Great first microscope - Meade Student / Hobbyist 51-piece Microscope Kit - 08018

This is a great starter microscope. The zoom power is weak enough to still recognize your object, and strong enough to get in there and see cool stuff, like blood cells flowing. The brief case is great to keep all the parts together, a bit hard to remove the tools, but that's better than having them fall out. The source light is easy to accidentally leave on. I had trouble getting the mirror to supply enough light to really see what was going on, (I'm sure that has more to do with operator error than functionality of the scope). Using a small LED light source above the object was helpful in viewing thick objects like the torn edge of paper. The slides that come with the kit were great to see, but not starting with a tangible object and cutting it down ourselves, left us not wowed simply by not knowing what we were viewing. Starting with a large object and cutting it down with the tools provided was far more interesting and fun. Have not used all the tools yet, but look forward to using them. The tools seem like decent starter tools, but it's obvious that better supplies are out there that will work better. Once again, a great starter microscope, just to get kids interested in the super fine details of life.
One con of the scope, was that using the highest objective lens, the slide easily touches the lens when fully focused. You MUST lower the stage before rotating the turret to the highest power lens, then be careful as you focus the slide. We ended up with a bit of a bloody mess here!
Pros: Lots of tools and bits to make your own slides
Cons: bit of trouble with the light source, not super durable

This review was written in the old system and had content requirements that are different than reviews written today.