Plugable USB Digital Microscope with Flexible Arm Observation Stand Compatible With Windows, Mac, Linux (2MP, 250x Magnification)

Great accessory for the stamp collector!

We have many of these where i work at individual desks and stations.
That’s where i discovered these little jewels. I have one at home as well. These microscopes are great for inspecting fly fishing tack, knots, etc. Use it to read mechanical markings as well on parts. Even used it to check a jewelers work. He’s good. You need this. Buy it. Thank me later.

Great for coin collectors

I am into ecospheres, mainly water-based jars and this camera allows me to run the lens along the glass and follow moving targets while using the focus button with one hand. I am about to order a 2nd backup camera. I have referred at least a few dozen folks from the ecosphere community over the past year.
I have 5 usb cameras like this ranging from $20 to $1200 and 4 of them are catching dust in the drawer. This one here is the true gem!

I don’t write reviews often, but after purchasing this usb microscope (my first), i was compelled to share my experience for those who are considering purchasing a usb microscope and may be on the fence about the quality and usefulness considering the low price compared to other similar products. I was also skeptical considering the low price, but after reading the mostly positive amazon reviews, i decided to give it a try. I figured worst case scenario, it would make for a fun educational toy to show the kids if the quality wasn’t all that great.

The reason i purchased it was because i enjoy electronic circuits as a hobby and frequently solder and tinker with different circuits using various tiny components such as ics, transistors, surface mount components, etc. Some of these components have part numbers printed on them and are hard to see because of how small they are. Even with a magnifying glass and perfect lighting at just the right angle, it can be a challenge to read the numbers. Also, as a beginner to the hobby, i felt it would be a valuable ability to be able to take pictures of my soldering work and take videos of my work for later review to make sure i didn’t accidentally create solder bridges or not use enough solder and then go back and make corrections as needed.

I included some pictures and videos i took using this microscope and it’s viewer software. I have to say, i’m blown away with the quality of this device considering the price. It includes everything you see in the picture. The plastic board with printed grid lines is solid and sturdy and not a thin plastic mat that i thought it would be. The microscope suctions onto it and stays put with no issue. I really like the zoom control (the gray part). It has a rubber texture so it has a nice grip and it feels great when adjusting focus. It isn’t loose at all and the rotation has some torque to it so you can really fine-tune the focus with ease and not have to worry about losing it by removing your hand from it.

There is also a touch button on the back which was a welcome surprise, i didn’t know it had this until i received it. There is a picture of a camera on the back end of the microscope and when you touch it, it snaps a picture of whatever you are looking at while in the viewer software and stores it in a folder for later view. It isn’t a tactile button, just a touch-sensitive button which i really appreciate because i can take a picture of what i’m magnifying without worrying about shaking the microscope while snapping a photo. The pictures included in this review were taken using this function.

The videos were also shot using the software and shows a close-up view of me soldering some header pins onto a couple of different components. I was in awe when i viewed the videos after i completed my soldering work.

I really can’t say enough good things about this microscope, its a great piece of kit for the price. I don’t have anything to compare it to since its my first microscope, but if the more expensive ones can do things better than this one can, they must truly be magical devices because its hard to imagine anything doing it better than this one. I would have paid double the price knowing what i know now. Even if you are questioning whether or not you’re going to use it a lot, just buy it. The uses this tool will provide will present themselves.

I really like this camera, very clear and easy to install. I use this camera to coin roll hunt, find errors, and varieties on coins.

Let me start by saying the pluggable support model is hard to beat. I had issues in using this model at its full resolution and they were very accommodating in working with me to debug the situation and come to a positive compromise before they cut me loose. Support alone would get six stars.

This is a value-priced camera with both led-lighting and suction-cup mounting arm. You assemble it to the supplied board by suction cup, rather than a more stable screw connection, but maybe that gives you more flexibility in the long run. I found the pluggable software for mac os a challenge and was never able to get it above 640×480, so i suspect some of the positive reviews mentioning software are talking about the windows version. If using the full 2mp of the rating isn’t important, this camera works very nicely out of the box. I quickly moved my unit to a chromebox and loaded the ‘camera’ app from the play store and it takes decent pictures.

In the sample photos, you will notice that smooth surfaces reflect the light from the leds, so to eliminate that i would tilt the item being photographed so the reflection didn’t come back into the lens. You can also just turn off the led and let the software adjust the light levels, but that might not look great depending on your room lighting. Non-reflective surfaces are no problem. Tall items, like the jumpers on a breadboard, cause you to choose between which portion is in focus – in my case the top of the transistor would be in focus but not the bottom.

This is very good for showing details and i am looking for other parts to hack together a more stable stand, but for the price, it’s a great way to get started with imaging of very small things.

I later tried the debut software from australia and was immediately taking 1600×1200 images so i’m not certain what the issue is that prevents me from using digital viewer above 640×480.

