I recieved my same electronic microscope about 3 weeks ago....I absolutely love it and from the highest elevation the 2 other zoom levels help so much!
I just use cheap (99cents) 4.0 diopter "reading glasses" - they work well enough for most soldering jobs. As I have normal vision and don't "need" reading glasses, they give very useful magnification as well as enabling closer focus for hand soldering or reading tiny IC markings
Just a heads up - I'm 64 and it gets worse. The microscope you have is what I use. It's the best thing I've found so far. I would love to mount it on a movable mounted arm of some kind off the side of bench. Then display it on a TV screen on the back of the bench. That's my plan anyway. Thanks for the videos. I've watched 4 and just subscribed.
Haha, so far I've been lucky with eyesight, but I'm fully prepared for it to deteriorate like everything else ☹️ Oh well. Glad to hear the microscope it working out for you. And thanks for the sub! Hope you enjoy the videos!
I use both the microscope and the glasses regularily, as they both have their advantages depending on the situation. For the scope, I recommend to cover the shiny table with black tape. Otherwise the reflecting light can cause the scope to lower the exposure, which makes details in dark places less visible. My scope also has a very annoying delay when viewing over USB on the PC.
Thanks! I was evaluating a microscope like that some time ago - a slightly better version but more expensive - but then to be honest I realised I can do most of my very limited SMD work with a good magnifying lens. One issue with the microscope you reviewed is the stand: if you need to solder a larger board you're stuck.
Very interesting. I purchased those same magnifying glass a few months ago but ended up returning them -- for me, they were not comfortable to see through -- and I am just overly picky. I have a similar microscope too, ut your model looks to have a slightly larger LCD. Very nice review.
I keep getting distracted to the stereo microscope on long arms which are $400 and much higher. Yet whenever I see professionals do close up work, they are always using headsets like you shown. So thanks for reviewing these.
Thanks for the video, I think that microscope got too much magnification for soldering, but it's a lot of value for money. Personally I just use a pair of cheap reading glasses when working with the smaller components like 0603 and down to 0.5mm pitch ICs, for close inspection I have few small loupes from x5 to x20. If I had to work on anything smaller than that I'd need a proper stereo microscope. Cheers, Jake
hi Noel, great video! I never saw one microscope like that in action... We all wait for a follow up video when you have enough time of usage with it to learn more about autonomy times, time that need to be charging and battery usage
I use the same microscope, and it is incredibly effective, way better than I had expected for the price. I also use a handheld magnifying glass with built in LED light, not for soldering but rather to help when reading faded IC markings, resistor colour codes, etc.
Nice video, I'm still getting better at good old through hole soldering, but I'm keen to look into SMT soon, so I like learning about it. Seen an interesting video recently from Great Scott using solder paste, a paste temple and just sand in a pan to hear it, looked like a cool DIY way to make up SMT PCBs.
Thanks! Solder paste is next in my list of things to try too (especially after soldering that crammed board). Definitely interested in experimenting with it.
@@NoelsRetroLab yeah soldering that tiny RGB board was quite and achievement, but bet it did have you considering alternatives. This is the video from Great Scott ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DYrucIWig24.html where he tries 3 different methods.
Wow I just got delivered today one of them magnifying flip up visors and then I sees this video lol For my watch work I have three levels now with the new visor, the visor for normal grubbing about with, a large glass lens for some extra light and magnification and one of them 1600x USB microscopes for super close work like checking circuit board traces in quartz watch. I thought I would hate the new visor but actually... its not too bad and with a swivelling loupe gives me quite a good magnification.
I have a similar set of glasses and one of those cheap usb microscope's on the rubbish stand. This microscope looks a lot better picture and something I should add to the workshop.
The picture is far from perfect, and you have to play with the light (or add some external light) to get it as good as possible, but for that price, it's still worth it 😃
Thank you Noel, very useful tips! I use always the magnification glasses, the weak points of it are: 1. very uncomfortable to wear my own glasses under it. 2. At any case... with 3x lens (that I use the most) I need to get very close to the board for soldering (SMT) and I can feel the heat of the soldering iron :). About magnifier microscope... now I am convinced to buy a new one. I have one, but it requires a computer to show the image on it, so not very handful in case you need to solder or to check (for what I need in this case) how are the SMT components solder without remove my glasses. So again... thank you, I will check the links to order one microscope with monitor. :) nice to watch you
Another issue for glasses wearers is the close focal point with the glasses style magnifiers, which adds significantly to eye strain and fatigue when spending hours at the bench. My favorite lower magnification device is a lighted gooseneck loop, which is less than $30 in the US. The LED versions or the older round florescent tube versions give even lighting and do well as secondary bench lighting as well. Two suggestions for hobby or electronics work; get a glass lens and some lens cleaning wipes (flux soldering under the lens leaves a film that builds up slowly) and, if you can find one with a flip down cover, it saves a lot of dust cleaning. If you cannot or the price is ridiculous, a soft cloth cover (a microfiber or washcloth is perfect) over the top of the lens saves a lot of dust removal.
