Customer Reviews

My First Lab Ultimate Digital Microscope

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have now owned and used this microscope for several weeks. I got my money's worth and am very satisfied.

The supplier, SHOPZUES promptly shipped out my order ahead of schedule and I received it well packaged and way ahead of the schedule date that was given at order time.

The microscope has a sturdy metal frame and seems to be well built. The optics are easy to focus with the main knob even though this scope does not come with a secondary fine focus knob as the more expensive scopes do.
The image is clear from center to edge. The eyepiece has good relief.

The choice of lighting is excellent with the LED illumination. A dial on the side of the base adjust the intensity from a soft light up to super bright. The on/off button is easy accessible at the back of the base.

Good points about the LED is that it does not create excessive heat that can damage your specimen, and has very low battery drain. LEDs are known for long life.

Using the plugin adapter(included), the built-in battery is quickly recharged. The light can be used while the battery is charged. Once charged a green led indicator will light up. Unplug the adapter and use the scope anywhere without the battery going dead for a long time.

The CD provided is not for the scope. It is for the 'Premier MA88' Microscope Digital Camera that is included with this product. Just slip out the regular eyepiece and slide in the camera lens. Plugs into a USB socket in the computer.

The camera produces a low resolution image much as a typical web cam does. The focus on the microscope is used to focus in the camera image. With the camera, you can view the specimen live on the computer screen and save the image to file.

After testing out the camera, I found the images it produces loses quite a bit of detail. I now found that I can use my hand held digital 2 mega pixel camera with zoom, held up to the scope eyepiece, to take a much nicer and detailed images. If I would have known that that before, I would have tried to find this microscope with the exact same features except without camera, at a cheaper price.

Included is an instruction manual for the camera. It says this camera is compatible with windows 98se, 2000, & XP. Has step by step illustrated instructions for installing the camera and driver files.
The CD contains the camera driver, and Ulead Photo Explorer 8.0se Basic. My windows XP failed to recognize the driver probably because I did not follow the instructions and did not plug the camera into the USB port at the right time. My second attempt at driver installation was successful.

I had some difficulty installing the Ulead program again because I neglected to read the readme instructions that are on the CD. Once the driver is installed, you can use the Ulead program to view and save your digital scope images, or can use the Scanner and Camera Wizard in Windows XP. The Ulead program has more choices and features than the Wizard.

Most all problems associated with the CD, software installations and use is because most people(including me) have very little patience when it comes to reading and following the simple instructions.
Overall I find the camera, CD, program and instructions a good packaged deal.

This product is good for home and business labs, teachers, students and serious youngsters that want to learn. Only way to beat it is to pay much more for a high tech professional microscope.

CONS:
1. The 40x lens sometimes touches down on the slip cover when trying to focus in. This can get the bottom of the 40x lens dirty and can crack a glass slip cover. This problems is common of cheaper scopes but is nothing to cry about.
2. I would have downrated my rating of this combination product if I could to either a 3 or 4 because of the poor detail of the camera images. The microscope itself deserves top rating, good price even if the camera was not included.

If you treat this scope like a fine instrument it will perform as such and last a long time. If it is given to someone to treat like a toy then it will have a limited lifetime as it is not indestructable.

The quality is excellent. At 400x you can distinguish the shape of blood cells. I really didnt expect it. I highly recomend it. The PC camera is not the better quality but trust me, is good enough. If you are looking for a Microscope for your children (even for you), i think you can enjoy this one.

I tried loading the software on my PC to use the Microscope USB so my class could see what was under the microscope. I've had nothing but problems. When I emailed the software company they said they couldn't give me support because they don't support their software when it is packaged with an outside vendor's product. To date I have a $155 microscope I still can't use with my class because the software won't let me uninstall and even try to reinstall. What a drag. If someone would help me solve this problem I would surely change this review!

This is really an excellent microscope. I bought this for our 12 year old daughter after reading many reviews, comparing, and shopping around for months. I didn't want to get a cheap toy that would go in the back of the closet and never get used. This model is so easy to use. It's made of metal so it's heavy and really sturdy. We haven't hooked up the photo/video link to our computer yet, but the view finder is extremely easy to use and see through - even for our younger daughter. They both are constantly finding new things to view. I wish it came with more slides, but I just purchased them by themselves from another Amazon vendor. I bought the set of 25 pre-prepared slides too and they are very worth the money. Honestly, this was the best model, with the best reviews for the most reasonable price I've found anywhere. This is a GREAT BUY!

