Battle of the Microscopes: AmScope vs. Omax Compound Microscope Comparison

Today’s Battle of the Microscopes brings us two brands frequently difficult to distinguish from each other–AmScope vs. Omax. These two are also my most popular reviews on site, so this should help you budding microscopists determine which is best for your needs.

I’m comparing two of (what I feel) are their most popular units: the AmScope B120B vs. the Omax CS-M82ES. I know I’ve reviewed these before, but it isn’t really clear what the differences are between them, or why one would be superior over the other.

Put on your boxing gloves, because here we go! We’ll rate the units on a few different categories first (optical quality, features, expandability, and price point), then give the whole unit a final look over to make a decision.

 

 

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Optical Quality:

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AmScope B120B

The B120B uses achromatic objectives, which are both anti-reflective and anti-fungal coated. The curvature of the lenses of the standard grade optics in the unit give it about 70% of the field from the center out in focus, while the outer 30% falls out of focus–fairly normal for simple achromatic objectives. The image is clear within that 70%, but falls off beyond that. Since they are achromatic, the optics are aberration free, so you’ll have true to color images without any strange artifacts as long as the eyepieces are clean.

Overall, with this setup, you get both 10x and 20x eyepieces, which in conjuction with the 4x, 10x, 40x, and 100x objectives, you have a total magnification range of 40x – 2000x (but only up to 1000x with full resolution magnification–above is empty magnification).

Score: 7/10 (Good, but better compound microscope objectives exist out there!)

 

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Omax CS-M82ES

The CS-M82ES actually uses the same style, quality, and specifications as the AmScope B120B does. 4x, 10x, 40x, and 100x all carry the same NA rating and working distances.

Not too much to compare in this aspect, unfortunately, as it doesn’t help differentiate the two compound microscope units much. They even have the same casing–it’s possible they even came from the same manufacturing plant.

Score: 7/10 (Good, but better compound microscope objectives exist out there!)

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 Features:

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AmScope B120B

The B120B comes feature packed for the price point (which we will get to later).

It includes a full 3D double layer mechanical stage, which means the stage will move in the X, Y, and Z dimensions with the knobs on the stage). No need to touch your slides to move them by hand–it grants precision when scanning through samples, and easily centerable for viewing. The downside is that if you have a loose stage that looks like it may come off of the unit, you will either have to send the unit back to AmScope for repair, or purchase a protip tool ($2 or so) to access the small and oddly shaped bolts on the arm of the microscope to tighten it up. Quite odd, when a simple design with easily accessed flathead or Phillips head screws could have handled the same function.

It is a binocular microscope with interpupillary adjustments (the distance between your eyes) and a diopter control (allows an eyepiece to be moved closer or farther from your eye to help compensate for different strength eyes), so it can be custom fit for comfort and usability between users. Binocular units also cause less eye strain, as you don’t have to close one eye to look through it like a monocular microscope.

The Abbe condenser has an adjustable iris (can fine tune exactly how much light you allow through the condenser onto the sample), and an NA rating of 1.25, which fits up to the 100x objective’s NA rating of 1.25 as well.

The focusing mechanism on the B120B is a coaxial system. So, although both coarse and fine focusing are on the unit, they are two separate parts of a single knob on the B120B. The tip of the knob is the fine focus, and makes smaller adjustments, while the larger diameter is the coarse focusing knob, which moves the stage a much greater distance. The tension can be adjusted on the focusing system easily by grabbing both focusing knobs and rotating them in opposite directions, or if the stage begins to fall due to loosening of the system. (Thanks Jared S. for pointing this out!)

The B120B is lit with a 3 watt LED board, so no heat is emitted from the light onto the sample, and a bright, white light is emitted onto the sample. This can, sometimes, slightly discolor the sample compared to halogen lighting. But, the samples do stay alive much longer without the heat killing them off. So it’s a trade-off that some users prefer. It also has a dimmer control of its own. The other main downside is that if the LED light board goes out, the parts aren’t readily available on the market.

Score: 7/10 (Great key features and convenient use of them, but loose stages lead to frustrating experiences if repairs needed)

 

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Omax CS-M82ES

The CS-M82ES also comes with a full 3D mechanical stage, so you can expect the same dimensions of movement with this as you would with the B120B. But, the kicker here is that you can easily adjust the stage’s mounting from the outside of the unit–where the B120B requires a more specialized tool to make the adjustments through the arm of the microscope. This gives CS-M82ES a slight edge in the stage department.