The stand type microscope looks very good :-D But the physical screen could be bigger so you can back away the lense from the pcb and get the same view. I bet the monitor is not a normal lcd monitor, otherwise you could use a bigger one. Bigger is better they say ha ha :)
I have a more or less similar microscope and it really makes a ton of difference. If you are doing SMD soldering and have ageing eyes (like mine) buying one is a no brainer.
As it turns out I have already bought both of those. I found the glasses useless and didn't keep them. I think that's because I already wear glasses. The microscope though is good, especially for the price. It needs a lot of light though. If you're trying to spot a dry solder joint then it benefits from an external light rather than the built in one but I can live with that. What I did find that worked great for me is reading glasses. My eyes already need +3, so I bought a pair of +7 reading glasses and they're great for close up work. I have now bought another pair, this time +5.5 and they are a better compromise, I can still find the tub of flux for example with them on.
@@NoelsRetroLab That is so true. You also often can read (laser engraved) chip markings better when having the light at an angle. So even with cheaper scopes like this the image quality can be improved.
You are right about those glasses... I purchased mine from a hobby on-line store, and they broke!!! They broke because the nose piece was Too Rigid for my nose so I remove that part by unscrewing it. Then the forehead piece was Scratching my forehead, not comfortable, At ALL! So I attached the strap that came with the set, worked okay, except for that forehead, so I placed a piece of spongy-foam on there, which worked great. But, after All That... I dropped mine onto the wooden floor and the part that goes towards the ear, Just before the strap attachment, broke.......Very Disappointed! Microscope??? Hhhmmmm.
I can attest to the glasses. The light is great. It’s very bright and the headset itself seems very durable if you aren’t abusive to it. I use it at work all the time especially when I have to work in dimly lit conditions. The microscope is better than I anticipated. I was expecting a far worse picture. It will far exceed my demands. I will order this week.
Yeah, I've been using them some more and the glasses are great, even for through-hole soldering when you care about the small details (desoldering mostly). Really happy with all of it.
Great video. The glasses are a no go for me. At least for soldering. Reason being is that if I'm soldering something small enough to use magnification, I will also be using flux of some sort. Even with a fan/fume extractor, those focal points are a bit too close to the face for my liking.
I cannot wait for the next Noel's "augmented reality" board analysis: chip pinout + probes, oscilloscope signal, microscope close-up and the glasses. This will be a very retro-futuristic channel :-). Seriously now, I hope your work will be much easier and we'll learn much more from you when you use these gadgets. Your explanations will be more detailed. Enjoy.
I've been using those magnifying glasses for some three years now and they are a great solution. I don't bother with the light saving the weight on my nose. Recommeded!!!
Good tip! You're right that if you're in a well-lit environment (like I am with all the flood lights for the recording) the light isn't necessary. I like it! Thanks!
I have the cheap electronic microscope, which works really well when micro soldering. The only drawback is that you're limited to the size of the board you want to look at, unless you modify the stand or remove the camera and put it on an adjustable swing arm.
Since my eyesight is very bad close by, I do most of my soldering on an AmScope SE400-Z optical stereo wide-field microscope, it costed only around $200, and has 9" working distance giving me plenty of room to use a full size soldering iron, heat gun, or other tools.
That's a great price! I think the prices I saw were many times that. Or maybe I was looking at different models. But I've heard that recommendation and Strange Parts repeatedly recommended. I'm writing it down for future reference. Thanks!
my guess is that it's recording audio because underneath it's a cheap 1080p webcam and the microphone has been disconnected which is somehow producing the white noise.
I have another microscope without screen that you connect through usb to your pc. I think I prefer mine because I can move it with my hand wherever I need to. It also has a stand if you need it, but the screen will be your larger monitor or TV.
But the problem with USB microscopes is that there is too much lag or delay. I already have one but its too slow. At high resolution the lag is over half a second.
Thanks. i got a similar scope last week and just ordered the glasses. I was disappointed with the scope at first as I found that the LED's made the screen image poor but I have got better at adjusting it now.
hi Noel i hav a pair very similar to the glasses which i use for modelmaking unlike yours they have plastic lenses and i cannot remember how much i paid for them but i think 25 euro or there about they are probably lighter than the glass ones i like the microscope but it would be rather impractical for any but the smallest jobs keep safe in this trying time
I've used one of those ring lamps with a magnifying glass in the middle but I'm looking for a microscope. One thing I've noticed is that the advertised resolution is often upscale so look for the sensor resolution to see the real resolution.
