Carson MicroFlip 100x-250x LED and UV Lighted Pocket Microscope with Flip Down Slide Base and Smartphone Digiscoping Clip (MP-250 or MP-250MU)

It's not the microscope I hate; this thing is fantastic! It's what I can SEE with the microscope that I hate! Yes, you can see dust mites with this thing and they are horrifying. Please do not use this to view your bedsheets or that really old bag of flour in your pantry because you will question whether life is worth going on as I did. I have already made these mistakes so you dont have to.The 250x magnification is a bit hard to look at, but photos come out alright. 100x definitely comes through the lens clearer to the naked eye for some reason. Included are photos of a tick (dirty fingernail for scale) that I found on me the other day along with a 100x picture of the tick through this microscope, and a picture of my (now formerly) favorite rock with chrysotile asbestos visible at 250x :(

I just got this because I’m a kid inside and I like to look at small things. I’ve discovered a whole world that I couldn’t see before. This thing shattered my quality of image expectations, wish I had one of these when I was a kid.

It works well, it's easy to use (both my 8-year-old son and my mom figured it out pretty easily), and is powerful enough to clearly see things like spirogyra cells, larger dinoflagellates and other marine plankton, and OMG that's what the fibers of my jeans look like?!?!This is one of my new favorite toys, one that I wish that I had when I was studying biology in school. Back in the 80s this would have cost a few hundred bucks, if not more. Optical tech has improved by leaps and bounds since then, and for the price, the MicroFlip is impressive as heck.The phone option is nice, too, but we don't use it a lot. It's just a clip that centers your phone's camera over the lens, you'll want to use your zoom options on your phone to make it visible. I appreciate the option, it's worthwhile and almost-practical, but you get the best fun from looking in the lens directly (it's great for viewing at home with several people, hopefully fellow nerds. But it's a "field microscope," you want to use it in the field, right? With some twiddling, and care, it works fine for classes and camping if you want to use the phone option.)The slide doen't really fit well on the clip. No slides do, in fact. That's a little annoying for a field instrument.But, overall, the optical quality is lovely, and the price is right, and it's taken a slight beating and survived and still works at 100%. Even if I dropped it and lost it forever somehow, I could still replace it for the cost of coffee, lunch, and gas.Recommended, highly.

I bought an earlier version of this 3 years ago and give it 5 stars. It works awesome. I bought this one because it has a slide to make viewing easier. Unfortunately, there is a brown halo which interferes with the image. I tried calling their tech support but their automated system didn’t recognize the product and therefore could not figure out who to connect me to. They leave me no choice other than to return it. I would recommend passing on this one and try their microbrite plus 60x-120x pocket microscope.

The included booklet doesn't have enough detail, especially how to use it with the included slide and cover slip.The booklet lists a link to a PDF User Guide. But that link leads to you a not found page. This product is so close to something useful, but a child couldn't use it and I couldn't use it. Don't waste your money on this product. It's frustrating.

I ordered this to look at a deer tick that was removed from my leg at the doctor's office. The magnification on this unit was actually too high to take a good look at it. It was better than anything that was available in the doctor's office!I really like the little lens adapter that allows you to use your phone camera as an attachment, both to make viewing easier and to take photos and video.I'm going to keep it because it's absolutely amazing. The picture quality, the viewing quality it's just over the top for the price of the unit.

This microscope is perfect for use out in the field and at home. The clip is universal and worked for my android, iPhone 6 Plus, and my iPads. There’s a little bit of a learning curve with focusing. Take your time and experiment with the focus both with your phone and the naked eye. After a handful of uses, it’ll become second nature and the pictures you’ll get are amazing. I’ve used this for fine adjustments with hobby parts and for looking at things in nature like leaves. It works well in both applications.

The first time the whole thing was missing in the order. Luckily amazon agreed to send another one without me sending the whole package along with my other coffee products back which would take months.The microscope itself is amazing. It does take a bit time to get used to handle it properly but once you get the angles right, the result is truly amazing. Especially for the price. My daughter loves it SO much!

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.  Very clear optics for the price. A little fiddly to set up with a phone, but once done it's great.