2018-07-14 update: i’ve improved the rating to 5-stars. I recently purchased the fosmon otg cable so i could connect this to my pixel phone and i’m in love all over again. I use the very simple otg view software, free from google play store, and i am taking this usb microscope everywhere and capturing high-resolution images well away from my desk and my workbench. I think the major limitation of the device is the provided digital viewer and once i moved away from that i’ve become more impressed with its platform portability every day. I know it will drain my cell phone battery pretty quickly, but having the option of taking a high-resolution close-up of things where only your cellphone goes is a really high-value opportunity. Kudos to pluggable for (1) really engaged product support, and (2) a really standard device.

I purchased the plugable usb microscope for some soldering work and mostly out of curiosity. Like all webcams, it has a little noise in the picture at lower light levels and definitely does best with a brightly lit subject. The flexible support stand is surprisingly solid and holds its position well. The suction cup requires a perfectly smooth surface. A finished wood table was not smooth enough, but it does work well with the supplied pad. For $36, i think the magnification is great. With the microscope on the included stand and extended as far from the work surface as possible, the distance from the end of the plastic shield to the surface is about 10 cm and the viewing area is about 2 cm x 2.5 cm, or about the size of a quarter. With the microscope’s plastic shroud touching the work surface, the viewing area is about 0.5 cm x 0.6 cm. The focus ring is plastic, but it is very snug and precise and operates smoothly.

I wish it had two additional features. It doesn’t come with a plastic cap to cover the end of the lens when its in storage, which would be nice. I’ve also seen other, much more expensive microscopes with a polarizing filter which really helps with lighting glare. It would be great to have that feature in this price range.

For the other linux users, the microscope does ‘just work’ with linux. When you plug it in to the computer, it does nothing (i’m using linux mint). But as soon as you start the video capture program and select it as the active device, the led light come on and the microscope works. The youtube video for linux users from plugable recommends using it with the program cheese. It does work with that program, but the on screen image lags movement a lot. A much better option is a program called ‘guvcview’. It is much faster and has a host of image adjustment options. Also, the touch button on the microscope that captures an image does work.

Enjoy!

Es sencillo hace lo que ofrece por un muy bajo precio

I have always wanted to get something to help me see my solderring as im doing it or after to check my solder joints etc… Until now i had never used one of these type of digi scope and im simply blown away in every aspect of this little gem, i absalutly can’t stop using it for everything i see mostly i use it for fpv quadcoppter builds i have only had it 1 1/2 days and it saved me about $150 on motors/flightcontroler/vtx!!! Poor eye sight makes solderring a bit of a challenge but with this little gagite to look over my work when im done is pricless one just simply cant go wrong with this tool ifr you solder tiny circute boards this is must have tool thanks and yes i am going to buy and recomend this to everyone i know and buy them for xmas gifts also.it dosnt get no better than this……

It’s great for the price, picture is clear and the app is super easy,the only con is the stand.. It’s had to make it focus while it on the stand but you have to do it on the stand so you can get a proper focus, so that’s an issue but overall, for the money it’s a good deal and i would recommend it.

In order to store it you must disassemble it & reassemble it for use. The stand it sits on could definitely be a little bigger . But all in all good value for the money

I’m a miniaturist, and recently started working in smaller scales – 1:144 and 1:48, to be precise. I had a really hard time taking photos with my cell phone. I was hoping to find a macro attachment for it, but most of them seemed to be designed for use with phones with the camera in the top corner, and my camera was centered and lower down. I came across this digital microscope while i was searching for other macro options, and thought, ‘why not?’

the microscope was easy to assemble, and the free digital program was fairly straightforward. There were not a lot of adjustment options in the program, and hardly any on the device. One twist controls the focus on the device, another controls the led light.

For looking at flattish surfaces, like skin, or a penny, or leaves, or something, it’s great. The detail is amazing. The led light isn’t nearly sufficient enough. I got yellowish photos, even with an led desk light, until i switched to an ott light.

For taking pictures of 3d items from further away? It wasn’t great. The stand was bouncy, and i had a hard time getting the suction cup to suction properly, and would have to hold it steady while attempting to save a photo at the same time.

The lack of zoom meant i’d have to physically move the device to fit what i wanted in the picture, and given the specifics of what i was attempting to photograph (tiny items in a tiny room) it was sometimes impossible.

I was also dissatisfied with the quality of the photos, but that could just be my computer not cooperating with the device. I was getting obvious scan lines in saved images, (it’s a bit hard to see unless you scroll through the multiple shots i took) but by that point i decided it wasn’t worth the effort to troubleshoot. My computer just read it as another plug in device, so i’m sure it will work with plenty of other programs.

Trying to get the microscope to do what i wanted it to do did give me several ideas for how to make my cell phone camera work for me, so the experiment wasn’t an entire loss. I had no idea these things existed, and am considering getting a more kid-friendly version for my niblings, who i hope are as nerdy as me when it comes to looking at things really close up.

(yes, that is a regular penny in the background of two of the photos and in the fourth photo, and those are seed beads on the middle shelf.)

While i do not claim to be a person that knows what he’s doing when he’s soldering small electronics, this digital microscope was extremely helpful in seeing the small resistors i accidentally knocked off.