I have far-sightedness which is getting progessively worse with each year, it seems. And with each year electronic components get smaller and smaller... ;) Therefore I tried many different variants/solutions to get a "bigger picture": (1) I inherited a loupe lamp with a very bright LED ring light. Probably built for fingernail work but I put it on the kitchenette for ckecking out stuff quickly. I initially tried soldering SMD stuff with it but it quickly gets exhausting. Still useful sometimes. (2) A headmounted visor - similar to the one Adrian Black uses. OK for prolonged use but not for really tiny stuff and one needs a handband to avoid getting sweaty. I only use the biggest magnification factor. (3) An older USB microscope with short working distance and LEDs around the lens (dimmable but not good for reflective objects/surfaces!). It's 5 MP sensor is slow for video (in full resolution) and has mediocre image quality (perhaps a bit better than the scope in this video). The supplied software sucks but I downloaded drivers/software for a similar product that allows to change the hardware parameters (exposure, white balance, sharpness etc.). Many of these scopes were developed/produced by the same Chinese company... (4) A standalone digital scope with a 7" monitor, a mini HDMI output and two flexible LED arms (dimmable). It also only saves on micro SD card but it has very good image quality at 1080p at 60 Hz (it can actually do 2160p but then it has a 4:3 ratio and only 24 Hz). This is now my go-to solution for tiny stuff. Certainly not cheap but I'm very happy with it. Depending on what to do I now use mostly variants (2) and (4) and sometimes the other ones.
Great breakdown. You seem to use that a lot more than me. What microscope is that? I'm writing down recommendations for a better one eventually. Thanks!
@@NoelsRetroLab Sorry for the late answer. I try to make it up with a bit of verbosity. ;-) The 7" microscope is the Andonstar AD407. It's about 250 Euros when bought in Europe. My recommendation would be not to get it directly from China. Reason: It's screen is very fragile and can be damaged on transport as shown on the channel "Robert's Smorgasboard" (and also how not to repair it ;-)). Returns are easier with European dealers... What it comes with: - main unit with 7" screen, metal stand with two LED spot lights (also metal), cable remote for LED brightness, IR remote for microscope & display options, built-in microphone (haven't used it, yet), removable UV filter (very good!), USB wall wart, HDMI-cable (mini to regular) Also: The product is being advertised as showing a "3D view" but this is nonsense. It only means that you can tilt the arm of the metal stand - which can be nice in some situations but is of course no "3D". What it doesn't have: - optical zoom, autofocus, built-in LIPO battery, LEDs around the lens, USB communication (you can only transfer jpg-images & mp4-movies via micro SD card - sold separately, max. 32GB - but I haven't tested & analyzed this extensively). Positives: - It comes with a USB wall wart but also works on decent USB hubs and power banks (it draws up to 1,1 A on 5 V when recording). - Very good, sharp image quality with nice colors and no noticeable lag. Several YT videos show this. - It has one of the better 7" screens I've seen (with about 600 to 720 lines vertically). - The HDMI port works simultaneously, also no lag visible. - The focus adjustments is made of metal and feels smooth (not "super-perfect" like on expensive camera lenses but "good"). - The metal stand is relatively small but usable and the scope stays in place when you adjust the focus. - The maximum working distance is about 165 mm (lens to stand). You still get a 6x magnification on the 7" screen with this. => You can work with hot air under it thanks to the working height and the metal stand. - The main unit features several buttons and there is a cheap but usable IR remote (rubber keys) BUT the whole concept is a bit "how you doin'" as Dave Jones would say. You can adjust the LED brightness only with the cable remote and here we arrive at the... Negatives: - The cable remote is its biggest problem: Sometimes only the LEDs turn on and I once even had a "crash": The buttons didn't work anymore and I had to cut the power. Probably some shitty microcontroller inside. It's no show stopper but still annoying. My main gripe, if you will. - The fragile screen mentioned above... Also: Of course the manufacturer inflates the maximum magnification like they all do. The maximum magnification is about 27x when the inspected object is shown on the 7" screen, which is 153 mm wide. So you effectively see a 5,5 mm wide area under the scope when in 16:9 mode. This is not too shabby but not anywhere near the advertised claims. One can argue all day long about it but as neither lens nor sensor can't be changed the point is moot. It's also a prime and not a zoom lens so your working distance (lens to object) is more important anyway. At maximum magnification you are "blessed" with an effective working distance of only 45 mm. For soldering this sucks and you'll likely increase this distance and thus reduce the magnification. I mostly keep it at the maximum of 165 mm. Note that even the more expensive Eakins autofocus microscope (the next logical step above this Andonstar) with a 180x lens is only two times better: It shows 3,0 mm on the screen. See Dave Jones' video on EEVblog about it. Conclusion: Considering the many cheaper ones I still consider the AD407 great for hobbyists/enthusiasts. It's big plus is the image quality and 1080p with 60 Hz is reasonably futureproof, especially if one uses mostly the 7" screen. The HDMI output works like a charm, though, and the lens mechanics are good enough. And you can easily store it when not in use (my hobby room is even smaller than yours, so...).
