Cheap microscopes are being sold left and right in many stores today. Some people are enticed on buying them just because of the price. But there are things that you should check out before buying microscopes like these.

There are a lot of stores, online and offline, that sells microscopes for a cheap price. When you say cheap, the price could really go down to as low as a hundred dollars. They look like a good buy. But is it really the best buy?

There are different things that you should first check when buying microscopes on a bargain. You should start learning how to inspect the quality of a cheap microscope. Look over these points:

1. Is it a compound microscope? A compound microscope is normally composed of three objective lenses. These objective lenses have different magnification power. If what is being sold is a compound microscope, then it means you can freely choose the right objective that fits the specimen you are viewing.

2. What’s the maximum magnification? A microscope’s main job is to enlarge images. If you choose a microscope that can’t enlarge your specimen to as much as you wanted it to be, then it is not going to be much of a use to you. There are microscopes that are capable of 1000x magnification power. The minimum these days is at 100x. If you have used a microscope before and the 100x is sufficient for your applications, then this feature should not matter.

3. Are the lenses made of quality optics? The main thing that makes a microscope functional is its lenses. Right now, there are poor quality lenses being manufactured so that the prices of microscopes can be lowered to rock bottom. Try to check whether the optics is good enough. The ones made in China are not necessarily first-class.

4. Are the lenses upgradeable? You might want this feature if you are an advanced user. A microscope with upgradeable lenses would provide you with more flexibility for future uses. Should you need to use the microscope for deeper researches, you can very well do so. If the microscope can’t be upgraded, then its features are fixed and can’t be changed.

5. What’s the working distance? Compound microscopes have better working distances than simple microscopes. This is because the higher the objective is, the farther the distance will be. This feature is important if you intend to move or manipulate your sample while looking through the lenses.

6. Is the microscope monocular or binocular? Between the two, binocular microscopes are better. Monocular means it only has one eye piece tube. And so you can only use one eye when viewing the specimen. For binocular microscopes, you can have both of your eyes open. You also have a better view of your sample this way.

7. What’s the length of the viewing field? A wider field view will give you a better image of the specimen being used. This way, you need not move the specimen just to see what on the other side. This is especially helpful if you have a relatively big sample to view.

8. From what material is the microscope made of? The sturdiness and durability of the microscope depends a lot on the material used for the device. Is it made of good quality metal, plastic, or wood? Of these three, metal is your best option. If the cheap microscope is rather light, then it could qualify more as a toy than as a useful magnification device.

9. What does it use for its lighting system? Some microscopes are sold cheap because it doesn’t have any lighting system installed. It means that you are to buy some other external devices to use along with it. While you can use a regular penlight for a job, the inconvenience lies with the fact that you may not be able to use the microscope out of the box.

10. Are there any other additional features? If you are face to face with a cheap microscope that has additional features like zoom magnification, projection microscopy, dual view, fine focus, and a whole lot of others, then you should not let that bargain go. These are the features you might like to get for a fairly good price.

These are the ten questions you should ask yourself when buying cheap microscopes. Once you have these all figured out, then you now definitely know how to inspect the quality of a cheap microscope.