Digital Microscope Comparison

If I did another video like this, what other microscopes did I miss here that should be in that video? Let me know if you have other suggestions for aspects of comparing microscopes that you'd like to see as well. Thanks for watching! 😁

These cheap USB microscopes are actually pretty useful for servicing electronics and watches, also taking very little space when not in use. And these do differ in magnification. Less magnification is better as it's easier to position and focus. Their online descriptions are however all over the place, so you'll never know what exactly are you buying.

be me: an engineer who works for a very large military contractor that makes cutting edge rf equipment with insane integrated circuits and takes part in the r&d of said equipment. uses the cheapest possible $10 digital microscope to troubleshoot boards

Another option, if you have a C or CS mount camera (such as the Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera, with it's 12.3MP Sony IMX477R sensor) is just to buy the optical components you need for your use case. A simple C-mount adapter, extension tube and objective lens system doesn't have to be that expensive to achieve better results than the tomlov. We used to buiId application specific optical systems like this all the time when I worked in Machine Vision (metrology for robotics applications), and back then it was Firewire or GigE visions cameras like the Allied Vision Guppy sensors, but these days a Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera + Zero 2W would make an excellent headless WiFi camera host, which you could plug a monitor into, if a big screen is needed. This industrial optical component 'lego' approach is the perfect half way house between buying commodity consumer kit and buying a full on scientific/industrial microscope.

I've just bought the exact same scope you show in your thumbnail and have to say that for board repair it's spot on. It cost me GB£16 and is ideal for repairing xbox controllers/laptops and similar. I'm a hobbyist repair person who does these things because I enjoy the job, helping other people is pretty good as well, and to spend upwards of GB£300 on a scope (for me) would be a ridiculous waste of money that I would never recoup.

Resolution is the performance benchmark for microscopes, not magnification.

Great video! It's bugged me for at least 20 years that manufacturers (even the ones that aren't random names from Amazon) like to obfuscate and miss-sell their products based on marketing. When digital cameras first came out we had the huge MP claims, only for them to be 'interpolated'. The only reason to do that is to con people. These days it's fields of CCTV cameras and dashcams claiming to be 1080p or 4K, when in reality they're all 480i or 720p. It seems you get what you pay for, but only within bracketed amounts!

For the price range,those cheap usb microscopes are worth and does the job

Regards from Ecuador, SouthAmerica. I really enjoyed your video and are very thankfull you took the time to make it. Although I purchased the least expensive one, I am happy to learn its capabilities and weaknesses. I mostly use it for inspecting, desoldering and soldering SMD components for ECUs and TV sets (and inspect my gray hairs). Keep up the good work, my friend.

What I did was get a trinocular simulfocal microscope from China which is basically a generic Amscope and then added a generic usb/hdmi imager. Total cost was less than $300 and the results were extremely good. I adapted it to a cheap articulating Vesa monitor stand using 3d printed parts.

I used to work with COB assembly factories in mainland China in the past decade. Most of the bonding machines were ASM520 series. The magnifiers equipped were used to locate the bonding pads. I would suggest to have a look at such cameras as well. Thanks very much !

I love this... I appreciate a good old-fashioned side-by-side comparison... You put a good amount of work and thought into this.... Quality content... Well presented... You got my sub, brother.

I watch a lot of YT and this was the best video I have seen in a while - great content, well presented. Thanks

10 years ago I got one of the microscopes like you show in the opening clip and it was fantastic. It had really good image quality and a good sensor, really nice optics for something that cost $15. Then I broke it and tried to repalce it, I purchased 4 more which looked identical and they were all completely garbage...

Awesome review! I wish all reviews were this technical. I was waiting for you to count the horizontal and vertical pixels on the sensor to confirm the 4k resolution. ;p

If its cheap BUT works for what you need it for i dont see an issue.

I'm more interested in a digital ocular pickup for my spotting scope, but I must admit I've been very intrigued [& extremely leery] of this digital wonders, so I'm very happy to have found your review!

Good comparison review, Excellent editing and production!

Ah, the video I waited years for. I still own one of the cheapest one and it was quite useful. But due to USB 2.0 limitations, resolution and framerate could be calculated to be never satisfactory. I wish the comparison could be redone in the <500€ range but it is quite costly. Thank you for your great work!

Great analysis and comparisons!