USB Microscope - for Mac any recommendations?

[bizzylizzy]

Hi everyone

I'd like to buy my husband a USB microscope for Christmas. I've had a look around on ebay and elsewhere and there seems to be quite a wide selection, lots of Vehos for example. But I wondered if anyone had had any experience of these and could recommend or not warn me off any particular brands.

Most importantly the microscope has to work with an Apple Mac computer. I can't afford a fortune, so spending several hundred pounds is out, but are the cheaper models ie �50 - �100 worth the money.

Thank you and Happy Christmas to you all.

[fo3nix]

Some good recommendations here:

http://danbenjamin.com/articles/2008/01/podcas ting-equipment-guide

[bizzylizzy]

That's very sweet of you, but the link you gave me is for microphones, I'm talking about microscopes. But thanks for the post anyhow, much appreciated.

[wildwood]

This one appears to fulfil your requirements with very good specs for the price.

I had one of those real cheap hand held ones a few month ago for my B-day and it was a great toy, but after my son borrowed it, the thing never worked again. I also have one on my Xmas wish list and have hinted how much I've spent on Mrs Wildwood's prezzie, so hopefully Mr.Claus will bring me a high spec one.

Merry Christmas to you.

[bizzylizzy]

Hello Wildwood, many thanks for your info. As a matter of fact I was looking at the Veho last night, but if you look at the Amazon reviews, somebody with a Mac seems to have had problems setting it up and using it. Always the problem with Macs sadly. 10% of the population have them but software manufacturers, games designers etc don't seem to bother to service Mac users. I wanted to send Veho an email but their site doesn't seem to be available on either of my browsers Firefox and Safari. Maybe I should risk buying one, but obviously I don't want to waste money on something that won't work. Life's never easy is it. I hope that Santa ... or Mrs Wildwood brings you exactly the pressy you wanted. Now I'm off to find a good book for microscopy. Any suggestions :-) Merry Christmas - lizzy

[theprof]

I've seen the Veho model in action and the resolution is not too bad at all. It's obviously not up to the standard of the Olympus devices we use at the university but these cost several thousand pounds each and I appreciate the problem.

Unfortunately, the model I saw was attached to a Windows PC, so I can't vouch for its use with a Mac.

I have noticed that this Veho model VMS-001 is on sale in Maplin at �79.99 using order code N37GH and while it �15.04 more expensive than the Amazon offer, it may be worth considering if you have a Maplin branch on your doorstep. I'd prefer to pay that little bit more for it so I can return it locally and get a refund if it didn't work rather than risk sending it back through the post � by the time you�ve paid postage and recorded delivery/registered post on the package, you�ll not have saved much. All the same, it�s your choice.

[fo3nix]

Oops, that'll teach me to read too quickly!

[bizzylizzy]

Ahh gee thanks everyone, brilliant advice all round.

I think I'm going to give my hubby a black eye. We were talking earlier about a buying a friend a pressy for Christmas - a fellow mac user. I suggest a little device that would plug into a usb port. My husband said, 'well I wouldn't plug anything like that into a usb port, it can do all sorts of damage!!! Agghhh. Urrmmmm. If he's not careful he'll be getting socks for Christmas!! Thanks again for the sage advice, you are too kind. Merry Christmas and a stress free 2009!! lizzy

[Nelle-Tap]

I can see bizzylizzy has given up but in case others are following the thread .... i am trying to source a MAC compatible USB microscope for my 10 yr old grandson but though Amazon.co.uk states about the Veho 'Compatible with Win 98, 2000, XP, Vista and MAC o/s' see http://www.amazon.co.uk/Veho-VMS-001-20-200x-M agnification-Microscope/dp/B001ACKIUO#moreAbou tThisProduct it is supplied from them via firebox and they state quite clearly at link http://www.firebox.com/product/2161/USB-Micros cope Please Note:

* Compatible with Microsoft Windows only
* Please note the CD ROM for this item does not come on a standard size disc. The disc is the smaller type which may not fit in all PC disc trays.

SO a definite contradiction. The only MAC alternative I found was about �200 from Apple. Disappointing.

[bizzylizzy]

Hello again
There are quite a few places where you can still get the Veho if you Google it. As I recall I put 'available' in search within results and this gave me several names where it was in stock. My problem was that if you read the reviews on Amazon, you'll see that although it apparently is OK for Mac, it sounds as though the drivers you have to download make for an inferior performance in comparison to the same microscope being used with a PC. I sympathise, we Mac users do have more of these type of problems than PC users. The Veho site is now back up and they probably have a suppliers list. The problem with people like Amazon and Play is that they outsource their supplies. I've just had awful problems with both of them. Both having let me down seriously over items ordered weeks ago for Christmas. Good luck, but do check out those reviews on Amazon from Mac users before you commit to buy. BL

[JefferT]

Try the Carson Z-pix digital zoom microscope. I'm researching too, and have a MacBook Pro. This item seems to be the best I can find, though I don't have any experience with any of them yet.

[JefferT]

Try this one out: Carson Optical MM-640 zPIX Digital Microscope. I'm researching just like you and have a MacBook Pro. Haven't gotten yet, but this little baby looks like the charm for a Mac.