The focusing mechanism is identical in function, althoug aesthetically different. I prefer the CS-M82ES’s design since the tip is easier to grab for fine manipulations (we tend to use fingers for fine movements, and hands gripping for coarse movements, and this is a little more ergonomic), but they do the same thing. They both feel as precise and fine tuned to me as shipped from the factory, and I haven’t seen any complaints about this being too loose as I have from the B120B.

The light here, too, is an LED board as well, although I was unable to locate the wattage being output to the board. I suppose I could measure it, but it would be better for me to have an official statement from the manufacturer. I will update if I’m able to get this and any other information. For functional matters, the light appears nearly the same, just with a bit more of a blue tint to the light than the B120B. More discoloration on this gives the B120B the edge, although the lens is larger which makes the light seem a little brighter.

Score: 8/10 (Fine tunes its features and resolves design issues the B120B has.)

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Expandability:

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AmScope B120B

Expandability is a huge aspect of what I look for when shopping for a microscope, as I already have a fairly large amount of equipment. Any time I can save space by having a multifunction unit that does not sacrifice quality or features of its larger, specialized variant, I’m all for it. So is AmScope fortunately, as the B120B has a whole slew of various accessories that it can be outfitted with!

Out of the box the B120B is a brightfield microscope (bright background like most people think of when they think of a microscope). But, it’s removable and swappable. This means if you accidentally break it, you can simply replace it. More importantly, if you need a different kind of microscopy method, like darkfield or phase contrast, you simply have to get the parts and swap it in.

The condenser removes with 1 thumb screw, then slides out the bottom. So reversing the process, this brightfield microscope can be changed over to a darkfield microscope (if you have a need to perform live blood analysis for example), or a phase contrast microscope (if you have a need to view translucent samples, such as for waste water treatment analysis). This not only saves room on your desk, but saves a fair bit of money in your wallet on buying a whole different setup.

Note that the parts aren’t necessarily all that cheap,  but it’s certainly better than buying an entire new microscope. For ease of convenience, here’s a list of the condensers that are compatible with this microscope:

DK-DRY120 – Dry darkfield condenser for use with the 4x and 10x objectives

DK-OIL120 – Oil darkfield condenser for use with the 40x and 100x objectives

PCT120 – Phase contrast turret kit with all objectives and a turret condenser mount

You can also outfit the microscope with a USB camera or a DSLR adapter (for microscopes) in the ocular tube instead of an eyepiece. This allows you to digitally capture your microscopes image (or feed the image to a computer/projector setup), so it’s very easy to do. Simply remove an eyepiece, slide the camera in, install software, connect, and run. Focusing is done at the microscope side, as these cameras and adapters just fit the camera onto the microscope (no focusing adjustment of their own). Here’s an example of a compatible camera: MU300

Score 10/10 (Can’t ask for more. Completely modular.)

 

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Omax CS-M82ES

The condenser is a bit more difficult to remove, but it is also removable here. Additionally, I had a much harder time finding compatible accessory condensers for this unit, so I’d suffice to say that unless you’re a more advanced user (or technically savvy enough to take a measurement of the inner diameter on the unit and compare it to others on the market). This makes it trickier to “future proof” the unit against having to buy a new, more specialized, and thus more expensive microscope.

Cameras can easily be used with this unit as well, which does give it some bonus points–it also uses 23mm mounting sizes, so any USB camera or adapter that fits in that size can replace an eyepiece on the CS-M82-ES.

Score: 6/10 (Great for brightfield only and can use a camera,  but not future proof)

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Price Point:

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AmScope B120B

The B120B is typically priced around $185. For the feature packed and expandability of the unit, I can’t argue at the price point at all, besides wondering how such a quality student microscope (and professional level microscope to a point) can be billed at such an economic price point.

Score: 9/10 (On point for the price considering what can be done with the unit.)

 

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Omax CS-M82ES

This Omax CS-M82ES is typically priced around $209. While a bit high for what else there is on the market, like the B120B, the microscope itself is solid and will last a great deal of time. I didn’t find plastic on this, like I did on the B120B (even if it was just the accents), so I do feel the build quality is a bit higher to justify the price.

Score: 7/10 (Appropriately priced, but could be cheaper)

 

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Final Score:

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B120B – 8.25/10 || CS-M82ES – 7/10

Our winner of this round of Battle of the Microscopes comes to AmScope’s B120B!

To check out either unit or get more information on purchasing either unit, you can head to either one from here:

AmScope B120B || Omax CS-M82ES