Carson Micro Max Lighted Microscope
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List Price: Our Price: $10.89 You Save: $4.11 (27%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $8.99 (click here) Category: Sports See more product details |
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Description of Carson Micro Max Lighted Microscope
The MM-100 micro max from carson optical is a powerful 60 - 100x power magnification pocket microscope with an extremely lightweight and portable design. This pocket microscope features a built-in light that provides a bright, clear image and a rubberized eyepiece for comfortable viewing. The micro max fits easily in your pocket so you can bring it with you anywhere. magnification weight: 1.28-Ounce. Dimensions: 3.5-Inch x 2-Inch x .75-Inch batteries: 3 AAA (not included).Lightweight and portable, the Carson MicroMax lighted microscope is ideal for on-the-go science. The MicroMax offers a powerful 60 to 100x magnification range, making it easy to examine blood samples, bugs, and anything else that's worthy of a closer look. The microscope also includes a built-in light that provides a bright, clear image, along with a rubberized eyepiece for comfortable viewing. Best of all, the MicroMax fits conveniently in a jacket pocket, so you can bring it along wherever you go--whether it's a school field trip or a visit to a friend's house.
Specifications:
- Magnification: 60 to 100x
- Batteries: 3 AAA (not included)
- Dimensions: 2 by 3.5 by 0.75 inches (W x H x D)
- Weight: 1.28 ounces
Sports reviews of Carson Micro Max Lighted Microscope
Customer Review: Good buy
Sport shop rating: 5 Stars
Perfect little microscope my son uses it for his homework in 4th grade they are studying plants very easy to use.Customer Review: Microscope
Sport shop rating: 5 Stars
Super easy to use ! Works great for viewing plants up close. Super small. A must have for any herbal gardener.Customer Review: Lighted Microscope
Sport shop rating: 5 Stars
The microscope works great. Just what we needed and at a very good price.
Customer Review: Useful toy you won't mind taking into the field
Sport shop rating: 4 Stars
This little field microscope is a good bargain. Powerful enough to see details that can't be observed with the naked eye, light enough to take everywhere - maybe even backpacking, if you left the batteries out. Plus, it's cheap enough that you won't worry about taking it into the field.
Although toy-quality, the microscope is easily strong enough to use in plant and mineral identification. I have not tried mushroom spores, nor have I found a good way to use it for observing pond life. I would remove the batteries and bulb before attempting the latter!
The eyepiece is tiny, so you won't be taking decent photographs of anything with this microscope. However, the view through it is actually quite good. To give you an idea of the actual magnification of this thing (since other reviewers have said it's not 100x): At maximum magnification, something of about a millimeter in size will fill your field of view. The cells in the stem of a plant are easy to see, but the cells in leaves are only visible in some plants.
It's easy to focus, though the depth-of-field is not great. The picture is sharp and there are some hints that you can use to make it sharper.
1. For the best picture, don't rely on the tiny and suboptimally placed incandescent bulb that this microscope contains. It'll do when you don't have a free hand, but you can get a much better picture if you can hold and focus the microscope one-handed while shining light on your subject with a flashlight (LED works well) held in the other hand. This way, you can find angles that show details of the object that can't be seen with the incandescent. In particular, translucent objects (such as some minerals, many flower petals, and you) will not show up well under the included incandescent. Light such objects from farther away and at an angle. A brighter light going into the microscope also means a clearer picture coming out.
2. Remember that you can't focus beyond the clear plastic base of the microscope. Your subject must be at or above the bottom of the base. You can, however, pop the base off! Theoretically this is so you can change the bulb, but it's very useful if you want to look at something beneath a layer of glass, or into a crack on a surface. Don't just discard the base, though, because it *is* useful for holding the microscope steady.
3. Although there are other models of field microscope that are specially designed for slides and probably work better, you *can* use this like a slide microscope. You just need to provide a light source beneath the object. This is a good way to look at leaves, and is the only way you will see cells.
For all that it requires some tweaking to get optimal pictures, this is still a wonderful toy. It will open new worlds to explore and allow you to identify things in the field, and it costs very little. It's easy to use and difficult to break. I expect that to get something better, you would have to spend real money, and then you might not want to expose it to field conditions.
Customer Review: Cheap junk? You betcha, but it works really well
Sport shop rating: 4 Stars
What would you expect from an under-ten-dollar, Made in China 'microscope' that claims to do 100x magnification and supply its own light? Believe it or not, a lot less that what you actually get if you buy Carson's Micro Max.
What you get is a little, 2.25" by 1.5" body that holds the optics and 2 AAA batteries (not included). It has an on/off switch for the light, a 'zoom' dial to set magnification to anywhere between 60x and 100x and a 'focus' dial. To observe, after you set the desired zoom level and focus properly, you simply place the 'microscope' over whatever it is that you are studying. On a flat surface, it will stand on its own but you will probably have to hold it while fine-tuning the focus.
To my surprise, you can see very well, the oblique, yellowish, incandescent lightbulb helps reveal the details of whatever it is you are looking at. Of course, this is the lowest end microscope you can think of and it's not always the easy to use. You can't prepare samples to observe and, since you are probably touching the body of the microscope while observing, you hold it very steady because every move you make will move the object of your study out of your observation area. But, let's not forget, this is an under-ten-dollar microscope that actually works.
I bought this for my kids to help stimulate their curiosity and to encourage their exploratory/investigatory instincts. If they are truly interested in more deeply investigating the micro worlds, they will get something a lot better later.
Briefly, what I like about this device was:
- price - of course
- ease of use - takes about 30 seconds to 'learn' it
- solid built - it really seems to be quite durable
- portability - you can carry it in your pocket, if you happen to be a kid out exploring
- quality of image
The not so good features would be:
- requires steady hands to operate
- it being recommended for 13 years or older - what's wrong with 10 year old using it?
I am quite happy with this purchase.