After both of my daughters and then my wife have had a go at the scope, I finally have had some time to get a first impression.
First, the stand is heavy for its' size. This is a very good thing, and it just does not want to tip over. The castings are very nice and finished well. This unit does not seem to have the undersized boom arm rods that have been reported in other threads and vids. Time will tell if they are hard enough to withstand use without scoring. The tube that screws to the base is made of thick walled steel and is thick enough to be heavily undercut and threaded to screw into the base. It is a lot larger than I imagined from the pictures, but overall has the feel and heft of well built and designed. It is fun to see just how many ways the stand can manipulate the head in space and the range of motion. . While not a articulating arm, the sturdiness and stability of position is pretty much assured when the knobs are tightened. When loosened, the arm, the in and out of the boom, and the rotation at the knuckle for the scope head is smooth and nearly effortless. All in all, a really nice, pro lab quality feel.
The microscope head is built with the same feel as the stand, but of course it is much, much lighter, as the castings are hollow for the optics. the adjustments for the interpupillary distance were smooth with what felt like a good compromise of drag. The focusing rack has virtually no backlash that I could feel, the ocular adjustments were smooth and easy, When the setscrew is loosend on the band that holds the head, the head can rotate in the band smoothly and easily.
Optically, there is no evidence of offset focus across the field. Looking at a color chart, I and my family detected no major chromatic problems. Also, no immediate evidence of the image fields being out of synch. They matched well.
I am impressed with the scope especially at the price I paid. (although I am usually easy to impress, my wife says.)
To sum up, Optic quality seems spot on and much nicer than I expected. Having looked through thousands of different optics of differing quality in my days as a gunsmith, I would rate the Optics about 8 to 8.5 on a 10 scale. The stand is excellent, and has that feel of 50's 60's engineering. I reserve the opinion on the sleeve and rod bearing and will wait and see. The only thing that I find odd is that the eyepiece sockets do not come with setscrews to hold the eyepieces in. A minor, but definite oversight.
Overall, smooth, easy, solid, and heavy to describe the stand, and clear, smooth operation, comfortable to use, and solidly built for the optic head.
If you're sitting on the fence like I did for a couple of months, I say just buy it and you won't regret it.
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