Is this a 'reasonable' microscope?

[motocoder]

I have an AmScope that I bought (semi-used - it was a customer return) off of eBay for about 1/2 of the lowest price I could find new. I am very happy with it. My was initially

The unit shipped with a 2X Barlow lens that, if installed, gave it a zoom range of 7x-90x. I found 7x was too much for minimum zoom for PCB work, and even leaving that lens off, 3.5x was more than I wanted. So I bought a 0.5x Barlow lens from AmScope (off of Amazon.com). This gives me a great field of view, and I can zoom in as needed. Probably the 0.7x would have been perfect, but it costs twice as much.

This is the unit that I have:
SM-3TY-54S-10M : http://www.amscope.com/7x-90x-trinocular-led-boom-stand-stereo-zoom-microscope-10mp-camera.html

It came with a camera, which I wouldn't waste your money on. One thing that you may want to consider is a boom stand. It is nice to be able to position the scope over the working area. OTOH, it takes up significantly more space on your bench, so consider that.

[artag]

I have a good stereo microscope with reasonable eyepieces, but sometimes find the need to keep my eyes carefully positioned a nuisance.

An alternative would be a USB microscope. This could give a huge, wide viewing angle display on a computer monitor, but would lack stereoscopic vision and perhaps be less clear.

Can anyone compare optical and digital miscroscopes for smd work ?
 

[KJDS]

Can anyone compare optical and digital miscroscopes for smd work ?

I've got a couple o fCCTV camera based microscopes with decent lens on them. They are fine for inspection but I just can't get on with them for soldering, my brain isn't able to correlate what is on the screen with hand movements.

For a stereo microscope then I have no problems coordinating what I see with where my hands need to go. Decent eyepieces make a big difference to how critical head position needs to be.