Reviews: PLUGGABLE Microscope Flexible Observation Magnification

Another customer M13804 say I bought this to be able to zoom in on Insect and Tarantula exoskeletons to better be able to determine the sex of the animals ..

For $35, you really can't go wrong.

Where do I even begin with this product. It took less than a minute to put together. Windows 10 recognized it immediately. After downloading the software, I was up and running. It was truly plug and play.

The magnification is incredible! I bought this to be able to zoom in on Insect and Tarantula exoskeletons to better be able to determine the sex of the animals I own, and this can go so much further!

I started zooming in on EVERYTHING near by. It can zoom so far in that you can get to the point where only 3-5 ridges from your fingerprint will fit on the screen. Now I see why they say wash your hands.

View my pictures attached. The ones of George from the one dollar bill are successive magnification levels into his eye.Another one is the MICROPRINT signature line that checks have. At the furthest zoom level I could only fit "AUT" on the screen. I zoomed into the MP, and could not even fit that on the screen. The microscope can magnify to such a small level it is impressive. The picture with all the red green and blue dots is a magnification of the screen of my Samsung Galaxy S6. The dark part of that picture is the letter "Y".

I attached pictures of the scope in action with the monitor visible. To get the super zoom that you see, like in the picture with the blue and black dots (zoom into the sticker from a Sterilite tub) or the edge of the coin, you have to have the item pressed up against the scope.

If you need this for soldering or electrical work, it would work wonders and give you enough room to work. The software is easy to use and overall this product is just amazing and well worth the money spent!

A review Roy Mis say Well Worth a Try!.

In my search for an inexpensive, entry level digital USB microscope, I found thousands for sale on Amazon. I read many reviews and finally decided to give the Plugable Digital Microscope a try. Here's what I found....

At the $35 price point, I certainly wasn't expecting "Dino-Lite" quality or performance, but I must say that I was not disappointed. The Plugable is all plastic, but appears to be reasonably well made. It was easy to setup and get the software installed. The drivers and software are not included, but there is a link to them in the included "quick start" guide. I prefer to download software and drivers to get the most recent versions.
Once the software is installed and the microscope is assembled on the stand, just plug in the USB connection and you're ready to go.
The software is easy to use and appears to provide just about everything you need to make the most of the microscope. You can take photos or videos. There is a button on the camera for photos, but you can also click on the software button to take a picture. Since the microscope is so sensitive and can be easily moved out of position, I found it much more beneficial to take photos by clicking the button in the software.

Fact vs fiction???

The specs state that the microscope will provide 10x to 250x magnification. I didn't see any way to vary the magnification so I contacted customer service. They told me that the magnification depends on the distance the microscope is from the object in conjunction with the focus ring. It's somewhat confusing and takes getting used to, but you will get "interesting" results. In reality, there is no way to even come close to guessing what magnification you're at.

I have included some photos of a quarter at various "magnifications". As I said, it's just a matter of moving the microscope closer to the quarter and focusing accordingly. If you place the microscope right on the object and continuing turning the focus ring towards the "+", you will get two focus points, the later one being the highest magnification possible. Hopefully, the photos will demonstrate what I'm talking about.

Overall, if you just want to have some fun and you're not doing serious research or lab work, this is worth a try. It won't break the bank and it's fun for "kids" of all ages. I'm 63, retired and always looking for new "toys".

I did have to contact customer service regarding a minor issue I was having with the software. Sam, the customer service rep was very patient and knowledgeable and stayed with me until he reached a satisfactory resolution. His customer service made this purchase well worth the very reasonable price!

This a word from J.Hos_317 tell us Surprisingly good for the price [Mac].

I initially wasn't all that impressed with the scope as the lack of an actual, printed manual makes most of the controls a bit hidden. A bit of playing around and perusing the FAQ revealed most of what I needed, but the lack of an actual manual is gonna cost a star as that effort really should have been given.

I was a bit nervous about the quality of materials at purchase, but I was pleasantly surprised. The suction cup is strong enough to resist the strength of an adult male when engaged yet releases easily when the clamp is released. The arm is strong as well, comparable to that of a good-quality desk lamp. Assembly is intuitive enough, but again lacks any real instructions on how to do so.