This microscope is truly outstanding.  I bought it for inspection work and biological analysis, for which it is perfect and clear with an easy to use high zoom rate.  The unit is extremely easy to use and apply both at home and in the field, it’s portable and can be used by anyone at any skill level.  At home, my wife enjoys using it for her arts and crafts inspections of gemstones and crystals, and what is always fun to use it on weekends with the kids in the garden to look at water samples and biological material, leaves, sand, etc.  It truly is an all round product which is as good for professional work, classroom work, to hobby work.I particularly like the smartphone adaptor clip which is included in the package free of charge, it fits my iphone as well as my son’s android, and I’m sure it will fit any other smartphone type device in the market.  The clip/adapter is easy to fit and extremely easy to centre.  It allows me to take pictures of my work, but also add additional zoom via the phone lens!  I enjoy uploading my images to various social media, and I can easily share my research in the field with colleagues in the office by emailing pictures directly from my smartphone.Without hesitation, best value for money microscope in the market, and highly recommended.

I really don't want to write a negative review but after reading all the other comments I had such high hopes for this. I know for £23 it's not going to be top of the range but there are so many things wrong with mine that I don't even want to use it.I think my unit may have been a faulty return or has been used as the included slide is very badly scratched making it impossible to view anything on it as all you see are the magnified scratches.The lights come on if/when they feel like it and when using the flap the led is supposed to change to the bottom led but it very rarely does. Often it flickers between both or just doesn't change at all.When adjusting the focus the whole lense part moves from side to side, making it extremely difficult to stay focused on one thing as it's constantly moving out of frame.The eyepiece is non existent. I realise this can be used with a phone but I though it would also be possible to look through the lense with one's eye. It is, of course, but it's extremely difficult to get the right distance, angle and not budge a millimeter as even the slightest movement loses the image. It's not impossible to view, just extremely uncomfortable and difficult. A removable eye piece would have solved this problem.If it wasn't for the above problems this would be a great little miscroscope. The image is sharp, the magnification is good for the price and it's easy to carry around. It's not worth the hassle of returning it so sadly I'll be looking for a different model, though probably need to spend a bit more to get the quality. Don't get me wrong it's not massively bad, just not as pleasant to use as it should be. Sorry Carson.

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.  Ich habe mir ein Taschenmikroskop gekauft, da ich in meiner Kindheit eines hatte und schon lange wieder eines wollte. Auf dieses Modell bin ich gekommen aufgrund der starken Vergrößerung und der zusätzlichen Möglichkeit Objekte auf Objektträger zu Betrachten.Insgesamt wurde ich darin nicht enttäuscht und besonders begeistert es mich kleinstlebewesen im Wasser zu betrachten. (einfach einen Eimer Wasser mit Stroh, Moos und Dreck füllen und in die Sonne stellen und nach ein paar Tagen einen tropfen Wasser daraus auf ein Objektträger untersuchen)Der Ursprüngliche Zweck war eigentlich dass ich z.B. Armeisen oder Käfer betrachten kann, wobei dafür die Vergrößerung eigentlich schon fast zu groß ist. Da macht es schon mehr Sinn noch kleinere Lebewesen wie Obstfliegen oder kleine Mücken zu betrachten.Die Vorrichtung zum Anbringen der Handykamera ist auch eine sehr gute Sache. man kann damit durchaus ein paar nette Fotos und Videos machen. Ich habe ein paar Beispiele angefügt. Um ein Ruhiges Bild zu erhalten baue ich mir meistens einen passend großen Turm aus Bücher, auf das ich dann mein Handy ablege.Die Transportierbarkeit ist ebenfalls gegeben. Ich habe das Taschenmikroskop schon des öfteren mit zum Spazieren gehen oder an einen See oder auch zu Bekannten mitgenommen. Passt einfach in die Hosentasche.Einen Stern abzug gebe ich, da bei 250-facher Vergrößerung das "Bild" sehr schwammig wird, so dass man kaum einen Vorteil zur 100-fach-Vergrößerung hat, was dazu führt, dass ich eigentlich 90% der Zeit nur den 100er verwende.Insgesamt kann ich das Mikroskop jedem empfehlen, der sich ebenfalls davon Begeistern lassen möchte, mal ganz kleine unscheinbare Dinge mit ganz anderen Augen zu sehen.

I think this is a clearly capable microscope and the mechanism with which it switches the lighting to illuminate a slide when the tray is folded is very clever.I don't think it does anything too well though...1) It is not comfortable to look into with bare eyes as it does not have a distancing eyepiece (I have another Carson portable microscope which is much more comfortable to use this way), maybe with glasses it gets better... maybe.2) It is not comfortable to use with an iPhone attached as it is not stable and focusing/snapping a picture/moving the slide is frankly almost impossible without losing focus.3) the fold up slide slot flexes and loses focus when positioned on a table.It is a nice toy for a kid who has time and patience to fiddle with it... nothing more, look elsewhere.