The Apex Examiner Microscope

This is potentially an excellent microscope but it has two design flaws which I'll come to in a moment.There is an almost identical sterescopic microscope made by Bresser which I have also reviewed. That review is more comparative in style than this one. Bresser Junior Stereo Microscope 20x So. The Apex - first the good news ....The item is very strongly built and feels both solid and stable when in use. I particularly liked the lift-out base to accommodate the drop-in dish for when studying liquids, pond water etc. A spare dish would have been useful in case of damage to the original. The optics are excellent and adjusting the separation of the eyepieces to fit your own face feels smooth, firm and secure. The light source is excellent and illuminates objects well. The small on/off switch is sensibly placed and it's good that it doesn't have to be used all the time as the optics are easily capable of being used in good daylight. The kit supplied to aid in the preparation of your own materials or subjects is adequate and of good quality. In almost all respects, this 'scope would seem to have been well designed as a serious aid to introducing young and not-so-young to the fascinating world of microscopy. Not that the angle for viewing and use suits someone in a seated position. Compare that with the Bresser. I describe the difference between the two 'scopes in more detail in my review of the Bresser. (Also 4 stars)So where have that star gone to, and why?The first problem I encountered was when about to fit the batteries. To do this you need to access the underside, so I naturally turned the microscope upside down. Luckily I did this over carpet because instantly, both eyepieces fell out onto the floor. They are incredibly loose in the body of the 'scope. At first I wondered if this was an aid to focussing - but it is a safety precaution for when you change the batteries and in case you hit one of both eyepieces on a hard surface while doing so. Even so - the eyepiece tubes are a very, VERY loose fit.The second potential problem I encountered was when fitting the batteries. To be fair, I found this easy, but anyone or a child who might be a bit clumsy could VERY easily damage the wiring and control unit which is also mounted AND UNPROTECTED inside the battery case. Removing the batteries after I tested the 'scope showed that this could be the most risky stage. If a battery resists removal, risk of damage to those other components becomes a very real possibility. It would not have been too hard to cover these essential parts.As this 'scope is clearly made with the intention of it being a serious instrument for introducing people to the world of microscopy, it's a real shame that the two weaknesses I have described weren't foreseen when Apex upgraded their original design of this unit.As for general build quality and usefulness, I have no criticisms. The 10x and 2x optics provide good magnification with clear imaging and no sign of aberrations. The dish is a useful inclusion as is the preparation kit, although the quality of both isn't top notch. The removable circular viewing plate is white on both sides (the Bresser has white and black sides) but there is a small dish built into one side which would be ideal for viewing pond life.So, in conclusion, this is a good buy and would be ideal for a child or newcomer to stereo microscopy. Whether you prefer this model or the almost identical Bresser probably comes down to which viewing angle you prefer .... angles or perpendicular.Finally, I rarely repeat one review in another, but I ended the Bresser review with a little tip which might be of interest if you want to view pondlife .....If you have or can gather a sample of pond water that is green with floating algae, put some of the daphnia into it and let them have a good guzzle for a few hours or a day. Then carefully spoon a few out and transfer into clean pond water. Then immediately view them under the microscope. Their digestive system will now be naturally stained green by the algae they have ingested whilst the rest of them, including their tiny beating heart, is a healthy pink.

I bought this microscope for use as a dissecting microscope to prepare samples for my much higher-powered Bresser Biolux.If you are considering buying this microscope, you should understand that it is a low-powered stereocopic scope, suitable for viewing the fine details of insects, stamps, coins, printed matter, jewelry, found debris etc. It'd be great for looking at live fly larvae in a drop of pond water. It is not suitable for truly microscopic life - blood cells, sperm, bacteria, diatoms etc. The distance between the eyepieces is easily adjusted to your eyes. Sometimes, it's worth using a piece of coloured card as a backdrop on the stage - the contrast between your sample and the bright white can be too strong.Other reviewers have said that it is not suitable for slides. This is not strictly correct - it has slide clips, and can be used with prepared slides of larger subjects, such as insect parts, plant stem cross-sections etc. And while a higher-powered microscope is far better for use at the cellular level, you *can* see onion cells and nuclei if properly stained, using iodine for example.There is no fine adjustment of slide position - you just have to move them carefully by hand. Even if you aren't using permanently mounted slides, a few blank slides are a very useful accessory for this scope, as you can use them to support your sample (sugar, nits, dirt...) and move it around under the scope without mucking up the stage.I have a small eyepiece camera and have uploaded a few sample images of what you can expect to see using this microscope. The image quality is limited by the low resolution of my camera (not part of this microscope set-up), and the view using the supplied eyepieces is far better. The camera's field of view (5mm x 3.5mm) is also smaller than the 8mm diameter circle that you can see using the supplied 10x eyepieces. The leaflet that comes with the scope offers a USB eyepiece camera for £55, but I would recommend shopping around, and a pair of 25x eyepieces for £18, but I have not tried these either.For £39, it is unreasonable to expect this scope to compete on quality with laboratory instruments costing £100s, but it provides good clear views of the type of subject material that it is intended for. However, I have a few minor quibbles, hence the 4-stars, not 5.Firstly, the LED is truly pathetic, and insufficient for most purposes - I know it is battery-operated, but I have far brighter battery-powered LEDs in other apparatus. Thus, you need fairly bright daylight or a desk lamp to use this scope. A second LED under the stage would have been useful for translucent subjects - the stage lets some light through, and I have sometimes found that it is useful to stand it on top of a suitable light source.Secondly, independent focusing of the eyepieces, as found in nearly all binoculars, would make this scope far more useable for anyone who has eyes with slightly differing vision, and would also allow me to look down one turret while using a camera in the other. As it is, the camera focuses at a very different point to the eyepiece, so I can't do that.Thirdly, I find it hard to focus accurately and reproducibly using the friction focusing mechanism. While scrolling back and forth, both the plane of focus and the field of view sometimes shift appreciably. They are steady once you let go, but if you roll through the point of focus, and then try to roll back, it's often not there, as one turn of the wheel doesn't move the scope a set distance in the same way a rack focuser would, and tends to produce some side-to-side movement.All in all though, this is a great little microscope, and would make a good introductory instrument, or a supplement to a higher-powered scope.

The Apex Examiner Microscope  is an excellent microscope, very good value for money, and I would have given it five stars, except for four reasons.1) I wear glasses and, although I can manage to use it, there its no special provision or instructions that might make this easier.2) The eyepieces unscrew, which I thought might be an adjustment, but when I loosened one of them the lens became loose and I could not get it back into place without dismantling the whole eyepiece, when it fell apart completely. Two plano-convex lenses and no indication which is which, upper or lower, and which way they fit: plane sides opposite etc, eight possibilities.3) The single sheet of information does not explain how to re-assemble it, in fact it says little that is not obvious.There really should be a service manual available, even at an extra cost.4) I sent an email six days ago to "mail@apexmicroscopes.co.uk" asking for help with this, but so far have not received an acknowledgement or reply.