While i may have botched my repair, the microscope held its own and was not to blame for the failed repairs. It was easy to hook up to my m1 macbook with a usb-c to usb-a adapter. It was immediately recognized as a webcam, which allowed me to utilize any application that would typically display images from a webcam. Including facetime and the photo booth apps.

Since the microscope is recognized as a webcam, it should work well for recording pictures to send to those to help diagnose an electronics issue, or if you’re looking to start up a youtube channel. Since micro-soldering doesn’t seem to be my thing, i’m thinking of using it to finally start my onlyfans page.

The light can be a little bright for the camera when objects have plastic coverings but can be adjusted to get an adequate view.

The best feature is the price and decent picture for the price. The cable connection at the camera is weak, after a month of usage the shielding is sticking out, needs better pressure relief. I wire tied the cable to the arm. The arm is not very flexible, but it does work. The ring holding the camera to the arm is very flimsy, if you are aggressive in moving it around the camera will come off. The suction cup base is worthless, i dilled a hole in a $4 spring loaded shop table clamp to attach to and clamp it on my desk edge, but the arm really needs to be several inches longer. Focus can be a challenge since the arm is not that stable while moving the focus and you end up using two hands with one holding the top of the camera that leads to a different issue. The button the top to take pictures is sensitive and if you grab the camera near the top it will take a snap. I end up with a lot of extra garbage pictures to delete. The app works but it isn’t great. You can’t delete pictures in the app. You can see thumbs of the pictures but you can’t view them in the app. If you click on the thumb it opens the picture in the default picture viewer for your os. In my case ms picture viewer where you can delete the picture and then you have to close the viewer and repeat to delete the next. Faster to use the os file system to delete maybe. The light works fine and nice it is adjustable but leads to the same two had problem as the focus. It can bee too bright also, causing glare at certain angles on some things. The diffuser could maybe be more opaque to diffuse more.

I must say for the price i am happy. I wanted to get this to review some coffee equipment. Reviewing espresso grinder burrs and coffee ground quality. As soon as i opened the box, my 2 daughters immediately started hauling anything and everything over to me to look at through the microscope. We looked at ants, fruit, coins, etc. I eventually used to look at espresso grinder burrs (why i bought). We will be using this off and on quite often. Best and most unexpected part was how excited my young kids got!

The main downside for me is the arm for the camera is almost too short. I have lots of issues getting the camera aligned especially when really close to an object. The lights is also fairly poor. I have a light ring that i usually use for my product reviews.

Pictured: espresso burrs, ball point pen, fuzz on a kiw, pocket knife blade

Only worked with it for an hour or so, but overall it’s pretty good for the price:
the good
– image quality seems to be very good
– wide focus distance range from 20-30 centimeters to right up to the plastic guard
– worked with win10 built-in camera app
– downloaded app from pluggable installed easily and worked well
– obs was able to grab the video output for multi-stream recording, etc.
– seems to be built well
– 1/4-20′ thread on the ends of the flexible arm so easy to adapt to custom mounting hardware you can cobble together from your local hw store or standard photo equipment threaded holes

the not-so-good
– focusing is very very slow (maybe that’s ok at really close distances), especially when changing from far to close
– built-in led is not very bright – especially when the distance to the object gets farther away (like 20cm or so)
– flexible arm is kind of short, limiting it’s flexibility to move around
– connection of flexible arm to the camera body is via a somewhat flimsy piece of plastic that might not last
– video resolution not very high

it seems like it’s worth the $ to me, we’ll see how well it continues to work

I use this for small electronics repairs. For anyone familiar with surface mount devices (smd’s) the leads are tiny or the devices are directly soldered with paste to a small pad. Aligning these parts on these pads is a chore, and without some magnification, even someone with perfect vision will struggle.

The zoom is great, works fine, and i do like the way the light can be dimmed, which is particularly important with solder which will produce a glare.

The picture quality isn’t great, as the resolution is somewhat limited, which means on a large display, the images are going to be very pixelated. However, it’s still very useable.

The only real complaint i have is with the the mounting arm and board. The suction cup mount will only fit in one spot, and is really easy to pop off. Second, the arm it’s self uses small indentations on the side of the scope to hold it in place. So when you move the scope around, it tends to pop out of the mount really easily.

Overall, i’m still pleased with my purchase, but it could be better.

This is fun for a reasonable price. I found a tiny bug dead on my windowsill. I put it under the microscope and was amazed at the detail. See pictures – 1mm fly and weird worm thing (~2mm) in pond water (worm size estimated by putting ruler under the microscope and gauging how a millimeter appeared under that particular magnification); also, pictures enhanced in apple photos. Then i got some moss and pond water and found several critters. I could see tiny creatures moving around, probably paramecium. Then i found a striped worm-like thing – a grub, maybe? – and was impressed i could see that.
It’s tricky to focus because you have to touch it and it’s very sensitive to motion (like binoculars are). And it uses a *lot* of ram. I have 8 gb in my 2021 imac and when recording videos, it made me force quit a couple of times. (only other app open was messages). But now i know to get more memory.
Overall, you’re not going to see microscopic creatures in great detail, but still, you can see them, and that’s pretty cool.