Customer Reviews

USB Digital Microscope - up to 200x Magnification (White)

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

 

 

This product is available in several different forms from Amazon, marked with several different brand names, and even with wildly different prices. The major questions I had prior to purchase were 1. Would it work with a Macintosh. 2. Was it a usable device or just a toy... or worse junk, and 3. Were there any important differences between the various available versions, whose photos all look identical.
I can't answer the last question since we only bought 2 of this single type, but regarding the Junk or Toy versus Useful Device question, yes this is a working magnifier well above the category of junk or toy. To be sure, it's not perfect, with an image that flickers and other lessor issues, but it seems to be solidly manufactured and provides truly amazing capabilities and images.
As to the other question concerning its compatibility with the Mac, in short the answer, after several anxious moments, is yes. The package contains a CD with PC only software... the dangerous kind of mini-CD that should NEVER be inserted into a slot loading optical drive, so I can't comment on the software. Likewise, the accompanying instruction pamphlet includes zero mention of the Mac. The matter might have ended there except that I noted promisingly that the instructions specifically say the USB microscope should work on PC's without the benefit of any of the drivers or software. Taking that as a positive sign, I forged ahead and plugged the microscope into one of our Intel Mac's USB ports, to be greeted initially ... by nothing. What I needed was a viewer program, but alas the ones provided were for PC's only. It then occurred to me that most current Mac's come with a built in video camera and several programs to access it, including iChat and Photo Booth, and with the microscope plugged in, I found that at least one of said programs allowed the user to select which camera to use, and by selecting the microscope, ... whew, it WORKED! We and our grandchildren were... and are enthralled.

Ordered this as a Christmas present for the grandkids.
Took a while to figure out the mini-CD is under the internal packaging.
Installed the software with the microscope already plugged in.
Turned on my webcam and could not get any input feed from the scope.
Turned off/on the microscope twice and program finally popped up.
I use Amcap for video capture and it worked fine once it got started.
First images were of my beard. The detail was absolutely amazing.
The focus is a bit touchy/tricky, had to be adjusted with slight
movements of the scope. Next we tried a ladybug. Again, the detail
was fantastic.
My wife liked it so much we will likely be getting one for ourselves.
A lot of fun along with the thrill of discovery. Highly recommended.

Very difficult to focus on anything even print. Takes too much time, and results with an image of very poor quality.

Well I don't know if it is any good the software that came with it is a blank disc! I am trying to track down some software for it!

Does not work with mac at all even with photo booth or iChat. Lights turn on but computer does not recognize camera - even with miXscope. Looks like it would be nice if it worked but must return...

I'm very happy with this USB microscope. I'm able to use it with my Mac's Photo Booth software and it captures the images great. I can export them into iPhoto and adjust digital image settings, etc too. Adjusting the focus while keeping it still takes some trial and error but for $62.50 I think this is a great little digital microscope. I bought my nieces a digital microscope many years ago and this one has much better resolution and clarity.

I was lead to believe that this could be used with a Mac - not so.