Re: How is this biolam microscope??

Gregor,
yes sure, India is for me on the same level as China regarding quality. It is not the salary, it is the understanding of quality which is so much different. I was part of a team which was transferring production of optical components from Europe to China and believe me, the biggest problem was to make people understand what the quality was we wanted to get and achieve. They let parts pass which were just unacceptable regarding manufacturing tolerances and overal performance. Not that they do not want, they need to be trained to get to a different level of acceptance for quality.
And I do not exclude the USA of course. I have seen many optics manufacturing locations and some are excellent and some are absolutely dreadful, producing garbage. In the USA, I found often the believe that the quality needs to be just as good as the customer accepts the parts, not better as this would reduce the profit. In Switzerland (and Germany and Austria), usually parts are manufactured such that their quality is as high as possible for a given cost target. And in optics, the results are that with one of those "profit greedy scopes", as you called them, you can see things magnified but if you want to get a proper image, you need to use a really good scope.
Now what do I have against Nikon and Olympus scopes - nothing in general, just that their low end scopes are not as good as a low end Leitz microscope. If you talk about the Olympus (new) Vanox, it is an excellent equipment, same for the Nikon Optiphot.
And regarding the US manufactured scopes - I have not seen one single US microscope which has been really first class. Maybe my level of expectation is too high, but I am used to an optics performance of a Zeiss Axiomat or a Reichert Polyvar - if I am asked what real quality and performance would be.
Regards George Nyman


GTO wrote:
A lot of these poorly done scopes are manufactured outside of China as well (e.g. India). And the Nikon E200 is completely manufactured in China and hence could be called a "Chinese microscope".

I think we should distinguish between poorly manufactured microscopes, which are mostly assembled by the lowest bidder, and quality instruments. I am sure that we (US or Switzerland) could also produce enough junk these days if we ensured that our salaries get reduced by a factor ten and introduced very poor manufacturing conditions. The sad story is that we keep the production of low quality products going and it's not so much a "Chinese" problem. Maybe we should call these scopes "profit greedy scopes" rather than "Chinese scopes". No?

BTW, what reservation do you have with Nikon and Olympus scopes. Since 1980, these scopes are of excellent quality. How old a scope are you talking about?

Gregor

"Dr. Georg N.Nyman" <gnnyman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:d4q3i4$fki$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Alex wrote:

http://www.usedmicroscopes.co.uk/budget%207%20big.html

Thanks



I have read Kevin's reply and can only agree to it. Do not ask if you do not accept that most cheap microscopes are garbage and not worth the money spent for the postage. If you want to go for a good microscope, then do not buy a Chinese microscope - whatever name it might have. Go for an older and used Zeiss, Leitz, Reichert and depending on the age and condition maybe also Nikon and Olympus (I have got some reservations about the latter two). But if you buy a second hand Leitz, you won't be disappointed. A similar I would give you if you tell me you consider an AO microscope - the older ones, those which have been made in the USA, are not too bad (for what you pay) but the more modern ones have been made in China etc and most of them are garbage as well.
Thats my honest opinion - sorry if you don't like it.
Regards George Nyman 



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