Digital Blue: QX3 Microscope
by ThinkGeek
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Our Price: $143.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $33.00 (click here) Category: Digital Camera See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Digital Blue: QX3 Microscope
Customer Review: Good investment
Summary: 4 Stars
The Digital Blue microscope is a handy item to have around. If you have kids they can have lots of fun with it. It's not perfect but it does make nice pics on the computer that you can send anywhere. I found it very touchy to focus so patience is necessary as with most microscopes.A great buy!
Bob
Customer Review: It is a toy and a very good one.
Summary: 4 Stars
If you keep in mind that it is a toy it's quite good. The 10x setting is most used because I haven't had very good results using the 60x and 200x. My grand kids like it and that's what counts!Customer Review: Cheap price cheap toy!
Summary: 3 Stars
It's not as good a toy for kids (5~9 yr-old)...My kids do not play with the toy anymore after their first exposure.
The reason: they said they had a hard time adjusting image.
Spent sometimes on the toy myself, and I couldn't believe there is so much of latency in the image. You could get a clear image of the dead bug sample--only after numerous incremental fine adjustments. You really have to wait a few seconds after you'd made one adjustment. Or else, the sample image wouldnot appear at all. On top of this, if you switch from 10X to 60X, you have to manupulate the sample position to get it back to view and then spend the time to make the fine adjustment again.
The adjustment mechanism itself must have made of plastic gears, for you can hear the grinding and feel heavy friction at work.
No wonder why they can't play with it like any other good toy.
You got what you paid for ...
Customer Review: Difficult to install on my system
Summary: 2 Stars
I spent two hours getting this to work on my computer. I kept getting a message that I did not have all the necessary files. After numerous reinstalls & reboots I tried to go to the website listed in the readme file. That website no longer exists, but eventually I found some helpful information on the Intel site. I had to download and install a new codec file. After installing the new file the software did finally run, sort of. It periodically freezes up and requires a hard reboot.
My monitor resolution is set at 1920x1280, but the QX3 software resets it to 600x800. This would not be so bad if the original resolution would be restored when exiting. Instead it stays in the low resolution requiring it to be reset via the control panel. This is really annoying!
The microscope does seem to work well as far as viewing things goes, and it could be a lot of fun for the young scientist in your family. But, if it doesn't work properly it is probably just going to gather dust.
My recomendation to anyone considering this microscope would be to get an old computer & just dedicate it to the microscope. It is a very good value if it works.
Customer Review: very disappointed
Summary: 2 Stars
I just returned it. The image was so poor that above minimum magnification I couldn't even tell what I was looking at.It would have been a fantastic item if they had just used a better CCD. The plastic moving parts were very imprecise also.
I gave it two stars just because the idea is excellent.
I would gladly pay 20 dollars more for a decent image sensor.
Oh well.