Prime Entertainment QX-5 Microscope

Five or so years ago, I gave the earlier version of this microscope to our two older grandchildren. On talking to their dad recently, I found that they still use it for looking at things. My other son's oldest son turned 7 a few days ago. I thought that he would enjoy one of the newer QX-5 models. By searching the Internet for this model, I found that it was available at a very good price from the company who supports the microscope. When I called them they said they were out of stock but gave me the name of a dealer who sold it for the same price. In installing the software no problem was encountered using a Vista computer system. The box does not say it works with Vista but the supporting company said it should have the software, but if it didn't they could send it to me.

My son installed the software and initally helped my grandson to use it. After a bit he could use it without a lot of instruction, though I would recommend that an adult read over the instructions and do some of the operations with the child.

The microscope can be taken off its stand and held close to an object to view it. If the child is careless or accidentally drops the scope, damage could occur. It is nice that the QX-5 can take pictures of the viewed objects and also videos of specimens which are in motion.

I bought this microscope as a christmas gift for my kids, the software instalation was very easy and without any problems that usualy had with other software for toys.

My kids (8 and 7) spend many time investigating a lot of diferent things like food, fabrics, plants, insects, etc.

It works nice and I am vey pleased with this well spent money.

My son got this for Christmas and immediately hooked it up to his laptop. He (and my husband) spent a lot of time exploring the features of this microscope and magnifying many items in our house under the lens. The slides that come with it are fun and educational. He especially loves the fact that he can capture the images and save them on his computer. He's even emailed the images to his grandparents. It's a great microscope and the focusing and functionality are perfect. We'll be "playing" with this for a long time.

This microscope is marketed as a "toy," but at the price you pay for it you deserve to get a decent piece of technology. The software that comes with it is ridiculously old. It does not even have a windows interface. It takes up the entire screen, can not be minimized, and changes your screen resolution. There is NO web interface, so it does not download latest updates, as you would expect from any other software written in the last 15 years.

There are minimal and cryptic controls on screen; no menus. I could go on about the user-unfriendliness of the software, but there is a more important point. It crashed my computer. Not just a simple shutdown; it was a crash that required a restore to last settings. After that, I should have known better, but we ran it again. It worked, but on the third attempt, it would not even start up. Time to uninstall, lose money on the return, and start shopping for a real microscope.

Save yourself the trouble and just don't buy it.

Bought this microscope for my daughters 12th birthday. All the kids loved it, said they were coming to her house. She loves and I must say it is interesting to me too. I would recommend it.