Microscopes for SMD Soldering || $15 VS $45 VS $189 

Pro-tip for the $15 Microscope! Open the bottom part (Where the lens is) and twist the focal lens into place properly, when I did it with mine it actually improved the image quality a heck of a lot!

It is interesting that the hand shake often experienced by those soldering SMD parts, disappears when a microscope is used. I have concluded that the hand shaking is due to a limited amplification in the human control loop. Human muscle control is adequate for the task, the limitation is in the optical feedback. In other words higher optical magnification improves the gain in the human feed back path and reduces the tendency for the system to go into involuntary oscillation. I use an long reach optical microscope, which works very well. It is important to use an extractor fan to remove the solder fumes. If this is not done, it will not be long before the object lens is covered in a translucent layer of condensed solder flux.

That $190 microscope has been built from an off-the-shelf dashcam (mine looks almost identical), and it seems to be running the stock firmware as well. That's why it has the screensaver, and it's supposed to have a lipo inside that would keep the settings. You can most likely pop it open an add the lipo yourself, or even better, a suitable supercap. Could be an interesting video opportunity.

I just received the $15 one a few days ago, haven't used it for soldering yet (I have a project on the way - my first, building a cheap $20 oscilloscope), but my son and I had fun using the microscope very close up on things. The zoom seems to have two focus ranges, one medium and one VERY zoomed in but must be almost touching the front lens area. This is the level we were playing with (you couldn't do any soldering at this zoom level), and we could see quite amazing detail of the tiny threads of clothing, the shiny ink of a tiny letter printed on paper, fascinating skin detail around the edge of my fingernail, etc. After a half-hour of just wonder and fun, I said out loud that the microscope already paid for itself!

The operating system on the $45 and $189 microscope look exactly like a dashcam. I think it's literally just a rebranded dashcam's recording circuit with a screen slapped on them. This explains the 2 minute screensaver.

Love this, I have the middle one. At 57 my eyes are not good enough anymore and I have to have something. Magnifying glasses don’t work very well unless they are good glass and cost a lot so you need to do something. This was nice for everyone to see although a lot of younger people don’t understand but one day you will.

The first $15 microscope has a small plastic lens cap (dust cover) that comes off that'll give you a clearer image. I noticed in you close-up shots you still had that cover on.

Highly recommend to use a cell phone, a microscope lens for phones and a cheap eBay metal base to hold your phone. Much cheaper and better quality after all.

A microscope to solder the DNA inside cells

9 times out of 10 I personally just use a 10X magnification jewler's loupe for my SMD soldering. It is plenty good enough for most applications and can be had very cheaply. I got mine from Harbor Freight. The package also came with 3X, 5X and 7X loupes.

Try taking apart the $180 one and see if there are battery contacts that you can solder a lipo battery so the settings are not lost on reboot

After watching this, bought an Andonstar AD206S. I did not have digital zoom, but works great for me. It also had the blinking battery light so I opened it and found it had a battery compartment for a 18650 battery, but no terminals. Also PCB had a JB with + and - marked. Put terminals from a 18650 battery holder and wired it to the + and _ on JB. Now it works on battery! It shows how much battery is left and when it is charging. I am a happy camper.

I have started using my iphones magnifier feature, it works great if you have a holder for it. Enable it under Settings / General / Accessibility / Magnifier and push the home button three times to activate it. I have modded a case for my phone by adding a jewelers loupe for even better magnification.

I have a similar 15$ microscope and I've noticed that the image quality gets quite better if you remove the small plastic cap covering the camera chip. I think it is mostly used to prevent dust from going on the chip, but since the microscope is pointed downwards I don't think this is an issue when using it. Once I'm done using it I put the cap back on.

I use the $45 microscope and love it. It's great not only for SMD soldering but also circuit board inspection as well. I find the internal battery a great space saver, no wires, nor do I have to look away from the work area to look at a computer monitor. This microscope does everything I need.

If you have a DSLR, macro extension tubes can get you in pretty close. Hook up the live-view output to a monitor of some sort and it works pretty well!

