Celestron – Celestron Labs – Binocular Head Compound Microscope – 40-2000x Magnification – Adjustable Mechanical Stage – Includes 2 Eyepieces and 10 Prepared Slides

The Celestron CB2000CF Lab Series microscope, is a great microscope for the money, it is well made and has all the features one could want. Features include: magnification from 40X to 2000X with 4 objective lens the highest is 100X which is also oil rated for using immersion oil at 1000X and 2000X. It uses built in LED illumination with an Abbe condenser and iris all of which, are adjustable. The stage has a spring loaded slide holder and is fully position adjustable using a single control shaft. The stage is elevated or lowered to focus using both coarse and fine focus knobs. The microscope comes with 2 sets (dual eyepiece) of eyepieces 10X with pointer and 20X. The eyepiece holder is adjustable for interpupillary distance as well diopter adjustments for each eyepiece. It also comes with immersion oil, 3 color lens for the iris, and a set of 10 prepared sample slides to view. I have not used it extensively but I have viewed several of the prepared slides using all the magnification settings, adjusted the illumination levels and condenser and iris and they all work well delivering crisp clear images. I actually had a decently clear image at 2000X but it would improve much using immersion oil. For the amount of money spent this is an excellent microscope.

Minus 3 stars, specification states Halogen Bulb, it is an LED bulb see pictures. No Spare bulb. Searched for "Generic" replacement, it seems this bulb is custom (sole source) and must replaced through Celestron. That is a deal killer for me. Did set it up, had a speck or two of dust that was easily removed, really liked it; but there is no telling how long these custom LED bulbs will be available. If this doesn't bother you, add stars. Also suggest you leave the LED bulb on for at least 14 days continously - to avoid infant mortality (search for electronics infant mortality - bathtub curve). Every thing else seemed okay (smear of glue on side panel). Really like the scope (basics performed) and packaging - was planning on building a wooden box around it. 7-5/8" x 18.5" x 11-1/4"

For an inexpensive scope, this one checks all the marks. It has 4 objectives incuding an oil one. The highest power objs have spring loading to protect the lens. It has an aperture wheel with focusing mechanism to control the Fstop and focus of the light entering the slide, as well as a brightness adjustment on the LED source itself. The LED light is bright, not too blue, and doesn't get as hot as a regular bulb.The eyepiece objectives allow independent diopter adjustment so each eye can see clearly with or without glasses, and while there was some dust present, it's not overly distracting. I wish however that they came with rubber cups for eye relief, and dust covers for the lense tops (they do have covers for the end caps)The stage has smooth gearing for moving the slide around in 2 planes, and the slides clip in easily with a spring mounted slide grip, which I greatly prefer to the old school clips that held a slide down on the ends. Changing slides can be done in seconds with one hand.The focusing mechanism is another area I wish they had done differently. There are 2 different focusing knobs for coarse/fine and the fine adjustment focus kind of rides on the coarse adjustment and has limited travel. So you can only adjust fine focus so far before you have to re-center the focus knob, then use coarse focus again. This has you hunting back and forth often and makes focusing a chore. This is made worse by the lenses not being parafocal out of the box. Thus you will be racking focus a LOT as you change objectives and use the scope.

Awesome microscope, bad quality control. Came with a shattered 10x eyepiece. Shipping box was in perfect shape--it must have left the factory like this. I've contacted Celestron and have asked for a replacement eyepiece. I'll update this review if they manage to ship one in a timely manner.

Summary - CB2000C is a Great Buy! I paid $330 for this microscope as a gift for a friend. The optics are sharp an bright from 40X - 2000X.I am a professional optical engineer and am notoriously picky about optics. That said, I can be disappointed by high cost optics and I can be very impressed with low cost optics.

I'm having a difficult time focusing it. Waiting for my brother to come help. Must be doing something wrong. First Microscope ever.

Very easy to use. Very good optics-all can be seen very clearly. My 6 year old granddaughter was able to see the supplied slides instantly. We love it.

I was disappointed that the stereo part was not aligning and both my eyes were seeing different parts of slide. I never had that issue with celestron binoculors. I always trusted Celestron for optics. Had to return it Wish they had better Quality.