The Best Digital Microscopes for Hobbyists

Whenever they identify the specific genes that govern scientific aptitude, they'll find that our family has them in spades. My husband and I seem to have passed on our love of science to our children, which means that (amongst other things) our house has more digital microscopes than most. Lucky for you, our household is expert in digital microscopes for the hobbyist and the professional. If you're thinking about investing in a digital microscope, check out these five options and you're sure to find something that will fit your needs.

The USB Digital Microscope

These things are super cool. It easily hooks up to your computer, and can magnify up to 100 times. But one of the best features of this digital microscope is its ability to take video at 30 frames per second. There are also four LED lights embedded to illuminate the microbes or cells that your looking at. And, it only costs about $200. Check out the Microscope Store.com for some great deals.

Digital Mobile Microscope - The Fun-300

This nifty gadget comes with a 1.8" 65k color TFT LCD display and features split screen mode. This means you can capture a still image and compare it to another (or live) image in the second screen. It magnifies up to 90x, and runs on three AAA batteries (with USB option). This cool tool is available for under $200.

BigC Dino Lite Pro Digital Microscope model AM-413T

There's nothing "lite" about this digital microscope. This is a serious microscope that is sophisticated enough for medical or scientific usage. However, it is so user friendly that hobbyists enjoy it too. The software makes adjustments in focus itself! However, you want to make sure that your computer's operating system is up to date because the AM-413T's accompanying software is temperamental. Although, once you get it going, you'll enjoy 10x-200x continuous magnification (up to 330x digital zoom), and 8 built in LEDs. And at $350 (www.thinkgeek.com) the AM-413T is well worth it.

Celestron Digital Microscope

I just love the way this microscope looks. This baby features a 3.5" digital screen and built in camera. It has three levels of magnification (4x,10x and 40x), digital zoom, and a six position color filter wheel. It does not connect directly to your personal computer, but it does come with 128MB of memory and an SD card slot. Oh, and you can find it for under $300. This is a great microscope for a hobbyist.

The Konus 450x Konuspix Digital Microscope 5023

I had to include this little $80 digital microscope. This toy microscope is user friendly enough for children ages three and older. It comes with double illumination with transmitted and incidental light. It's easy to connect to any computer and even takes video! It comes with 8 blank slides, 4 prepared slides and slide prep accessories so it's ready to go right out of the box. And the price makes it a great gift for any budding scientist.