The controls are divided between the actual device and the desktop application. Focus and zoom are tied together on the device, so only two magnifications are possible. This removes a lot of the potential control and fine-tuning. Unless you manually re-adjust the resolution under Settings, the default is 0.3MP instead of the quality 2MP. Speaking of the Settings menu, this is also where other controls such as contrast, brightness, saturation, and hue are hidden. Contrast/brightness are basically required as dark objects tend to "black-blob" and lose detail on the digital side. Magnification is done with the focus knob (going from in-focus through a lot of fuzz until it's back in-focus at higher resolution). For those unused to microscopy, the depth of focus is expectedly low - so you will need to focus in and out for anything larger-scale.

All in all, the capabilities are really quite remarkable for only $35. Images produced are quite nice, and functionality isn't all that far behind a non-digital $700-1000 Leica Microsystems 10447197 EZ4 Stereo Microscope with 10x Eyepieces. Attached are some images of a 1 mm ant (a) antenna and (b) full body; an acrobat ant (c) full body and (d) thoracic spine; and a 4mm chalcid wasp (e) eye and (f) wing taken with the Plugable scope.

A review My Public Name said I have recorded 0.001mm^2 per pixel so far.

Not a microscope. This is a macro camera. To "zoom" you move the camera closer to the object you want to look at. It is capable of focusing on objects closer than a regular camera.

I've been measuring to see how much video detail I can get.

Optical:
very shallow depth field (maybe less than 0.1mm, definitely less than 0.5mm)
about 1.2mm field of view at closest "zoom"

Photos:
1600x1200 resolution, detail is about 25000 pixels per inch (about 10000 pixels per cm)

Video:
640x480 resolution at 8 frames per second, detail is about 10000 pixels per inch (about 4000 pixels per cm)

How small can it see?
I get about 1 micron per pixel for photos and about 2.5 microns per pixel for video.
If you want to look at something 50x50 microns in size, it will be 50x50 pixels of a 1600x1200 image, or a 20x20 pixels of a 640x480 video.
Since you have to find the object in video in order to take a photo, video becomes a size bottle neck.
How many pixels you need to identify features of what you are looking at will depend on you are trying to look at.

Note: there are two spots an object can be focused at. A near focus and a far focus. One looks bigger (more zoomed) than the other.
The maximum ratios I achieved: 29x (video, far), 74x (image, far), 112x (video, near), 280x (image, near) These are image scale ratios, and independent of monitor size!

Yes you could say my monitor is twice as big as yours, so that's 58x instead of 29x (like the manufacturer does), but no, you don't get any more information than what the camera gets.

As far as I know, you can only take photos in 1600x1200 with the official software, but I hope I'm wrong.

Pictures are:
1) calipers set to 0.01mm (at 640x480)
2) calipers set to 0.99mm (at 640x480)
3) a 100 pixel per inch LED screen (at 1600x1200).

While Stephen say Perfect for Marijuana Trichome Analysis.

This digital microscope is quite impressive for it's price point. I use it for inspecting marijuana trichomes near the end of harvest to ensure my plants are in the most optimal window for harvest. I love the fact that this product has a rear push-button that instantly takes screen shots. It's how I took these photos.

I highly recommend this product. It's also really fun looking at clothing fabric and other random small things with great detail.

Review Southern Transplant Talk Its okay for error coin shooting other choice out there.

I bought this as a second Microscope camera for error searching coins with my son. Has a very good magnification, does have slight lag between the switch before one coin and the next. I am having a hard time getting it to show true colors of object (IE: Coins) which can be very important to show a higher quality coin over a less quality coin. For all other details of coins it is excellent. You can set it easy to see entire coin or very small portion of the coin to see fine 'errors' Internet downloaded software also allows different resolutions too which will show more or less of the coin without moving the camera. The suction cup of the camera is not the best, it tends to loss suction after an hour or so. One piece of advice is to have a black piece of paper as your backdrop on top of the white work base. I would also circle pencil a coin on the black paper so you can quickly place your coin under the scope for quick reads. All and all this is a good scope for the price. and truly beats using an eye loop or magnifying glass.

While Squeeky Wheel say Good Device, Good Company, Great Support.

