Features:

  • Useful and fun for students, collectors, testers, and anyone interested in exploring the microscopic world.
  • 2.0 Megapixels, up to 250x magnification (Note: Final magnification corresponds to monitor size)
  • Uses a webcam chipset and sensor to support nearly any operating system using standard webcam software. Users with an Oculus Rift may require additional setup.
  • LED halo light with brightness adjustment control. Flexible arm stand with observation pad includes graduated marks for easy measurement.
  • Optional software for Windows and OS X adds additional features. Not compatible with iOS devices.
perfect for my inspection needs

The controls in the hardware and software are intuitive and it comes with everything you need to get started. The built in LED illuminator and illumination control is great, and the software (download) has all of the basic functionality I need. My inspection application does not require fixed or specific magnification. I'll probably swap the flexible part of the mount for rigid parts. Two weird things about the software (both minor): 1. It confuses my laptop camera and the microscope (whatever, it's simple to change and I need to go to settings anyway to change the default resolution and turn off autoexposure) 2. Sometimes it takes a series of images when it starts up, no idea what that is about but it doesn't really bother me The PCB picture was taken with approximately 1" between the end of the plastic standoff and the PCB. The other picture shows a 100um feature in an image taken with the plastic standoff in contact with the grid, object inside of the standoff with the image plane 1mm above the grid.

I bought this to be able to zoom in on Insect and Tarantula exoskeletons to better be able to determine the sex of the animals .

For $35, you really can't go wrong. Where do I even begin with this product. It took less than a minute to put together. Windows 10 recognized it immediately. After downloading the software, I was up and running. It was truly plug and play. The magnification is incredible! I bought this to be able to zoom in on Insect and Tarantula exoskeletons to better be able to determine the sex of the animals I own, and this can go so much further! I started zooming in on EVERYTHING near by. It can zoom so far in that you can get to the point where only 3-5 ridges from your fingerprint will fit on the screen. Now I see why they say wash your hands. View my pictures attached. The ones of George from the one dollar bill are successive magnification levels into his eye.Another one is the MICROPRINT signature line that checks have. At the furthest zoom level I could only fit "AUT" on the screen. I zoomed into the MP, and could not even fit that on the screen. The microscope can magnify to such a small level it is impressive. The picture with all the red green and blue dots is a magnification of the screen of my Samsung Galaxy S6. The dark part of that picture is the letter "Y". I attached pictures of the scope in action with the monitor visible. To get the super zoom that you see, like in the picture with the blue and black dots (zoom into the sticker from a Sterilite tub) or the edge of the coin, you have to have the item pressed up against the scope. If you need this for soldering or electrical work, it would work wonders and give you enough room to work. The software is easy to use and overall this product is just amazing and well worth the money spent!

Perfect for Marijuana Trichome Analysis

This digital microscope is quite impressive for it's price point. I use it for inspecting marijuana trichomes near the end of harvest to ensure my plants are in the most optimal window for harvest. I love the fact that this product has a rear push-button that instantly takes screen shots. It's how I took these photos. I highly recommend this product. It's also really fun looking at clothing fabric and other random small things with great detail.

Two things I learned a) this thing can really do a nice job. b) you can actually fix really bad ...

I bought this specifically to use to repair scratched LPs. I have a gouged record and I wanted to see what the limits to repairing albums would be.Two things I learned a) this thing can really do a nice job. b) you can actually fix really bad scratches and have the album playable again. The first picture is of a nail clipper file. The second pic is the album scatch at a distant focus. The third pic is the high focus at the surface of the clear bezel.

