PandaMom Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 I am looking for recommendations for a good microscope for DD(8). She has been asking for one for quite a while and I have decided to go ahead and buy her one but I would like to get a nicer one that might last through her school years. There are so many on Amazon and I just don't know where to start. Any help is appreciated. Thanks. Susie DD(8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 We have a Brock Magiscope. It was recommended to us by the Happy Scientist. Great investment!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longnightmoon Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Agree with Spryte. We have a Brock Magiscope and we love it. Super easy to use and practically indestructible. Definitely worth the money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Amazon is confusing microscope-wise. Home Science Tools has an excellent selection of scopes and a number of videos about them. They also have excellent telephone help and fair prices. This would be my first -- and probably last -- place to go. Carolina Science is also known for microscopes. I have used their telephone help and found they have a microscope person to speak with. HST deals mainly with homeschoolers, families. Carolina deals mainly with schools, colleges. Both are solid, reputable companies. I mention this because in microscopes, good optics, not just magnification, is important. I know it's tempting to buy one microscope for elementary through high school, but needs change as child becomes more advanced. If you can, think about one simple, not too expensive instrument now and another one later if dd does high school science at home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tranquility7 Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 We have this one and really like it. The magnification is not as high as with some others, but for us, it is perfect. We use it at the 20x and 40x settings and that is what my kids really enjoy. My kids are 4 and 7, and they really just want to see things "bigger" right now - they love to look at leaves, rocks, salt, paper, grass, etc. - but not yet at the cellular level, you know? They like seeing the tiny hairs on a flower stem, or all the sharp edges on a grain of salt, or the tiny dots that make up ink in the newspaper. This microscope works great for them. It is permanently set up and plugged in on our kitchen desk, and they look at stuff on it at least a couple of times every week. We originally had borrowed a higher powered microscope (up to 400x) from a friend, but it honestly was *too* high powered for us, for this age. It required preparing slides for everything, which meant my kids weren't able to just use it themselves independently. Our current microscope does allow for bottom lighting and slides too, but my kids aren't interested in that yet. They just want to use the top light with a physical object they can just set on the stage and focus in on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoJosMom Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 We have a Brock Magiscope. It was recommended to us by the Happy Scientist. Great investment!!! :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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