Thames & Kosmos TKx400i Dual-LED Microscope

This microscope is great for children. My kids love finding different things to put under the microscope. It’s easy to use and is great for inquisitive minds.

The microscope does what it says. Its as advertised. Only complaint we have is that the switch for the bottom light came pushed in. There was no damage to the packaging so I have no idea why it would be like that. The other light switch was fine. Both work, but I have to use a tweezers to reach the switch which is kinda annoying but considering my son has barely used this since we got it, I am glad I didn't go to the trouble of a requesting a replacement.

Es un juguete para los niños no tiene gran aumento sirve para cosas sencillas, no para bacterias o microorganismos.

So interesting toys for my 10th oldest daughter,she likes exploring new things with microscope every time:)

Perfect scope for younger kids.

challenging activity for my kids. we love it

One of the things I like best about this microscope is that it comes with plenty of tools to help you collect, create and save new samples. It comes with a microtome which is a razor blade that lets you thinly slice samples you find to easily apply them to a glass slide for the microscope. It has a dissecting needle to scrape things to collect samples which is good for things like plants. It comes with tweezers that let you grab small objects easily but in my opinion, they are on the cheap side and don't work too well. It has various tools for collecting fluid samples such as a pipette, which is a suction tool used to suck up water and other fluids. Three small plastic bottles which can hold 10 ml of fluid. The bottles have marks for 10 and 5 ml so you can measure your samples but I found that these marks are wrong, the 10ml mark is off by 2 ml and the 5ml mark is off by 1.5ml. It also a graduated cylinder that has measurements along the side of it. These measurements are accurate unlike the ones on the small bottles. It also has a chambered sample box with 3 chambers, each with a small magnified window above it. You can use it to store the samples you collect. Another thing I like is that it comes with lots of blank slides so you can create your own. Personally, I like preparing my own slides, it adds to the learning process and it is fun to examine a preferred specimen. It comes with labels and cover slips (cover slips are used to adhere samples to the glass slides). It also comes with a small magnifying glass you can use to get a close look at objects to see if they interest you before harvesting a sample. As for the microscope itself, it's actually pretty good! It has colored filters and diaphragm openings to help control light intensity from the bottom LED built into the stage. There are two LED lights that can dim. One LED is above the stage like a spotlight and the other is below and shines from beneath the glass slides. The LEDs are controlled by two-wheel switches at the base of the microscope. The LEDs are powered with 3 AA batteries, the battery compartment is on the bottom of the microscope and can be accessed without the use of a screwdriver. It has 3 scopes one 4x, one 10x and one 40x. The 40x scope is strong enough to see blood cells however they appear extremely small, even with this scope. You can switch between the scopes by rotating the revolving nosepiece. As for focusing on specimens, it's kind of tricky to do since it has only one dial to focus with, some microscope has two dials for focusing, one for finer adjustments and one for coarser adjustments. It took me a while to focus the scope to get a good look at the prepared frog blood sample which can be annoying. The eyepiece at the top of the microscope is removable which is good because you can buy a special camera that will fit in the place of the eyepiece to take photos of your specimens. The microscope comes with a few prepared slides to start you off and with all of the equipment it comes with you can grow the collection. I think this would be a great microscope for students or children who have an interest in science due to all of the tools and features. Definitely a great microscope for introducing anyone to microscopy.

I really wanted to be impressed with this microscope. It failed on several counts. Yes, it's a toy microscope, intended for kids, and yes, it magnifies things, and does what it should. But it's poorly built in just about every way. There's only one focusing knob (not two for coarse/fine), and getting it focused well is tricky. It doesn't adjust easily, or stay focused on what you want it to (part of the problem is the plastic microscope body, which flexes too much). The LED illumination lights are a good idea, but on my scope, only the bottom one actually works. The upper one flickers a bit when turned on, but barely. It's defective, and not bright enough to light anything. The eyepiece is removable (good), but if you want to store the microscope in the packaging it came in, you HAVE to remove it to fit it in the appropriate styrofoam cut out, which isn't big enough otherwise. The optics are kid-quality. Acceptable I guess, but I've seen better in inexpensive scopes, that didn't have this much chromatic aberration.As a graduate student in biology, I work with microscopes regularly, and while I don't expect this to be of the same quality, the company took a few too many shortcuts to make this cheap, in my opinion. The one I had growing up (obtained from Toys R Us) was noticeably better. I wanted something better than this for my daughter. It's frustrating to use, rather than fun.The pluses? The kit comes with a few things that are nice. The booklets are well done, and instructional. The microtome (cutting tool, for preparing fresh material) is a neat idea I hadn't seen implemented like that before. There's a box of slides included, with three prepared slides (it would be nice to have more), and a reasonable number of blank slides, with cover slips. There are a handful of other vials and tools. Mostly cheap, but functional.Other scopes might be a better choice. Here are some others on Amazon I might pick over this one (at various price points, some much cheaper): JuniorScope, The Ultimate Kids Microscope Awarded 2016 Top 5 Ranking Best Kids Microscope By TOP TEN Reviews AMSCOPE-KIDS M30-ABS-KT2-W Microscope Kit with Metal Arm and Base, 6 Magnifications from 20x to 1200x, Includes 52-Piece Accessory Set and Case, Awarded The 2016 Top Pick of Microscopes For Beginners National Geographic Dual Microscope Science Lab - Over 50 Accessories! AmScope M150C-I 40X-1000X All-Metal Optical Glass Lenses Cordless LED Student Biological Compound Microscope My First Lab Mini Duo-Scope, MFL-20 My First Lab Duo-Scope Microscope - MFL-06 Science kits for kids microscope Beginner Microscope Kit LED 100X, 400x, and 1200x Magnification kids science toys,red Awarded Best Compound Microscope 2016 - OMAX 40X-2000X Lab LED Binocular Microscope with Double Layer Mechanical Stage w Blank Slides Covers and Lens Cleaning Paper