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Trying to find the best compound microscope out there? When dealing with something as technical as a scientific instrument, it’s easy to get bogged down in details and specifics. Relax! Don’t let it overwhelm you. Finding and purchasing a compound microscope can be simple, as we mean to show you in this guide.
We’ve assembled a comprehensive guide for buying the best compound microscope. We review the top compound microscopes, give a basic breakdown of product specifications and types, and help you decide which microscope is the best choice for you.
Whether you’re buying a microscope as a present, for educational purposes, or for your own personal use, this article is designed to give you all the information that you need to make a smart and informed decision that you won’t regret.
Microscopes are amazing instruments. As science has progressed, access to greater and greater technology has become more widespread than ever. Owning a microscope offers you a great opportunity to get a beautiful glimpse at the world around you, and feel smarter while you do it.
Top 3 Best Compound Microscope on The Market 2020 Reviews
To start off, we present to you the 3 best compound microscope which comprise of the top three most high-rated and well-loved models we have today. Check out their compound microscope reviews and see if any of them fit into your lifestyle and daily routine.
3 Best Compound Microscopes Reviews
1. AmScope B100B-MS 40X-2000X Biological Binocular Compound Microscope
This microscope for sale on Amazon is one of the best microscopes out there.
The AmScope B100B-MS has eight magnification settings. It goes from 40X at the top all the way down to 2000X. It’s the perfect compound microscope for amateur research or laid back investigations. It can even be used for some simple medical purposes. It’s made to ISO 9001 quality control standards, which is a good guarantee of quality and product integrity. You’ve also got four achromatic objective lenses to choose from, a nice bonus.
Our Rating: 
(4.3 / 5)
This microscope is perfect for science projects of any kind. Kids love this compound microscope for its amazing details. It brings the outside world close and makes it dance beneath the eye. For the price, it’s one of the most competitive compound microscopes for sale on the market today, especially with Amazon markdowns.
This microscope is not just for kids. It’s a university-grade instrument that wouldn’t be out of place in an advanced high school or even college laboratory. Make sure you buy extra slides, because you’ll be tempted to look at every specimen you can get your hands on under this lens. The image quality is close to three dimensional, if you play around with it a bit. That’s pretty great for a microscope with a list price of less than $400.
This compound microscope has a lighting diaphragm to control the amount of light let through the the lens, a dust cover, and two light filters. That’s pretty good for the price, and isn’t even listed on the product description. With extra perks like that, it’s a great choice for a compound microscope. You could buy this microscope just to look at yogurt, salt crystals, and dust mites close up, and you wouldn’t be disappointed.
The mechanical stage moves about, so it is easy to get the perfect image without having to smudge the glass slide with your finger prints. Its dimensions are 110x120mm, which gives ample room for a slide. Compound microscopes for sale of this quality are not that common.
AmScope is one of the best microscope manufacturers out there. We’ll be looking at another affordable model of their compound microscopes later in the post.
2. OMAX 40X-2000X Lab LED Binocular Compound Microscope
This microscope is the most expensive item on this list, but also by far the coolest. This compound microscope has eight magnification levels, from 40X to 2000X.
Our Rating: 
(4.5 / 5)
The stage involves two parts. One part holds the slide, the other focuses the light. The OMAX allows you to adjust more than the slide knobs, which is the common adjustment mechanism for compound microscopes. With the light focus stage, you can adjust the back lighting to just the right intensity for the specimen you are looking at, allowing yourself views of gorgeous details that you may never have seen before. Stage adjustments in both directions are extremely smooth, which allows for the precision that is crucial with specimens at large magnifications.
The LED light on the OMAX compound microscope gives it a bright, clear hue, which doesn’t chromatically taint your observations like a traditional bulb might. If you’re used to using generic middle school microscopes, this microscope will give you an experience like nothing you’ve had before.
The OMAX compound microscope is most suited for the use of a serious college student, or a professional looking for an at-home model. If you’re a professional who doesn’t want to drop thousands of dollars on a microscope to do work from home, this is an ideal alternative choice. The price and technology is right. This microscope is high quality enough to be used in a small clinic, but it’s built for portability and personal use, not necessarily durability.
Its price point is both a strength and a weakness. This compound microscope has all and more of what the other microscopes in this article can offer. For a student or professional, it is a reasonable price for a very high caliber compound microscope that is perfect for at-home research. For a dedicated amateur, the price may be a bit of a reach. Those who want a compound microscope just to play around with, or who do not need the exact precision and perks that come with the OMAX, may be better suited to go with the previous or the next microscope.
3. AmScope M500 Monocular Compound Microscope
This compound microscope for sale is the last compound microscope on the last, and the least expensive. Unlike the previous two microscopes, the AmScope M500 offers only four magnification levels, 40X through 1000X. That’s only half the maximum magnification offered by the other two microscopes. This microscope is a top choice for a younger child who has taken an interest in science. This will offer images that will captivate your child’s imagination and keep them enthralled with science for years to come. You and your family can huddle around this microscope and look at all kinds of mysterious, odd, and beautiful images from the microscopic world that surrounds us.
