Celestron - 5 MP Digital Microscope Pro - Handheld USB Microscope Compatible with Windows PC and Mac - 20x-200x Magnification - Perfect for Stamp Collecting, Coin Collecting

I'm a professional Biologist and have many high quality very expensive microscopes. I needed something small and portable that I could transport even in airline luggage. This USB scope met my needs and exceeded my expectation for picture quality. Very easy to use and set up. My only complaint is that the mount that holds the scope to the base is a little loose and tightening the set screws did not help. This makes focusing a bit tricky because when you let go of the focus knob, there is a physical shift of the scope to out of focus. I've learned to focus very gently and work around this small problem. For the price, this USB scope can't be beat and its rated at the top of its price class in reviews for a reason. My CD manual was out of date and did not contain the proper method of calibration. I contacted on-line tech support, no wait time, and received chat instructions how to do the calibration. Now, the calibration is for those measuring the dimensions of the object they are viewing. Some have complained that the calibration needs to be done for each image, and that's pretty standard for almost all of these USB scopes. If you don't need precise measurements on objects, you don't need to bother with calibrating, just enjoy the clear images!

This digital microscope is a cool little gadget.Attached are photos of a micro-SD card and ball point pen at different focuses.I'm quite pleased with the quality of the photos.The microscope isn't perfect, however.The first issue I had was with the software. There's a note and a VERY quick "quick start guide" included in the box. The note tells you to visit celestron.com for software downloads. The quick start guide tells you to install Microcapture Pro. There is a LOT of software on their site so it's a bit of a scavenger hunt. I was unable to get the microscope to work with the version I downloaded so I had to open a support ticket with Celestron. They pointed me to a different version of Microcapture Pro that DID work. Apparently there are different versions depending on when the product was manufactured but you have no way of knowing that.Any time you use Microcapture Pro, it tells you to calibrate the microscope with no further instructions as to how to do that. There are no menu options to calibrate.Other than that error, it turns out that the software offers no microscope functionality, though. It's a simple camera viewer. I've switched over to using the Camera app that comes installed on Windows 10. It's just more convenient and efficient and it doesn't throw an error every time I take a photo.It takes a little fiddling to figure out the microscope if you've never used one before (like me) but once you do, it's fun. In my case, it works best with the LED lights turned way down and sometimes using another light pointed to the side for the best imaging.The focus knobs aren't great - since the stand and mounts aren't that solid, every little touch will move the image a little so a little trial and error is sometimes needed.All in all, the brand new price seems a little steep to me, for what it is...But it's fun especially if you can find it as an Amazon Warehouse deal.

I ordered this Celestron USB microscope after I ordered a $19 off brand one from Ebay. I take pictures of the stamped bases of Civil War bullets and the resolution of the $19 version was just not satisfactory - plus, the software was all in Chinese, the included disc wouldn't load the software to run it so I had to find it online and felt it was "iffy" (I wasn't sure if it was trustworthy). Got it working, but it just didn't give the images I wanted. Initiated a return and they offered me a $3 refund to just keep it (I don't want it).I immediately ordered the Celestron, it arrive the next day, plug and play - so simple and the results are great. Yes, it was $50 more, but well worth the price. I am a very satisfied customer

I bought this celestron micro scope before I ever heard of Tomlov. I have a coin group and Zhong Han came to me and asked if I wanted to try a Tomlov after dealing with that cheap made pos Celestron I said hell yeah! Well sorry Celestron last time I will be buying a 20 dollar scope and paying over a hundred for it from you again . As far as I'm concerned Tomlov kicks your ass. 5 mp? pfft you should be ashamed. Thanks Zhong Han for showing me what a real digital scope is. Cant give less than 1 star or would.

I bought this about 5 years ago. It worked great and I liked it. But one day it just stopped working on Windows 10, after a Windows update. Celestron never updated the software. The software that comes with it, and the software on their website both no longer work with Windows.So basically, I paid 100 dollars for a paperweight. Don't take my word for it. Do a search online, many people talking about the same thing with this unit.