I got the $15 one, but with the separate aluminum stand for stability that works fantastic. I also use the Windows native Camera app for it which works better than amcap, in my opinion. Also, someone else noted the protective cap was still on covering the lens, so removing it will improve the image.

Am I the only one who notices the breath at the end of every clip? Anyway, thank you for all your videos, best sub this year :)

This guy is a true legend when it comes to electronics and explanations. A true joy to watch the tutorials.

for the 15 dollar one I have noticed that you did not remove transparent protective cap when working - remove the cap and quality will be better :)

You should do a video upgrading one of your microscopes

Blurry image? @2:28 and @2:85, you have to take the transparent cap off (the flat disk)!

The second microscope uses a GC0308 sensor from GalaxyCore MicroElectronics, which is a 640 x 480 VGA sensor from 2010. Even though it literally says "1080P". on the screen, when you record at resolution higher than VGA, it's scaling the video internally.

During my career in the aerospace industry I have used optical binocular microscopes, and highly expensive digital microscopes. When you get down to 0805 size devices and smaller a microscope is the only way you can competently build or rework boards that use them. Since I am an amateur radio electronic enthusiast I design and build a lot of projects with smd devices. So after researching different microscopes available I settled on the Mustool microscope for the very reason that it had its own display. I also purchased an adjustable metal "jack stand" which allows me to vary the magnification range of the device. The only time I notice jitter is on high magnification with the objective close to the camera which when you come to think of it makes it impractical to solder. I set the stand so the camera is about 4" away from the objective which gives just the right of magnification and plenty of clearance to solder under. As for image sharpness it is finely sharp so I don't know why the one in the video has a problem with it. The suction cup wants to be attached to a smooth clean surface so I usually clean the cup and the surface with isopropanol before attaching and it holds very well. Since I am very nearsighted and wear thick lenses I have always had issues with optical binocular microscopes but the Mustool scope is the easiest tool I've ever used for smd work.

I use my iPhone 8+ on a stand to be a 10x zoom and it works nicely. Could be better, but hey, it’s free (ish)

You didn't remove the protector from the $15 cheap microscope... The image should be more clear after remove that...

I made a huge improvement to mine. Added a pendant switch to the OK button. No more camera shakes in video or pictures for recording. I found the height too low so I normally use mine on a 4 inch elevated platform. At the greater distance, another light source is very helpful.

For things that aren't too small I use the phone. Samsung phones for example have a very nice magnifying app that is a bit hidden - it can only be accessed through it's widget. The digital magnification is decent enough for many tasks and the led light is pretty bright.

Try to make your own microscope. Would be awesome.

I've been considering getting that $45 one for a while now and this video was very helpful - I'll buy something else! Thanks !

I've bought a 30 euro usb microscope a week ago which has a 640x480 resolution. It looks a lot like the 15 dollar one you show in this video. The stand that came with it was okay but could be knocked over easily because it was light weight. After doing a modification to the magnification lense, the morkspace between pcb and microscope went uo pretty hard and I chose to buy a magnification loop, remove the glass and made a holder for the microscope which fits in place of the magnifing glass. This perfectly fits my needs. Wanna see some photo's and/or snapshots? I can send them to you.

I have an 8.5” like yours that was £120 when I bought it a few weeks ago and they are already creeping up in price. It’s very clear, works off a battery (apart from the extra lights), opens up on its previous settings and the wires going to the screen, lights and power are all connected to one switch. For an old fogey like myself, where the eyes aren’t what they once were, it’s brilliant for the soldering and using wick but tweezers are a skill all by themselves. I do believe the binocular ones give a far better sense of depth. The other 'fault' is the magnification goes between 50 and 1300 which can make panning a board a bit difficult but it is doable on the boards I work on. Also, leave the clips off that come with it all they do is restrict movement. Like with any tool, get the one that gives you as an individual the best value. I wouldn’t go out and buy a top Weller Soldering Station and a multi thousand pound microscope if I just want to solder a battery wire back on to my child's toy.

The newer versions of the $45 one come with a much improved metal base.