I did follow the instructions and after 2 cds from the supplier I still have no working camera. My IT dept said the cds are blank. I've seen the same camera on other websites for $200, just for the same camera. If the software does not work, it's no different than the same version for $75. What a shame and ripoff. I'm hopeful to obtain some working software on the 3rd try.

My First Lab Ultimate Digital Microscope MFL-85

We had problems with the CD Rom included in the microscope. The program would not load onto the computer, we complained to the manufacturer and were told they would send us a return shipping box to change out the defective CD Rom. This was over a month ago and still we have not received any kind of help from the manufacturer for the defective part of our order !

30 Nov 2011
This week... microscopes!

We have a handful of student microscopes, called "My First Lab Microscope Ultimate" (MFL-85) by NYscopes.com.

They are rechargeable, though the batteries on half of them have died (I don't know how old these are and suspect they were stored without being charged). They can still be lit with the AC adapter. The optics, for this price range, are excellent as is the general build quality. The base, turret, stage, and eyepiece tube are all metal. The intensity of the white LED can be varied. There is only a coarse focus, which is fine (pun) for this level of use. The objective lenses are parafocal, or very nearly so. The stage is translationally fixed. It's very nice for the money.
Anyway...

The real point of this lesson is to introduce the students to making careful observations.

We talked about parts of the microscope and went over how we would use them, before passing them out. We also talked about how we would take turns, a serious concern with only 4 scopes and 20 students. I then explained magnification and gave some examples.

There was often trouble in trying to focus, sometimes the turret would be set between lenses, sometimes the light wasn't on, sometimes the student would say that theirs was in focus but upon checking there would be nothing but a blur. Odd that they were just as excited with the blur, I'm sure this should tell me something. The rest of the class was spent looking and sketching, with me running around helping and settling disputes about whose turn it was.

Specimens: I brought pond water, getting lots of really dirty gunk, baker's yeast that I had started that morning (a tiny amount of dry yeast, a pinch of sugar, in about 1 oz of water), a flower, a leaf, a bug found on the front of my car, and a collection of bought prepared slides.

The prepared slides, the yeast, and the bug were great. The pond water took too much care for 3rd grade. Sketching went great too. We were sure to label them with basic data; specimen, date, observer's name, etc. It was carefully explained that they should try to draw exactly what they see.

I wish I had removed the highest power objective lens from each scope. We avoided crashing into slides pretty well, but the additional, more difficult to focus lens was distracting. With a 10x eyepiece having just a 4x and a 10x objective would have been plenty. The scope did come with a usb camera eyepiece, but I really wanted the students to have 'real' experience, rather than something semi-virtual. (Remember, this is probably an older version that the ones currently for sale.) The camera, as is expected, is basic; 640x480, high noise. The refresh rate isn't too bad, focusing is tolerable. I don't know what magnification is on the camera-piece. I had some issues with the included software and used Micam instead. [...]

For fourth graders it would probably depend on the class, but by 5th grade this microscope would be the way to go. Of course if you are helping just 1 or 2 students then it would be good for any grade.

I BOUGHT FIVE MICROSCOPES, THE PRODUCT IS OK WITH THE PRICE, BUT I RECEIVED ONE OF THEM BROKEN AND ANOTHER ONE INCOMPLETE. IF YOU WANT TO COMPLAIN YOU MUST SEND THE PRODUCT BACK, THAT IS ALMOST THE SAME PRICE OF THE PRODUCT..... SO..... VERY DISSAPOINTING.-


FRANCO SANTORO

I purchased the microscope for my son's science project and overall it was good. I found that using the Laptop componet was very combersome and extremely hard to use... so I gave up on that part...

The only thing I would have liked is the ability to be able to adjust vertically and horizontally using the turning knobs.

First of all, it should be more user friendly. The directions are completely lacking and even with common sense it is difficult to figure out. I usually can not focus on the highest power because the lens is touching the scope. It took me a long time to figure out how to put the digital piece on the the microscope. The software is not intuitive either. I have used my digital camera on top of the regular eye piece and zoomed in to get a better look. I wish I had not waited so long to decide if it was worth keeping. I should have sent it back and tried something better.