As an old guy, I have started to do what old guys do, taking up metal detecting. The trouble with metal detecting is that you find stuff, and old guys come equipped with old eyes that have trouble making out little details, like the dates on coins that have been in the dirt since the Nixon administration. I spotted this url microscope on Today's Deals and ordered it, figuring it would be the perfect device for not only seeing such details, but making a picture of them for the records I keep of finds. I ordered it and it arrived promptly. I downloaded the driver, found it in my programs, and it didn't work.
I emailed Plugable about the problem, and got an answer within the hour from a help desk guy, who worked with me over several days to solve it. I had the wrong driver, and he provided the URL for the right one. Being an old guy, I was certain that I had followed the Quickstart Guide precisely, so I blamed that guide, deleted the wrong driver, downloaded the right one, and the device works. Attached is my first shot of a dug penny (a few tens of thousands of finds like this, and my metal detector shall have paid for itself in cash, and all that digging shall have done wonders for my health).
It was only this morning that I figured out the real cause of the problem: me. I had grabbed the driver from another device I have not used in a couple of years and had pretty much forgotten about. The help desk guy would have been quite justified in sneering at me as a brainless old clot, but he did not. He was unfailingly pleasant and thoroughly competent.

While Nathaniel L. Talk Excellent for dozens of examination tasks, works great with raspberry pi!.

VERY sharp at full-resolution. As remarked in the instructions and in other reviews, use and focusing are very easy - but magnification depends on distance and the focus knob (both) - so to get mega-close-up, you get the microscope itself closer to the object, and use the *second* focal length, the one nearest to the + side of the dial. I've been starting at the 'wider' zoom/focus, which I think is roughly 50x max - and snapping an initial overview picture - then zooming way in to get the detail.

I will say, I was surprised, I expected the capacitive touch button to be more effective - it's not that they implemented it poorly, it's just that literally ANY motion at all wrecks the image. I may 3D print a sturdier stand, as the flexible-neck is half the problem with that. The solution so far has been to use the software buttons.

Note also, the video recording resolution in the included software is awful. VGA (640x480) limited, whereas photos are up to 1600x1200 for 4:3 and 1280x720 for 16:9. To solve this, I'm using VLC for both playback and recording when video is desired.

The LEDs are excellent, and the diffuser is a welcome feature. When examining solder joints, I've actually turned the LED down a bit because it was *too* bright.

Also of note: This works with regular webcam chips, and I had ZERO trouble (instantaneous) getting this to work with Cheese in Linux on a Raspberry Pi, which had no trouble at all handling the images and video.

Good stuff. My ONLY complaint would be a faster interface capable of smoother preview/recording. At higher resolutions, you have to be patient - it gags a little on anything over 10fps.

The attached images are of:
-Arduino Nano Pins
-Tx LED (<1mm) on Arduino Nano
-RGB SMD LED (and a closeup of one of the connected diodes inside)
-Parallax Light Intensity sensor [looks like a grid] (wide and mega-close)
-Edge & Pins of an ESP8266 chip on a NodeMCU microcontroller
-Closeup of the 'wifi' logo on the same ESP8266 chip
-SK6812 RGBWW Addressable LED (note the tiny IC) (and a gorgeous closeup of that IC and one of the diodes) ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K4HTXOC/ref=twister_B01M8HHAXI?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 )

This a word from Amazon Customer say 3D was great glare was not so great.

Gives great 3D image. the only down side is that I wanted it for doing fecals on my animals (mini farm) and when using a coverslip a side close up (there is no zoom to speak of unless you take a pic and then enlarge it) I can't really say that it is as close up as I needed for things like Coccidia. Also there is a glare with the cover slip and slide as well. I guess doing it over I might have not bought this one knowing what I know now but it works great for my 3 year old to look at bugs
***Follow up I was having a hard time getting a fecal to be clear enough and so I contacted their tech support. Turns out the do not recommend this microscope for use with slides and cover slips. Would have been good to know before purchase.
***** Customer service was amazing and gave me a refund since it didn't work for what I needed it for and just requested I donate it to a school if I didn't have a use for it.

Another customer Andrew Talk One of the most surprisingly good purchases I've made on Amazon.

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?