Re: Quality of imported microscopes?

From: EarlCox (earlcox_at_earlcoxreports.com)
Date: 10/03/04 

Date: Sun, 03 Oct 2004 20:26:06 GMT

I have a friend who runs an engineering design company and he bought two of
these stereo-microscopes on eBay. For his work they are just fine. I also
use one of them on my field trips to collect and classify myxomycetes (slime
molds). I find, for this kind of field work, the optics and the movement are
fine. Anyway, for a 160 bucks, they are pretty nice and are almost a
disposable scope. If you don't like the optics or the movement, you can
probably sell it for part of your original costs and move up to one of the
name brands in the $500 to $800 range I suspect, however, that my pragmatic
approach to what is "fine" (that is, measuring the scope quality on
something akin to an economic utility function) will not sit well with a lot
of people. And, of course, any time you buy a non-name brand instrument
(especially on eBay) you run the risk of getting something that is far, far
less than fine.

Earl

"Michael A. Covington" <look@ai.uga.edu.for.address> wrote in message
news:416043fc$1@mustang.speedfactory.net...
> What is the quality level of the (apparently imported, maybe Chinese)
> microscopes that are sold by companies such as Bargainmicroscopes and
> Precision*World on eBay?
>
> No brand name is given. They look good but are a little skimpy on optical
> specifications (e.g., I don't see the eyepiece design or the eye relief).
> An example of one:
>
>
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=48740&item=3843509169
&rd=1
>
> This is not a troll. I am not connected with either of these sellers.
I'm
> genuinely curious about the quality of the merchandise.
>
> Thanks!
>
>

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