Hello Sean,
We have a USB Intel Play electronic microscope. It's our daughters - and it goes up to 200x magnification. It's a super 'toy', which we use for fish scrapes. Being the cross eyed old gal that I am, seeing the slide on my PC monitor is brilliant. I know we will need one that goes to 400x, but for us at the moment, this toy is a brilliant learning tool. Head lice and nits are spectacular under it! Stop scratching.....

Its been a while since I had headlice so I will take your word for it, :-), fleas I might be able to manage but they would probably have to be squished. I have had a few itchy spots appear after scratching someones dog. Next time I visit them I will check.

Some appetising pictures before tea.
here we go with pictures of a fly leg, going from small magnification to large

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the above is with the nearest 'hair' in focus , the next is with the middle distance in focus ie the top of the leg. Lord help Mr Goldbloom??
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I'm not even asking how you got a fly's leg, is there a peg leg fly somewhere now?

thats just vile!
i hate them anyway,never mind ripping their little leggies off ;-)

I've had a scope for years but I would just love to take piccies at the same time.
I'm off to go searching the net for one.
If anybody hears anything, let me know !
Dave

I think theres a Lidl's in Salfrod, I heard about this on the YKS board and it seems a semi 'regular' item on their offer list, so if they dont any left now it may back. May mate's MIL had a look in the Macclesfield branch and they were sold out.

The slide is a pre-prepared slide that came with the scope, caught live flies are fish food.

Sean what magnification does it do?

By eye 1024, I am not sure what it can reach using the camera but the photos can be "set as background" which I just did so the last of the above photos filled my screen. It was a bit blurred which I would guess is a pixel size/density problem but still a reasonably useful image. There are some photos taken by others using the same make and model microscope somewhere on http://www.yorkshirekoi.co.uk/
I will see if I can find the threads containing them.

http://www.yorkshirekoi.co.uk/_aopen_forum.php?topic=7000&neuron=6&page=0
http://www.yorkshirekoi.co.uk/_aopen_forum.php?topic=6987&neuron=6&page=0

hi
sean and all happy new year.

sean u must put a drop of pond water under it and c whats living in the water.

then when u fish a leaf out of your pond u won,t eat a sandwich again without washing your hands!!!!!!!!!!.

-----------fishmaduk-----------------david--------------

Nearly got one of those lidl microscopes, next time they have them in i think i will, always good to be able to ID parasites on fish.

The stupid thing is Lidl have no direct dial numbers for the storesso the only way you can check if a store has them is go and see, nor can/will the head office check for you.

We get the sale sheet deliverd each week here (comes with the local rag) shows whats on offer for the following week, so plenty of of warning in advance.

Finally the damn thing reached Portugal.

It's smaller than I thought, however the quality of the optics isn't bad, despite some chromatic aberration and a little distortion in the limits of the field of view, more noticeable with the 10x objective. The led illumination works pretty well, although it lacks a little power, making high amplification observation somewhat dim.

The direct illumination is a feature, allowing for more observation possibilities (one can use it as powerful magnifier for observating insects, soil samples, etc)

Also its small size actually makes it convenient for transport.

Some things that are missing in this microscope, due to simplicity:
- No fine focus wheel (requires more dexterity).
- Condenser lens don't allow focus changes (fixed setting works good for most cases).

Some notes about design:
- Some parts have some minor aesthetical blemishes that do not affect performance.
- The transformer plugs to the wall socket and then to the microscope. It would have been desirable that it had been incorporated in the base, giving extra weight and stability, but this approach means you can plug it two the car power lighter socket (with a voltage adapter sold just about anywhere), for portable application.
- The objectives are made of plastic, it would be desirable a corrosion resistant metal with low thermal expansion.
- Changing the objectives causes an excessive variation in the focus.

Some Intelligent things about this microscope:
- It's price/performance relation is very good.
- The PC ocular works pretty good, although the resolution isn't superb (slightly more than 320x240) it works good enough to take pics of good quality up to 10x8cm, an adequate size to print on a project, along with text.
- It's particularly useful for making videos, for instance of paramecia moving around.
- It has dual illumination: transmitted as well as direct, allowing the observation of opaque objects. However this only works good with the 10x ocular, because of the obstructions the larger ones cause. The amplification can be varied with the adjustment of the Barlow lens.
- The illumination is dimmable permitting adjustment to comfort level. Also the operation of the PC ocular requires usually a low setting.
- The accessories that come with it are very nice for educational purposes (meaning good for a kid joining the 7-8th grade) but unfortunately lack so dyes and other more useful items.
- The case of the microscope is nice, having an extra feature of a removable rack holding the accessories
- Functional and Precise! mechanical stage (i.e. the thing that holds the sample can be adjusted thru knobs instead of manually pushing it - much better!)

Note: Quality is not to be compared with those toy microscopes for sale at the local department store and that don't cost much less.

Recommended to:
- Students 6th - 10th grade
- Anyone on a budget wanting a microscope that does the job without great...