Can you recommend a reasonable budget digital microscope?

Hi all, and best wished for 2020

Can anyone recommend a reasonable budget digital microscope, there seems to be absolutely hundreds of models under 100 bucks and many mixed reviews

Looking for something to use with hotair rework & fine smd as im starting to find my old school magnifying glasses hard going with the smallest smd sizes

Thanks, having looked at several reviews now for this one AKA Andonstar AD106S , it does actually look to be ideal for my needs

Be wary that the claimed resolution for still images is usually way higher than the actual resolution, especially for video.

have to saying looking at some comparisons with the ADSM301 , i may have to spend a little extra and go for something that can really do the job , the ADSM302 is ideal but the price jumps to nearly double and from i can see all you really gain is more height / working space

Record quality on the ADSM301

I have the AD106S. The digital microsope is best for PCB inspection at all. For rework and real time work is better to buy any cheap binocular stereo miscrope. With digital microdcope especially which doesn’t have hdmi output like AD106S is the lag between your hand movements and what do you see on LCD display. With ads106 there is not very big delay but it is present. With HDMI and external monitor they delay is very small. But when you use digital microscope there is another problem that you will lose your stereo vision and will be difficult for your brain to compensate that in first place. Also another big advantage of digital microscope is that they are compact and space saving.
One of the best cheap stereo microscope are that https://www.amazon.co.uk/SS41-WF20-Professional-Binocular-Microscope-Magnification/dp/B07HDXXKD7/ref=sr_1_6?crid=MUFPJ0DNSX30&keywords=stereo+microscope&qid=1577741873&sprefix=stereo+mic%2Caps%2C361&sr=8-6

Also in the future I think to buy it that model.

Video review is here

Would love a set of proper binocular bins but the price is a bit :open_mouth: i’ve found the ADSM302 now for around 130 bucks which actually is pretty reasonable , i am not keen on the idea of display lag and can see this taking some getting used to,i don’t do a huge amount of SMD work but when it does come in it tends to be mac stuff with these ultra tiny sugar grains to work with and my old eyes are starting to struggle with the regular magnifying head gear :confused:

For another 60 bucks you will have real microscope ;). If you want to stay with digital miscroscope better buy AD106S and save the money. It is also great for that price. The image quality is very good with it. Only in low light condition the image is little noisy which is normal for CMOS sensor.

have you got a link? i am not fixated on it being digital i would prefer the real deal just question of price

The link is in the my previous post 6.

Ah missed that , thank you… going to have to have a serious think on this , is the difference between the AD106S & ADSM302 not that significant? the reviews kind of the suggest there is a gulf between them on the smallest size smd components , also the magnification on the swift seems to be significantly less?

That’s pretty nice.

Then figure another $100 or so for a camera lens/adapter if you want to take photos/video. :slight_smile:

Those do look really good… also better price if you go directly to swift, the point you make about depth perception and delay is certainly important and making me lean me more towards the Binocular type than the digital as its primarily going to be for real time work rather than inspection