I have one of those cheap microscopes I highly recommend them for the price, used it to solder a Xilinx & memory chips onto a Amiga TF accelerator board, couldn't have done it without it.
I have bought an arm for my iphone which enable me to use my iphone as camera. It has the add bonus of being able to stream or record. I get around 10x magnification.
Very interesting video. Thank you so much, Noel. I am over 50 (¡52 palos!) and on the last years the presbyopia is my unwanted partner. This microscope will be in my letter to Santa : ) A video suggestion: how about a comparative of oscilloscopes under 100 €? I do not care to pay 300 € for an oscilloscope, but I would prefer to learn to use it and practice with a cheaper one.
Glad that was useful! Interesting about the oscilloscope video request. I'll add it to the list. The difference there is that I have a slightly more expensive one (around 300€ although I bought it cheaper used) and absolutely love it. When I did my research years ago I convinced myself this was the way to go. So I'd be slightly biased, but it could be interesting as well. I'll keep it in mind!
A note to those thinking of the little microscope camera. you realy want to put a small pice of glass directly over the apature smoke/fumes cary the rosen/flux up into the lenses and eat at them. So something covering the lense is imporrtant. picture frame glass nibbled into shape or a small flat glass protector. you can use plastic but i found it to distort
Thanks again Noel. I am impressed with the microscope but having to look at a screen instead of the actual board when working on it will seem weird at first. I have the cheap USB hand held type just for inspection. As it is portable, there is no restriction of board size to inspect. I do agree that both types you reviewed have their own advantages and disadvantages.
Noel, I like the Microscope but looking at the distance between the stand and the position of the item being looked at, I assume you can't use it say to work on the centre of a say an Amiga 500 board as the stand would not allow you to position the centre of the board under the lens? I have the same glasses as the ones you reviewed and I use them all the time, the beauty is that they allow you to go anywhere and on any size board. Is there a version of the microscope that has a cantilever stand that allows you to swing the device over a larger board?
Absolutely correct. Even for a tiny board like this there were some positions I couldn't use. The stand is removable, so you should be able to attach it to any kind of stand you want (like a sturdy microphone arm one for example).
@@NoelsRetroLab I think if you had one of those microphone stands that you could lock in place this would be really usable. Did you find you could work on the board whilst looking at the screen, that seems a bit weird to me, but I suppose you just adjust to it?
Perhaps a future video might be seeing if you could mount it on a stand with a long reach, I would be interested to see if it's possible and whether working on larger boards using this is possible. Thanks for replying to my question.
2:15 I have this exact set of glasses. One thing that annoys me is the weight of the glasses and the fit on me especially with my other glasses on under them because I have no prescription in 1 eye. When I lean forward to look down while hot air soldering they often feel like they are slowly sliding off my head.
I am using this each night for a smd kit which is more advanced than a beginner kit as it has a microcontroller and more than a hundred leds. For the weight of the glasses I got an adjustable glasses strap which helps a lot with keeping it from sliding around becoming annoying. I am back here because I was looking for greater magnification for the tiny resistor arrays which even with the 3.5X magnification are difficult to see the individual legs.
I've had 2 of those microscopes and they both quit working..The first one lasted about a year and the one i bought to replace it only lasted 2 weeks..It was a great little microscope while it lasted but it's just not reliable enough and it put me off of buying a similar cheaper option again so I think I'll either have to make due without or save up to buy something better. Oh and if you check the properties of the video file you'll see that it's actually not 1080p it's upscaled 720p.
That's a bummer. I'll keep that in mind, and maybe do a followup if that happens. And yes, you're right: 720p! (even though the menu in the microscope claims 1080p). Sleazy! It wouldn't have changed anything. Why couldn't they say its true characteristics?
Microscope image definitely looks like 640 by 480 interpolated, I see small checkerboard pattern because of sharpening, and every source pixel is just about 2x2 in 1080p. Still it's an excellent picture for that resolution though, definitely worth the price.
