saw it was air only. So instead I colored in a circle on some clear plastic packaging material and saved $50 with a home made stop filter. It works great on 4x and 10x, and sort of decently on 40x. Maybe I'll buy a dark-field oil condenser some day and be able to do 100x. If you want to try this, I made the circle the exact size of a nickle. I doubt this is the perfect size, but it did work. Another simple mod you might try is covering half the lamp lens with some paper. This biases the light, providing amazing contrast and lets you see a bit of depth so the critters no longer look like squashed circles.Like another reviewer, my scope had no branding or markings. I don't really care, but it's kind of funny.

It's OK for the price. I sent mine back and purchased the T490A-LED for an extra 100.00 but the T490A-LED is not worth an extra 100.00 in my opinion. You can get a T490A with Tungsten light bulbs but I wanted the LED. Turns out the LED's are a little under powered for use with the 40x and especially the 100x optics but this is cheaper than an old used Olympus CH30 Phase contrast for 1,800.00 I dont know if the Tungsten light is any brighter or not, I think not with just 20 watts.I would have given it only three stars but it's a good price. Too bad you cant mix and match the features you want on these microscopes. I might buy the phase contrast kit for $315.00 (slide model) or $688.00 (turret model) depending on how much I feel like spending.Oh, I also think these need a 20x objective (not eyepiece). You can get a 20x objective for $45.00 if after using it a while you think it would be useful.First thing you want to do is make sure the condenser lines up with the objective. If it's off and you can't adjust it then send it back.

Great microscope for the price, and it can also be upgraded. It is solidly built and will last you many years if you keep it clean and covered when not in use. The spring oil lense is great for beginners as you are likely to hit the slide the first time you are viewing something at 1,000 time magnification if you're a beginner. It's even saved me once. I recommend it. It's a solid platform that is built to last and can be upgraded with amscope a even better lenses and eye pieces over time.

This is my first microscope since my childhood days. Amscope is high quality, reasonable priced, excellent microscope, and the associates from that company are very knowledgable, willing to help with any problem or question I had/have. I am very pleased with my purchase.

Took me some time to set this up. The brochure it came with said I had to enter a code online but there was no code included in my package. Found some helpful examples on youtube. The set was also missing the blue filter and the oil included was only a fourth of the way filled, mostly empty. The Microscope works great. I've used it already to look at insects, cheek cells, yogurt bacteria, and some pathology microscope slides I bought separately. Overall happy with my purchase.

This is my husband's favorite new tool/hobby. It works well. He is, however, disappointed that, though it's advertised as an AmScope product, there is absolutely no identifying mark on the microscope itself. If he tried to re-sell it, or if there was a problem with it, he would not be able to prove whose product it is. He contacted AmScope about this, and their answer was something like, "We just don't know how that could have happened." No one tried to give him a solution to the problem.