Our Rating: 
(4.7 / 5)
This compound microscope for sale is over half off the Amazon listed price. That’s a pretty amazing deal – especially when you consider that it retails for even more. The AmScope M500 has an all-metal frame for durability (accidents happen, especially with kids). It also has an abbe condenser with an iris diaphragm for light adjustment, and a traditional tungsten light. A tungsten light does add a slight yellowish hue to the images you see, so this is one thing to consider (to get an LED light usually means jumping up significantly in price).
This microscope is not ideal for university-level study, research at a professional level, or medical use. It does not offer exceedingly high magnification or resolution.
One perk that this compound microscope does have is its compatibility with an AmScope camera that can attach to the end of your lens. This USB camera attachment can give you a computer image of what you’re seeing under the microscope lens, and is a great way to make science all the more interesting for children.
As its very name suggests, this microscope was designed for home school students. If your son or daughter is home schooled, this is a way to supplement an education in biology. With a few slides, you can turn simple objects around the house into neat new areas of study. You can also buy specimen slides from specialty stores on the internet that will Wow your kids and might interest you as well.
Types of Compound Microscopes
As we’ve started to see, you can distinguish compound microscopes into three main categories:
- Expensive, professional grade microscopes, used primarily for research purposes, or for the recreation of scientific professionals.
- Middle-of-the-road compound microscopes, giving a close approximation to the experience of the higher end microscopes but falling short when it comes to certain perks like precision, clarity, and focus.
- Lower end, affordable microscopes, primarily intended to get young children and students interested in science, particularly biology, but also mineralogy and laboratory methods.
Before purchasing a compound microscope for sale, you should first figure out which category you fall into. What do you need from a microscope? Are you buying it for your own work? Is it for your own pleasure? Or are you buying it for you son or daughter, as part of a home school curriculum? Figure out what category you fit, and figure out how much of yoan investment you are trying to make. Maybe you’re buying a compound microscope for your home school student, but they’ve expressed a deep interest in science. In that case, it may be wise to make an investment now in a nice microscope that they can get years of use out of.
How to Choose the Best Compound Microscope for Sale
After you’ve decided which type of compound microscope is right for you, you’re ready to decide what model you’re ready to purchase.
Truly, you can’t go wrong with any of the compound microscopes for sale highlighted in this article. All have very positive reviews, and all offer great strengths and weaknesses. Likely, the differential decision-maker will be the price tag. You should go with your gut when it comes to how much you think is appropriate to spend on a microscope. If it’s within your means, dishing out a little extra for a nice model like the OMAX will reap its benefits. It’ll give you a great picture, it will stay in good condition provided you take care of it, and it will let you see the world with brand new eyes.
But you don’t have to be strapped with cash to enjoy science. Even the cheapest models for sale today make the most advanced models of the 18th century look primitive. You will not be depriving your child of anything by buying the AmScope M500; in fact, in probably makes the most sense if you’re buying a compound microscope for a young one.
If you’re buying for a kid, try to gauge how interested your child is before you make the purchase. Will they make use of the enhanced magnification offered by the AmScope B100B-MS? Will they use this microscope for fun, or only when they’re forced to? This is a good way to know whether your money will go to waste, or will be put to good use. If your child demonstrates a real healthy interest, the AmScope M500 might still be a good starter model’. Don’t just go down to a retail stores and pick up the cheapest model you can find. Poor image quality will bore your child and could turn them off of the whole subject.
Unless you are already familiar with compound microscope technology, don’t get bogged down in technical specifics. If what you want is a compound microscope with a very specific feature (like a certain type of achromatic lens), make sure the model you choose has it. But if you’re just looking for general purpose use, focus in on the main categories: magnifications available, type and intensity of light, and price. Figure out what type of microscope you need, and you’ll be good to go.
Conclusion
Finding the right compound microscope for sale might seem like a daunting task at first, but hopefully we’ve shown you that it isn’t really all that complicated. We’ve shown you some great models that are for sale online, each ideal for a different type of customer.
Before buying a compound microscope, think carefully about what you need it for. What will owning a microscope do for you? How much use will it get? Will it end up neglected in the attic or in the basement, or will it kindle an interest in science in a young child? Once you figure that out, you’ll be able to use the tips and tricks offered in this article to find the model of choice for you. Whatever that choice is, enjoy it. The microscope is one of mankind’s most important and beautiful inventions. It has uncovered deep mysteries beneath the service of the everyday visible world, and unlocked a whole new dimension for the human imagination to travel to. Don’t underestimate how significant this discovery is for a small child, to whom the world consists of only what they see. As a parent or as an educator, you have a chance to do something amazing for a kid.
If you yourself are a professional, we hope this guide has helped you to choose between the AmScope B100B-MS and the OMAX. Whichever model you choose, we wish you good luck and happy viewing.