Very fun, affordable microscope

This is a very fun and easy way to take a closer look at the world around you. Even the most mundane things are interesting under this microscope. My wife and I are grown adults but we were entertained for several hours just running around the house and finding things to examine. In fact this is probably the coolest "toy" I have had since I was a kid. I did not expect much from the software since it is usually an afterthought on items like this and often not even worth downloading, but I was very pleasantly surprised to find that it is simple, stable, and useful. The included stand is nice but keep in mind that you will not get very much magnification unless the object is basically pressed against (or even situated inside) the clear ring on the end of the microscope. If you try to use it like the display picture shows (with the microscope several cm above the object) it is more of a "magnifying glass" than a microscope. As other reviewers noted, the focus wheel can be hard to understand. I finally decided that the best way to focus is to get the object in position against the clear ring, and then just rotate the focus wheel all the way through its range of motion. The image will come into focus not once like a normal camera, but twice - at two different levels of magnification. It is pretty easy to find the two different focused images, since everything in between is just complete blur. The LED light is nicely diffused and by adjusting it carefully you can make the best of the admittedly low budget webcam image sensor. The camera adjusts to the light automatically so that the brightness of the image doesn't change much (except at the extremes), but you can increase the clarity and take some noise out by getting the lighting right. My only gripe with this thing is that I hate the capacitive touch button. It is almost impossible to hold the microscope steady and adjust the focus without accidentally triggering the capacitive touch button about 15 times. It would be nice if there were an easy way to disable it. Pictures: - command strip (similar to velcro) - beard hair - stamped key

Find out just how filthy your fingernails are... beware... the microscopic realm can be unforgiving...

Just how dusty are the holes in the "8" on your credit card? Do the folds in human skin look grotesque from the viewpoint of a flea? Did someone clean that coin, cutting its value in half? What's hiding in that dust bunny? Does facial tissue hide a scintillating inner beauty? These and countless other burning questions burst to life with the mere push of a USB plug. One computer originated "bum-bum" later and the digital age has democratized the microscopic realm at an almost shocking price. Most of life involves trade-offs. That goes for digital tools and toys as well. What the Plugable 250X USB Microscope lacks in infinitesimal precision it more than makes up for with affordability, usability and convenience. A few turns of the screw, a downward plunge on a suction cup, two clicks of a cylinder into ball sockets and this microscope instantly reveals a new world. A stand reminiscent of a bendy straw allows for distancing to and from objects. This apparatus won't likely meet the rigorous standards of top science laboratories, but for the casual user it should more than suffice. Have a piece of amber with an unfortunate yet well preserved prehistoric insectoid victim encased within? Put it under the scope and reveal the poor creature's final moment in all of its vivid morbid curiosity. Beware the faint of heart. Focusing requires the mere twist of a gray outer band. Adjust the bendy straw to the desired proximity, then twist the band. That pretty much sums up all of the needed motions and actions. The microscope has an internal band of tiny lights, adjustable with a small dial, though external lighting also works fine. A very pressure sensitive button on top of the microscope takes a photo. Breath almost activates it, which means that any incessant wiggling or involuntary tiny twitching shouldn't impact the final product. It takes good crisp pictures. Movies, too. Desktop software, downloadable from the Plugable site, provides not only the microscope's digital viewfinder but also the movie set upon which to animate the very inflated things in view. The almost stupidly easy interface provides a totally intuitive experience even upon first use. Few will need even a phoneme of instruction to get this microscope going. One learns by the mere seeing. The Plugable 250X USB Microscope basically just works. It comes with everything, except things to magnify (but arguably even the included display mat qualifies as magnifiable - those smooth gray grid lines belie a rough, gritty and fractured texture). Anyone who wants to magnify things affordably will probably find themselves highly pleased with this little device. So plug it in and find out just how dirty your fingernails really are. Your mother was right!