For the cheaper one, maybe you can use a cheap Raspberry Pi Zero and a mini LCD screen to give yourself a screen on the actual microscope. Assuming it does work, you could then maybe use the GPIO to record and take snapshots, which could be made as a separate panel as to not shake the microscope like what happens with the other two.

I'm quite impressed with the cheap one, didn't expect it to be as good as it is

I have one exactly like the cheap one in this video. When you take the clear lens cover off the video is pretty good. The bad is that it just doesn't last. Minimal use and about a month before constantly disconnecting and reconnecting from the computer. Perhaps a bad solder joint. You get what you pay for with one of these.

I have two of those andonstar adsm201 what I really don't like about them is the fact that you can't record when connected to a monitor, I really hate that... If you open them up you can add a battery (it is based on a dashcam) and there are also serial connections that allow you to make some settings adjustments. I secured mine to a microphone boom arm with a tripod screw, this allows me to move it freely on my bench.

I might as well use the last microscope for general video recording 😜 its so sharp

Haha I didn't realize that I had muted the audio and enabled subtitles until several minutes into the video 😂 I've watched so many of your videos that I "heard" the intro-music playing in my head and read the captions in your voice! xD

You have become one of my RU-vid Favorites because of One Specific Reason out of many, Your Honesty! I have just started trying to learn Electronics and have ordered parts online, one of the things I have decided to look into is the Microscope, I was pleasantly Surprised to see that you had done a comparison video on the different Microscopes and found this to be of Great Help!! Thank You for Your Videos!!!

Looks like I will stick with using a regular old magnifying glass... Hey, it's cordless!

Hey Scott, *you need to remove the lid/cover on the cheap one*. I had it for some time now, and the quality is way better without the protective lid/cover :)

I just watched this video again and once again, I laughed until I cried at the pictures of the microbes on the Chinese box! When I do my own unboxing, I just ignore the ridiculous artwork, but I shouldn't, because it's so incredibly funny!

MY NIKON WITH FLIP SCREEN IN MACRO MODE ACTS LIKE MINI MICROSCOPE AND GIVES AMPLE MAGNIFICATION TO WORK ON SMD SOLDERING.

I own one of those microscopes, and you never took the lens cap off!

At the cheap microscope you forgot to remove the dust cover ;) it makes it some better

I mostly solder 0402s and QFNs and all I use are my eyes and a magnifying glass to inspect the joints. Really don't see too much of a need for a microscope. If all you need to solder are a few 0603s or larger and a 32 pin QFP SMD micro I would suggest to just get a slightly larger cheap magnifying glass and you'll be set. 0402s are a bit trickier but still perfectly doable. After a while of doing SMD stuff I find it a lot easier than soldering through hole components.

Scott, as many others have mentioned, the software on these is used for cheap Chinese dashcams. After completing a tear down of my own dashcam with the same operating system and experimenting, you need to add a small 3.7v battery inside to retain settings. In the dashcam this is also used for the parking monitor function. There is likely a spot on the board for it. Mine was a 3.7v 200mAh LiPo. I’m sure a supercap would work also. My dashcam records 1080p native and has micro hdmi out so I am trying to find a lens that will give me the correct magnification for SMD soldering.

Interesting review. However, what about image lag? A common issue on cheap microscopes (especially usb ones) is the lag beetween the real movement and the image on the screen.

You can use pretty much any software you want with the cheap 15$ scope, it is a standard USB cam, any software will work. (Webcamoid on linux is fine)

I have a purely optical binocular microscope that I found in the dumpster at work. I had to rig up a stand for it as all I recovered from the trash was the 'head' that contained the focus rack and optics. I made that out of some 1/2 pipe fittings. Disadvantage is that you have to look into the eyepieces as there is no camera, which means some coordination between getting the soldering iron and solder in the right position before you can look into the microscope. I can't take pictures or video though it (maybe I could rig up a RPi camera to an eyepiece with a 3d printed adapter?). Still it does give VERY sharp images, and is good for inspecting my work, looking for solder shorts and poor joints.

If you remove the clear plastic cover or better all the clear plastics in the edge of the microscope you will amazed with the picture quality and the clearance.The front covers cut to half the led light,the maximum distance and the entire picture quality.

