Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Worth the extra money over the cheaper ones. I've tried about 7 small pocket handheld "microscopes" like this, for identifying insects in the field and at home. Many are less expensive; some much less. But this is the best so far, because 1) the magnification is more than adequate for my purpose, and the resolution is excellent -- I can see the hairs on the legs of ants, clearly and in sharp focus. Optics are good enough. 2) it takes a standard AA battery, instead of the tiny/costly watch batteries most other scopes require, 3) it has a firm grip, so you can hold it very steady with one hand while focusing with the other, and 4) it has a very user-friendly and fast coarse-focus lever, plus a separate fine-focus knob. 5) the LED light is offset, so the beam hits the specimen at a 40 degree angle. This is important because it eliminates reflective glare that can obscure the image. 6) optics -- good enough Somebody really thought this one through. The only downsides are that 1) compared to many cheaper ones, the Carson is rather bulky. You can still slip it into a pocket, but it's about the size of a cigarette package (in the field I drop a tiny $4.00 60x scope/loupe in my belt pack). 2) there's so easy way to take a picture. For that, I use the little $10 60x scope/loupe that clips onto my smartphone; the high resolution (10mp) on the phone camera allows zooming in for detail. 3) the light is not dimmable, and sometimes too bright.