Plugable Digital Microscope with Flexible Arm Observation Stand Compatible with USB and USB-C Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, iPad (USB C), Android, Linux Systems (2MP, 250x Magnification)

I've tried a handful of USB microscopes and this one is the best so far. Two things warrant mention. The first is the camera adjustments available under Windows and the other is resolution. The Plugable software (Windows version is all I've used), which requires download, can be set to auto adjust brightness but it can be manually adjusted too. My application requires locking exposure and this microscope can do it. That isn't the case for the other microscopes I've tested. It also isn't a feature mentioned by manufacturers. For my application, autoranging is undesirable. The ability to control exposure makes this scope stand out and why I like it so much. I am baffled by the magnification numbers given by manufacturers. This scope gives equal or higher magnification compared to others claiming 1600X. To change magnification, the scope is positioned above an object and focused. There is no zoom. All the others I've tried operate the same way. I've enclosed results at distances of 0, 20 and 40 mm from the clear plastic guard showing a 1 mm scale. I've also shown a penny's date at 0 and 40 mm. A penny is nominally 19 mm with 1 in the date being about 1.17mm or so. While the scope is great, I am not a fan of the flexible mount when operating at maximum magnification. Touching the microscope to focus or adjust lighting causes annoying movement. It is easy to get in a seemingly endless loop of adjust, move the object, readjust. I have a more rigid stand and find it to be far easier to use due both to rigidity and gears to move the microscope up and down. Circling back to software control, the camera app native to Windows can be used with add-on setting apps to set exposure and other options. Other USB microscopes have most of these setting greyed out whether in the Windows settings or in the apps supplied. They just aren't available.. I find the Plugable app does everything I want to do and does it quite nicely. Still pictures, videos and time-lapse are all available.

Hands down, this is one of the most surprising buys I've ever had on Amazon. I don't think I've ever bought any product off of Amazon with as low an expectation (so many cheap electronics!) and been as happy as I am with this little microscope.I've had this for over six months now, and still love it. I can only vouch for using it on a Mac, but it's plug-and-play as far as I can tell without a problem, ever. Image quality is fantastic, it's easy to use, has great depth of field, and takes great pictures. The integrated light source is awesome too, very bright and adjustable so you can light up a surface and see defects and small details with high contrast. I'm an engineer and use it for taking pictures of small mechanical parts, and this scope cannot be beat for the price. The main reason I've been so pleased and surprised is that I've used a $30,000 microscope (one of the best digital microscopes in the world) and it was not much better at the magnifications I'm using it for. Best of all I don't have to worry at all about breaking this one because it's so cheap. Even then, I've beat this thing up in the field looking at aerospace components, and it is holding up like a champ. The only warning, it only operates at 10x and 250x magnification as far as I can tell, so not many options for magnification in between, but otherwise, it's great.If you're doing industrial machining and grinding, quality control on electronics, you're a hobbyist, a teacher, or you just want to see little stuff big, this is the scope for you. You know how everyone used to have those little science kits with a microscope that was impossible to see anything through? This is the exact opposite of that, and if you have any scientific curiosity at all, or you're a professional of some sort who needs a microscope, you should own this. Just buy it, who knew that looking at your hair or the dust in your vacuum was this fascinating?