Decent beginning microscope

Our 7 year old son received this as a gift. Initially the light did not work, however once I realized that the polarity of the one battery was "flipped" from standard, all was well. As is evident by the price level, this is a basic/entry level microscope and not a high end microscope. With patience from both the infant and the adult it can provide an exciting introduction to exploring the microscopic world around us at an affordable price. The manual / documentation is very weak. Older infantren with prior microscope experience would definitely benefit from a higher end instrument.

[Sunday, November 30, 2008]

Don't bother!

My kid got this as a present for Christmas. Within 5 minutes, both light bulbs had burnt out and it was useless. There's no contact information for the company. Their website has no information about it. After some digging, I found that this is made by a different manufacturer and the few reviews I found after searching them led me to other people who had the exact same experience. Of course, watching our son's heart break after his present broke meant that we needed to replace it. After much research, we just purchased the "My First Lab Duo" microscope and are amazed at the difference. It's a product made for kids that will last a long time and provide the type of experience we'd hoped they'd get from this one. Vivitar should be ashamed their name is associated with this.

[Monday, June 16, 2008]

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