When buying compound monocular microscopes, there are certain points and features that has to be evaluated first. Find out more about these through the article below.

When buying compound monocular microscopes, there are certain things that you have to consider. Compound monocular microscopes are microscopes that have multiple lenses and a single eyepiece. These are the microscopes that are normally used on a classroom setup and even in home laboratories.

Here are the different points, features, and specifications to consider when buying compound monocular microscopes:

1. Magnification Level
Magnification levels correspond to the capability of the device to enlarge the specimen being viewed. These are the advertised 200x, 400x, and even the 1000x magnification capability of microscopes. In essence, a 10x eye piece made to work with a 10x objective lens would allow for a 100x magnification capability. But the magnification levels of compound monocular microscopes are not totally described through numbers. The optical quality of the microscope is of utmost importance as well. To determine whether the magnification level of the compound monocular microscope is adequate, first determine the type of samples you are going to view most of the time. Pond water samples and cells can be effectively viewed under a 200x magnification power.

2. Focusing Knobs
All microscopes, compound monocular microscope or otherwise, have two focusing knobs. These are the coarse focus knob and the fine focus knob. The coarse focus knob is used for both medium and low magnification requirements. The fine focusing knob, on the other hand, is used for higher levels of magnification. It is quite difficult to focus microscopes operating at higher magnification levels. This is why a different type of knob is used. When buying compound monocular microscopes, specifically check if it has both of these knobs as a feature.

3. Illumination System
When it comes to compound monocular microscope, there are only two basic types of illumination systems. These would be the mirror and the built-in lighting system. Mirror are used in microscopes for beginners. Built-in illumination systems, on the other hand, is the one used by advanced microscopes. More often than not, these microscopes need to be powered through a 110 volts power source.

Adequate light allows for better viewing of samples. There are compound monocular microscope that are powered by LED lights. These don’t necessary require AC power to work, but they don’t provide the amount of brightness required for your observation needs. The job of the microscope’s mirror is to reflect the light coming from mere daylight or an external lamp. Without a desk lamp, compound monocular microscope that only uses mirrors for its illumination system won’t work well during the night. This makes the ones with the built-in lighting system the better option. But of course, these ones don’t come cheap. Furthermore, the microscopes whose lighting system can be controlled, whether to make it brighter or dimmer, is the much better option of all.

4. Slide Holders
Slide holders are usually placed over the stage of the microscope. These are also alternately called as stage clips, and their main purpose is to keep the specimen in place. These devices are important, especially if you are using the microscope at a high power magnification mode most of the time. Because under these conditions, a very small movement of the stage would put the sample out of the microscope’s field of view.

For beginners, the presence of stage clips should be enough to do the job. But for professionals, they would prefer using mechanical stages more. This a feature of a compound monocular microscope that allows the slide to be moved to the sides, up, or down, depending upon the what the user requires. A mechanical stage is built with knobs to fine control the position of the slide.

5. Objectives
There are different types of objectives that can be used with a compound monocular microscope. A good example would be the oil immersion objectives that can be used alternately with the other lenses. Oil immersion objectives are used to achieve the magnification level of 1000x. These objectives are used by professionals. Beginners need to learn how to apply mineral oil to the sample before viewing them.

These are the different points of interest that buyers should consider when buying compound monocular microscopes. Choosing the right features that matches the actual use of the microscope is the key to getting the best possible compound monocular microscope. Doing so would also lead you to the one that comes with the best price.