CarsonMicrobrite LED Lighted 20-40x Childrens Microscope with 2 Slides and Base Stand, Green

I was nervous about this purchase. So many microscopes for children are flimsy and fiddly, offering impractical magnifications that attract but are virtually unusable. Far better to be in the 10-50x range than the 200-500x.This product is excellent for the scale of thing that a young child might want to look at. The optics are good, the LED light works well, the whole thing feels robust and it could be carried easily on a country walk.Supervision is needed, especially in the use of slides and cover slips, though they are plastic.I bought it as a Christmas present for my youngest granddaughter. The picture shows me setting a slide up for her. (Water from the saucer of a plant pot. She did other, dry, objects herself.Session 1: leaves and onion layers - cells seen and described.Session 2: the dirty water as mentioned. Even though in winter and after a lot of rain, we managed to see some swimming single-cell organisms - probably Euglena. Her observations of these were spot on.Great product - not a toy microscope - a genuine introduction to another world.

We bought these through our school PTA for class gifts at Christmas and they've been really popular. The images you get are very impressive and are just as fascinating for the adults are they are the children. It is small and compact, so could be easily carried around if you wanted to take it outdoors to explore nature.The light works well. Good value item.

Good magnification just wish you did not have to hold the light button on all the time when inspecting small things. I have another one with higher magnification same brand as they are excellent. A switch would better and more logical. You get a thin slice of glass also with it you can put little things on, sorry don't know the technical name for this. All round a good fairly robust little scope that kids can use and big adults to explore a new and exciting microscopic world.

Works a treat. Great magnification range. Focus wheel works well and is accurate so long as you keep the Carson and the subject still.Only wish would be for the led light to have a permanent on button. As it is cumbersome to keep holding it and changing the settings at the same time. Though, because I like this quite a lot, will keep the 5*.Daughter finds amazing the amount of things she's seen through it. Well worth it.

On the plus side it's well made, ie sturdy, and when looking at the object being studied the image is pretty sharp. However, the eyepiece is small and the magnification is a maximum of 40x (you can vary it from 20x to 40x). You can place the small object being studied into the base, although I found it easier to dispense with the base and slide the microscope over whatever you're looking at. Bear in mind it only cost me £10 on Amazon, so it's definitely value for money. It could certainly spark curiosity in small children, and you might then decide to splash out on a more sophisticated microscope with greater magnification.

Just the right level for my 5 year old to use easily, but good enough to keep her attention.

The whole family enjoys the microscope, we love it!

It would have been nice if the scope could be moved away from the slide a bit further as You can only use it to look at very thin slivers of stuff. Also would be better top lit not lit from the side.