Hi. Great video comparison. I do a lot of metal lathe and mill work. In this field I see a lot of people take cheap tools and modify them and make them better. With these microscopes is there anything you would hack and make better. I would love to see what you could to make these better. Thanks.

How much stuff is in your todo list?

I have one of the £45 microscope but also bought a metal stand with the adjustment up and down it has made it more stable and so much easier to use. It cost about €17 from banggood and looks similar to the more expensive microscope you have. I agree the one supplied is rubbish to use.

I also have the cheap one and am satisfied with the image quality - it works well with my android phone (Galaxy S6) connected with a USB host cable and an app called camerafi which is free for download but dows come with some annoying ads (dont know if it records video).... so 3d print yourself a stand for the phone for better hand- eye - coordination and done. For "large" smds i just use the smartphone's camera using a magnifier app - and of course there is the option to just use strong reading glasses ....

Best tip from this video: Use electric tape to hold down circuit boards and items while soldering!!!

You could always use a jeweler's loupe. Microscopes are great for making videos and for a few other applications but a lens attached to your head has some flexibility benefits. It's a lot cheaper too. I'm not down on microscopes but consider the lower-tech options too.

I use my phone as one to read chips, thinking of a project with an old phone or tablet in its own adjustable frame. It works great👌 used to carry a small lens off a disposable camera which was good to (in a way)

you can find the $50 one with the same base as the $190 one. bangood or aliexpress. far better stability, completely usable for smd work. I paid it around $60.

Great video. To me the first two microscopes looked like they had finger-grease on the lens. That blur around white is the giveaway to me. I think if there became a good way to make another lens for a specific webcam we could possibly make our own microscopes. The Microsoft Studio series of webcams are especially good quality, many of them are FHD (or better) and have superior CCD's in them - if only I could find a way to mount a lens to magnify what I want, and then hold that 2nd lens stable and shift it higher and lower in small increments (to pull focus) then someone could make a seriously kickass and affordable SMD microscope.

Luckily your lens cap was very clear! Amazon reviews are plagued by people with poor picture quality who forgot to remove the lens cap.

I have some spare old usb webcams i just opened one of them and rotate(screw type focusing) the lense to get perfect focus but mistakenly i focused it to full macro I wondered that it can capture Mobile screen' (RGB) pixels by placing it direct to screen (no gape between screen and lens) But problem is that it's pretty hard to get desirable focus + need a separate light source

It looks very much like you've left the lens cover on the cheaper microscope - it's transparent and easy to miss (I did with mine), at least in the shots you've shown there is a small tab visible which would mean the cap is still in place... That has a significant detrimental effect on the video quality.

3:27 I believe the dust cover is still installed on the microscope, this should be removed during operation.

Thanx for putting my comment in the video😁0:24 keep up the good work!

Checking through the comments and noticed a couple about GS soldering skill - why be a hater? He isn’t giving a soldering class, he’s discussing the merits of some less expensive microscopes. Do you just have subscriber envy? Boom, he has over a million! You can’t touch that :)

I picked myself up one of the $45 units and tossed out the charger as soon as a looked at it, as for the stand that came with it, I use it for a quick setup, but I picked up a universal long arm tablet mount, one that can be fixed into place. Its just not that good when you bump the table, but I have found it's okay when wanting to check things out. I do agree with everything you have said.

You forgot to take the plastic cover off of the cheapest microscope, that's why the image was not so clear.

@ 5:08 Great Scott, have you made a video about that current display? I'd like to see that video link.

I bought a used StereoZoom for $50. No digital capture, and its boom and base take a bit of room. But loads of working space, and tremendous quality for the price.

You should consider revisiting this as it seems the low end has improved a lot.

And now to do a "DIY or buy" video for this :P Seriously, it'd be interesting to see if a homemade microscope/camera can be better worth than some of the cheapest commercial microscopes.

