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The Digital Microscope from Planet
Earth Toys will have children ages 6
and up enjoying themselves while
exploring the world around them.
Designed to evoke natural curiosity,
children can look up close at
plants, animals, water, and more,
through the microscope eyepiece, or
on the computer screen with the
included web cam attachment.
 Digital
Microscope with Three Magnification
Levels
The Digital Microscope set requires
three AA batteries (not included). A
screwdriver is needed to open up the
battery cover, and after they are
installed, pushing the on/off button
turns on the necessary light.
We put in the
prepared slide of a flower petal and
turned the focusing ring until we saw it
show up in the microscope as a pretty
random pattern of spiked edges. With
three magnification levels at 100x,
300x, and 900x, we were able to take
three distinct looks at the petal.
Although the
microscope provided loads of fun, we did
notice a couple shortcomings. First, the
eyepiece of the microscope was very
small, making it difficult to peer into
and, second, although made out of metal,
the base still felt slightly unstable.
Nonetheless, these minor issues
certainly did not prevent us from using
the microscope, but did detract slightly
from the overall user experience.
Web Cam Lets You Connect
Microscope to Computer
Included in the Digital Microscope Kit
is a web cam that can be used to observe
large objects that don't fit under the
microscope. In addition, by simply
screwing on an adapter and installing
the included software, you can connect
the web cam directly onto the top of the
microscope, letting you see the
microscopic images on your computer
screen. This is, of course, a toy
microscope so we didn't expect
professional results, but we still wish
that the images on screen could have
been a little clearer. Additionally,
because there is a split-second delay to
send the information from the microscope
to the computer, it can be difficult to
focus.
Once connected to your computer, you
can take photos and capture videos of
all everything you are looking at under
the microscope by simply clicking a
button.
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