Good Device, Good Company, Great Support

As an old guy, I have started to do what old guys do, taking up metal detecting. The trouble with metal detecting is that you find stuff, and old guys come equipped with old eyes that have trouble making out little details, like the dates on coins that have been in the dirt since the Nixon administration. I spotted this url microscope on Today's Deals and ordered it, figuring it would be the perfect device for not only seeing such details, but making a picture of them for the records I keep of finds. I ordered it and it arrived promptly. I downloaded the driver, found it in my programs, and it didn't work. I emailed Plugable about the problem, and got an answer within the hour from a help desk guy, who worked with me over several days to solve it. I had the wrong driver, and he provided the URL for the right one. Being an old guy, I was certain that I had followed the Quickstart Guide precisely, so I blamed that guide, deleted the wrong driver, downloaded the right one, and the device works. Attached is my first shot of a dug penny (a few tens of thousands of finds like this, and my metal detector shall have paid for itself in cash, and all that digging shall have done wonders for my health). It was only this morning that I figured out the real cause of the problem: me. I had grabbed the driver from another device I have not used in a couple of years and had pretty much forgotten about. The help desk guy would have been quite justified in sneering at me as a brainless old clot, but he did not. He was unfailingly pleasant and thoroughly competent.

Toy or Tool?

This is either a great little toy, or a cheap tool. Maybe both. If I needed a research-grade lab 'scope, I'd want something with a bit more native resolution, but I don't. Rather than try to make sense of the "power" magnification ratings, try this: at the lowest possible magnification (given the mount supplied, as in the manufacturer's pics), a penny fills the screen. At the highest, with the clear shield touching the subject, you can clearly see the individual ink droplets on a postage stamp; the field of view is just over one millimeter. Now, with the camera that close, you have two possible magnifications, the lower one has a FOV just over five mm. For philatelists or numismatists, I would recommend some sort of extension for the gooseneck, in order to get the camera farther away from the subject; I couldn't get a whole stamp or any larger coin in the FOV. This shouldn't be too hard, at least in the US, the threads appear to be standard 1/4-20 so your local hardware store should be able to come up with something--maybe a couple barrel nuts and a stud? I seem to have misplaced the penny picture, but the first is a US flag postage stamp at full magnification (the white area is part of the "R" in "FOREVER"), the next two are of a stainless-steel ruler's mm scale taken with the shield touching, both possible magnifications, and the last two are a rather dirty 45 rpm vinyl record at full magnification and lowest possible with the reflection of the LED lights showing. Ah, here I found the penny--again, lowest magnification. The preview looks elongated here on my screen, it doesn't in the actual pics, the penny is indeed round. All in all, it would be hard to beat this microscope for bang-for-the-buck. Over the years I've cobbled together several 'scopes with photo capabilities, and probably spent more money doing so, but none have given this clear a picture or this wide a range of useable magnification. Anyone with schoolkids should definitely consider it.

One of the most surprisingly good purchases I've made on Amazon

Hands down, this is one of the most surprising buys I've ever had on Amazon. I don't think I've ever bought any product off of Amazon with as low an expectation (so many cheap electronics!) and been as happy as I am with this little microscope. I've had this for over six months now, and still love it. I can only vouch for using it on a Mac, but it's plug-and-play as far as I can tell without a problem, ever. Image quality is fantastic, it's easy to use, has great depth of field, and takes great pictures. The integrated light source is awesome too, very bright and adjustable so you can light up a surface and see defects and small details with high contrast. I'm an engineer and use it for taking pictures of small mechanical parts, and this scope cannot be beat for the price. The main reason I've been so pleased and surprised is that I've used a $30,000 microscope (one of the best digital microscopes in the world) and it was not much better at the magnifications I'm using it for. Best of all I don't have to worry at all about breaking this one because it's so cheap. Even then, I've beat this thing up in the field looking at aerospace components, and it is holding up like a champ. The only warning, it only operates at 10x and 250x magnification as far as I can tell, so not many options for magnification in between, but otherwise, it's great. If you're doing industrial machining and grinding, quality control on electronics, you're a hobbyist, a teacher, or you just want to see little stuff big, this is the scope for you. You know how everyone used to have those little science kits with a microscope that was impossible to see anything through? This is the exact opposite of that, and if you have any scientific curiosity at all, or you're a professional of some sort who needs a microscope, you should own this. Just buy it, who knew that looking at your hair or the dust in your vacuum was this fascinating?

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