I like this channel, but I'm sorry - the soldering on those SMD resistors and caps is pretty bad. Yes, it may "work", but there's WAY too much solder on them, and my concern is that many people might think it's the proper way of soldering them (given the popularity of the channel, and some of the nice projects you do). The solder joints should ideally have a concave look to them, and not a huge blob, as that's a sure way to promote dry solder joints. Yes, I realise that many of these are prototypes too, but it's really not that hard to do very neat manual soldering of virtually any SMD part. I would definitely recommend using thinner solder, eg. nothing larger than 0.5mm, and maybe even down to 0.3mm for the really small stuff. Also, adding a small amount of liquid flux can make thing MUCH easier for both SMD and through-hole. (normal electronics solder obviously contains flux, but that can often "boil off" unless you get the dwell time just right. The extra flux just makes the solder flow amazingly well, and you'll find you need even less solder to make a decent joint. ;)

Excellent English. Better than many whose FIRST language is ostensibly English.

A cheap alternative could be your smartphone. The resolution and quality is only limited the phone. The mount for the phone can be integrated to a third hand soldering station. I have a video about it on my channel.

Can you show how to make a soldering microscope maybe it is possible with a raspberry pi

i actually own the first one, and you forgot to remove the lens cap, it's clear lol

On the first cheappy it looks like you still have the dust cover on, you need to remove the plastic cap when using it, still works ok with it but you get a much crisper image without it.

The lid of the cheapest microscope is still on! this results in too bright pictures. If you remove the lid, the image quality should improve.

Open that last one and look if you can't connect a lipo to into it. :)

After watching this video I've understand why I should buy Andonstar ADSM201. Thanks GreatScott!!

As someone who has made this mistake, avoid the digital ones. It makes it hard to solder while looking at a screen rather than you hands. It’s a disconnect and it’s just not worth the quality.

I would like the snap button to be on the illumination control rather than on the scope body to take pictures without touching it.

Now I would like to see you upgrade your microscope with a lipo battery. Hopefully there are pads Inside you can hook into.

ON THE FIRST MICROSCOPE YOU NEVER TOOK THE LENS COVER OFF.GREAT WORK THOUGH BROTHER🇬🇧

I have the $45 dollar model. I like it. I mount the suction base on a tin can (beans I think) which is solid enough and puts distance between the lens and the work. Mine focuses perfectly and the image stays sharp. I have never used it for recording so I cannot speak to the quality.

Build a battery pack for your microscope.

0:40 thats quite a cheap electron microscope

Curious if there is a 2023 update to this. If you were buying a new lab bench microscope are there any with good features you’d like. USBC, field of view, hdmi out, etc..

I have the cheaper one and motorized it, now I can make it move up and down by pressing buttons and that saves a lot of hassle.

you should try to make your own microscope

DIY microscope with rasberry pi.....

This video makes one thing perfectly clear - stand quality is as important as camera quality. Two cheaper microscope can be vastly improved in my opinion, if their stands (if they can be called stands) are replaced with sturdier ones, like the stand the most expensive microscope uses.They sell those, and they're not expensive, just search for "aluminum microscope stand" on ebay or aliexpress, or wherever. Another thing. Having a shaky cam at this magnification is a nightmare, and having to press buttons on microscope body is something you want to avoid, as you inevitably move your camera (and bad stand makes it even worse). So if you must use buttons while working, look for a microscope with a remote control.

I use a headband loupe and it works fine for me. I can keep my prescription glasses on, while with my microscope I have to take them off, then on again when not using it. That of course is a stereo microscope, not an electronic type. I also tried a Mantis microscope. But feel my eye hand coordination does not work as well as when looking straight at the point of interest as done through a headband loupe. Which iis also stereo vision, meaning distance can be judged.

try to diy one(make your own)

Really nice. Liked a lot all of them. But I want to stay away as possible from smd components.

The 1st 1 is ok, the 2nd mustool is better - that base is lame, but a better 1 can be purchased - plus affordable! The 3rd one is a bit pricey, but sharper. Thank you again 🤓

I bought the $45 one. The main problem it had was that the knob wouldn't stay in place, a pain to focus it. I fixed it by putting a 2.5 mm heatshrink piece on the axle of the knob to increase friction. I also ground some burrs on the rack piece that moves the lens.

As long as I like your through-hole soldering your SMD soldering makes me disgusted