Carson MicroMini 20x Pocket Microscope for Adults, UV and LED Flashlight, Blue (MM-280B)

This is a very wonderful tool. I bought it for a friend for Christmas, and he loves the fact that he can use it to see the small pieces of his models. I would recommend this for everyone. I just need to get one for myself. I was a great price and will fit in your pocket or bag for travel. Easy to use and the lights a great. I have a different kind, but this one is better. Take on hikes to view nature up close and personal. You won't believe the small details on rocks or plants until you look at them with your mini microscope.

Of all the expensive gifts my 9 yo grandson got for Christmas this small item was his favorite. He carried it in his pocket all day taking it out to check everything. It was well made.

I love this thing dude. It’s so cute and quirky and is actually quite good at what it does. You can get a nice clear close up with just about anything. I love taking this out in the woods and looking at rocks and leaves under it. It’s dope

Perfect gift for kids of nearly any age. Clear image, easy to focus, lightweight but sturdy. I'll probably keep a few on hand so we're never without a birthday present!

This little 20-power magnifier isn't like the other, more powerful Carson mini-microscopes. The other ones, which are more powerful, use a very tiny objective lens together with a bright LED to provide the light needed to make up for the small objective lens. In those other pocket microscopes, the small objective lens makes focusing vastly easier. This little 20x keychain magnifier uses a more conventional lens arrangement, most likely two, one the objective and the other the eyepiece. The objective lens is probably about 13 mm in diameter, which together with the 20x power means that in daylight you could do without the LED. But with the LED, you get a nice bright image regardless. The focusing isn't terribly difficult, owing to the magnification not being especially strong. All in all it is a good solution for a 20 x magnifier that you can easily carry on a keychain, if you want. The most noteworthy drawback is that the sliding switch on the side is very cheap and difficult to use. It doesn't want to move, and when it does, it wants to go all the way from one end to the other. The 'off' position is in the center; the two end positions are for the LED you use when using the magnifier, and the auxiliary LED that serves as a flashlight and gives you a reason to carry it on your keychain. It also has a little UV light, which I suppose is for when you look at rocks that glow under UV light. Or maybe for getting a close-up look at scorpions. To make the switch behave, you have to press down on it firmly and move it in a controlled manner. I'm just not sure how long it is going to last when used this way. But it doesn't cost much so if it eventually stops working it isn't a big deal, and even without the light it is a useful magnifying lens. Recommended with only the weakest of reservation.

Doesn’t work. My son and I cannot view anything. I mean, it’s a mini flashlight but that’s about all we’ve been able to use it for.

You could say I am a microscopy enthusiast. I wanted a scope to use when I'm out with my kids. I wanted something that my 5 year old could use, but powerful enough that we could all enjoy it. I suspect a lot of buyers might be thinking the same thing, so here's my thoughts on using this with young kids. I purchased the following portable microscopes/magnifiers and tried them all out: * Carson MicroMini 20x LED Lighted Pocket Microscope (MM-280B) ** THIS ITEM ** * Carson MicroBrite Plus 60x-120x Power LED Lighted Pocket Microscope (MM-300) * Carson 60X-75X MicroMax LED Lighted Pocket Microscope (MM-200) * Carson 10x LumiLoupe (LL10) I included a picture for size comparison. For our intended use, I expect to get the most use from the MM-280B. The magnification is good enough to suprise you with what you see, revealing details that are still small enough to be unexpected and exciting. Yet it is still easy enough to use that my 5 year old can use it with some help. It's super easy to focus and very small, smaller than expected. It's the smallest of the scopes I tried by a large margin. The LED is bright enough to use it even in the dark and still get a good image. Batteries were included. I found that with the other, higher magnification, scopes it was too hard to focus and share with my kids -- even extremely tiny movements in my hand would consistently cause the image to shift or knocked out of focus. It was too hard to get an image and share it with my kids on those scopes, even at their lowest magnification. The MM-300 in particular was AMAZING in terms of image, but it isn't great for sharing. I will keep that one to myself. :-) On this scope, the 20x magnification was good enough to see plenty of detail and still be able to share it with each other without losing focus. The LL10 was obviously super easy to share since no focusing is required and the field-of-view on that one is HUGE. Unfortunately, the loupes only go up to 10x and that does not seem to be quite enough magnification to impress the kids (let alone adult myself). If there was a Carson 20x pre-focused loupe, I'd try that out, but the off-brand options I could find looked pretty low-quality. I wasn't too big on having UV, but as it turned out this is somewhat useful already. A number of the minerals we have found already are UV reactive. The only drawback is that this thing won't actually survive on my keychain. It does seem very durable, but I am confident it would eventually be scratched or rendered inoperable if it were to become part of my "everyday carry" and endure frequent nicks and bumps. I need to look into some sort of small case or something. A lens cap/cover to protect the optics from my keys would make this ideal. The other scopes were great for other purposes but I think that if you are planning to let your kids use this, this one is a good choice. If you want something that a 5-year old (or younger) can use without any help at all, then the LL10 is a good choice but they probably won't be amazed by the details they discover, it will be more of a "mildly interesting" reaction with the LL10. The others have more impressive magnification, but will be hard for kids to use. This one was a great middle ground.

Amazing for the price. Also it’s easy to use. Works very well. Small, lightweight and can be fitted to your gear to take with you. Amazing view of rocks and crystals. Great for learning about geology and more I think. We use it to look at all kinds of stuff.