Great video, Noel! Small question: Does this microscope has HDMI out? if so, I could send you an HDMI to USB Dongle to record the videos through the PC with a much better quality,
No, it doesn't. I'm sure that's part of the cheap price! It has a USB connection that I think it's just for charging. So saving to the SD card is as good as it gets I'm afraid.
I don't know, but I can't do any work properly with any digital microscope. Depth perception seems to be quite important to me. I absolutely prefer magnifying glasses, like ones you've shown in the video, over any digital microscope. Maybe with the exception of doing inspection and/or documentation work. The best choice would be stereoscopic microscope with 3rd port for camera. But these are a little bit expensive. But again, ones without 3rd port, eyes only, you can easily get for under 100$.
I can see that. I still haven't tried any real soldering with the microscope. It seems super useful for examining joints, but we'll see as far as live soldering. You may be right about the depth perception. Can you recommend a good stereoscopic microscope for under $100? Most of the ones I've seen (AmScope, Strange Parts) are pretty pricey.
@@NoelsRetroLab Now that I've looked around a little bit, I am a quite suprised how microscopes have gone up in price. AmScope seems to have their 'Swift' lineup of reasonably priced stereo microscopes starting with 70$ for S303 model with 10x and 30x magnification. Then there are S304, S308 and few more expensive models.
i brought 2 pairs of magnifying glasses (2x and 3x)for $2 each... helps but the focal point is too close...id rather not have the carcinogen flux smoke straight in my face! the one with the screen and stand doesnt look too bad...thanks for the review Noel :) PS: real hax0rs use IRC... discord is for millennials! :P
@@NoelsRetroLab ROFL... no need... i telnet'd in to some BBS's lastnight! :P ...ahh thank god the days of 500$ phonebills from calling BBSs and hour long JPG image downloads are gone!..my 2400bps modem is RIP!
The "glass" magnifying lenses are just plastic. I have a similar pair which was also advertised as glass, however it was an easy test to take a steel screwdriver and make scratches on the lens. They feel heavier than plastic but unfortunately are not glass. Just looking at them you can see the injection molding marks, too bad since they work fairly well.
Hmm... now that I look more closely at the file, it's 1280x720, so that's not 1080p. Interesting. But it's certainly not 640x480! I didn't use any particular software, just grabbed the files directly from the SD onto my computer.
@@NoelsRetroLab The car DVRs fake the resolutions, sometimes quite badly (320*240 interpolated to 1080p etc). But the video looks pretty decent do it can't be that bad.
How is an expensive microscope any better than a flagship phone Zoomed in? I'm finding a galaxy s9+ with magnifier app suitable for phone motherboard repairs.
Hmm... good question! I don't know! I suspect it might move your focus point a bit closer or further away, but I don't know. You certainly can't wear both of them at once.
I’ve got the same glasses and use them with my glasses, they work! Only thing I find is the ear rests are really uncomfortable with glasses, but they are removable and you can fit the supplied elastic head band instead.
They need a power pack with a cord that runs up and connects to the device, so that you don't have all those batteries resting on your forehead. The magnification comes from the lens, so why there would be a need for so many batteries, I'm assuming is for the light, because I have a head lamp that uses 3 batteries, but does not offer magnification. So if cellphones are producing tumors in children, can you imagine the damage being done having those batteries resting on your forehead for long periods of time. Our body reacts to those positives and negatives.
Those microscope are okay but I would rather save some money and buy a real microscope , It opens up whole new world in electronics, I have 2 now one in my shop and one at my house, I don't regret spending the money on them
If you're going to be making significant use of them, I completely agree. It's a big jump to the next level up though. What would be some of the least expensive ones you'd recommend? The AmScope binoculars for $200-$300?
@@NoelsRetroLab I would go with one of these i don`t need a camera www.aliexpress.com/item/32851511912.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.106e403ebVTt4z&algo_pvid=c78420a2-8c12-4c11-9d0a-c3da092b1e40&algo_expid=c78420a2-8c12-4c11-9d0a-c3da092b1e40-6&btsid=0bb0623616057401311988234ea2ef&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_ and this one if you you need one www.aliexpress.com/item/4000126585379.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.106e403ebVTt4z&algo_pvid=c78420a2-8c12-4c11-9d0a-c3da092b1e40&algo_expid=c78420a2-8c12-4c11-9d0a-c3da092b1e40-0&btsid=0bb0623616057401311988234ea2ef&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_
The Magnification on the Head-Shield is not high enough and the field of view on the microscope to small. I d recommend to go for a bi or triocular microscope.
