• Powerful 60x to 100x magnification microscope
• Extremely lightweight and portable design
• Built-in light provides a bright, clear image
• Rubberized eyepiece ensures comfortable viewing
• Fits easily into your pocket for portability

Carson's MicroMax™ is a powerful 60-100x magnification microscope with an extremely lightweight and portable design. Features a built-in light that provides a bright, clear image and a rubberized eyepiece for comfortable viewing. Fits easily in your pocket to bring with you anywhere.


Model: MM-100
Batteries: 3-AAA (not included)
Weight: 1.28 oz. / 36 grams

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great
Comment: Definitely a good portable microscope for general use. Bought it just for fun and it didn't disappoint. The picture is quite crisp, as long as you're not far sighted. I haven't tried to look at cells yet, but I'm sure you can (if you have some slides, and a light that shines from bottom up).

The only small complaint I have with this is that light that comes with this is rather old and may fluctuate in brightness from time to time. Its shaped like an LED somewhat, but you can tell that it's incandescent. I'd suggest replacing it with a bright LED to maximize that image quality if you can.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Works well enough for me
Comment: For what I needed this for, it works well. I don't know what the actual magnification is, but I'm not worried for the price I paid. The added light feature is really useful, too.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Useful toy you won't mind taking into the field
Comment: This little field microscope is a good bargain. Powerful enough to see details that can't be observed with the naked eye, light enough to take everywhere - maybe even backpacking, if you left the batteries out. Plus, it's cheap enough that you won't worry about taking it into the field.

Although toy-quality, the microscope is easily strong enough to use in plant and mineral identification. I have not tried mushroom spores, nor have I found a good way to use it for observing pond life. I would remove the batteries and bulb before attempting the latter!

The eyepiece is tiny, so you won't be taking decent photographs of anything with this microscope. However, the view through it is actually quite good. To give you an idea of the actual magnification of this thing (since other reviewers have said it's not 100x): At maximum magnification, something of about a millimeter in size will fill your field of view. The cells in the stem of a plant are easy to see, but the cells in leaves are only visible in some plants.

It's easy to focus, though the depth-of-field is not great. The picture is sharp and there are some hints that you can use to make it sharper.

1. For the best picture, don't rely on the tiny and suboptimally placed incandescent bulb that this microscope contains. It'll do when you don't have a free hand, but you can get a much better picture if you can hold and focus the microscope one-handed while shining light on your subject with a flashlight (LED works well) held in the other hand. This way, you can find angles that show details of the object that can't be seen with the incandescent. In particular, translucent objects (such as some minerals, many flower petals, and you) will not show up well under the included incandescent. Light such objects from farther away and at an angle. A brighter light going into the microscope also means a clearer picture coming out.

2. Remember that you can't focus beyond the clear plastic base of the microscope. Your subject must be at or above the bottom of the base. You can, however, pop the base off! Theoretically this is so you can change the bulb, but it's very useful if you want to look at something beneath a layer of glass, or into a crack on a surface. Don't just discard the base, though, because it *is* useful for holding the microscope steady.

3. Although there are other models of field microscope that are specially designed for slides and probably work better, you *can* use this like a slide microscope. You just need to provide a light source beneath the object. This is a good way to look at leaves, and is the only way you will see cells.

For all that it requires some tweaking to get optimal pictures, this is still a wonderful toy. It will open new worlds to explore and allow you to identify things in the field, and it costs very little. It's easy to use and difficult to break. I expect that to get something better, you would have to spend real money, and then you might not want to expose it to field conditions.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: very small, there are better choices.
Comment: when they say it fits in your shirt pocket they're not kidding. you could probably fit 3 of these in a shirt pocket. nothing about this tiny scope impressed me. average at best quality & optics. there are better lighted handhelds w/much better optics for around the same price.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Smart Little Instrument, Even if its Magnification Claims Are Overrated
Comment: The things I like most about this microscope are its portability, ease of use, and built in lamp. It's handy for indulging your curiosity to see what things look like up close.

The scope claims a magnification of 60x-100x. As others have already noted, this is exaggerated. Being of a scientific mind. I decided to test the claim myself using calipers and a fine ruler. I compared the diameter of the true field of view versus the diameter of the magnified field of view. I obtained a magnification ratio closer to 30x-50x.

If you want to use this scope to do research. Consider buying a computerized USB model with image, video, and time-lapse capture. (Orion MicroXplore PC200 Digital Handheld Scope)-

But if you're looking for something to give your kids or grandkids, or take with you on a trek in the outdoors, I highly recommend this microscope to you.

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