Omax is a brand much lesser known than the other “new” brands out there, but even so are fairly decent in terms of optical quality. If you’re looking to get into a budget unit, Omax will perform well for the price. That said I wouldn’t go out of my way unless there’s a specific feature that you can’t find elsewhere.
The CS-MD82ES10 is a LED compound microscope with built in camera, so you’ll be using this to look at slides. Remember, a biological microscope needs to have translucent samples mounted on slides to work. This microscope isn’t the way to go if you want to check out coins or bigger bugs. It’s not too fun to get a microscope and realize it’s the wrong type! If you use the wrong type of sample, no light will get to your eye. An opaque sample needs to reflect light rather than shine through. Using the wrong type of microscope means you’ll just see a black image or a silhouette. No fun.
Omax Digital Microscope Review “CS-MD82ES10“
Like most compound microscopes at this price point, this Omax digital microscope comes with 40x – 2000x magnification. This means you get 4 objectives (4x, 10x, 40x, and 100x oil immersion). Also included are two sets of eyepieces (10x standard, and 20x for additional enlargement of your image). This specific Omax digital microscope gives you the typical range seen in high school and college level microscopes. But, to be honest, optical microscopes don’t go higher than these numbers either. You could certainly use this for a clinical application (veterinarians love them from what the community has been telling me, as do clinics and medical labs).
A mechanical stage is, in my humble opinion, always a critical element on a quality microscope. Moving a slide by hand is inaccurate and cumbersome. With smooth and precise knobs to control the slide position, scanning becomes a breeze. Precisely centering on a specific element of your sample becomes easy. This Omax digital microscope comes with a well built and fluid 3D mechanical stage, and will certainly allow you precision with your slide movement.
The LED light included with this Omax digital microscope is extremely bright and clear. The color representation is great as well, avoiding discoloring your sample compared to a similar halogen unit. This would also be good for live samples. LED lights don’t emit anywhere near the amount of heat that your average 20w halogen bulb lets off, which can hurt or kill samples.
As such, is a great microscope for animal breeders looking to do a number of tests. Some of these include motility checks and counts of semen, or for fecal smears for parasite and general health of your animals. Even basic blood work benefits from this–for those doing live blood (as long as you want to use brightfield). Unfortunate for darkfield users, as this unit doesn’t seem to have a changeable condenser beyond the 1.25NA Abbe Condenser on the unit).
The camera is where the Omax digital microscope model CS-MD82ES10 does step above (in my opinion) most other brands. For most other brands like AmScope, the cameras are entirely modular. This means you have to get the right resolution camera for your needs, then determine if it will mount to your microscope, and where you want to mount it to, etc. Then, you now have a camera in an eyepiece, so you can’t use the microscope regularly as the same time–it’s one or the other.
Well, this Omax digital microscope is truly digital. It has a USB port built onto the back of the head of the microscope. Just plug it in and install the software to your PC or Mac and you’re ready to go. It’s extremely convenient to use and easy to setup, making this microscope is excellent for a holiday or birthday gift for a young to middle age student with an interest in science and the world of microbiology–even if parents are needed to guide them, they will pick it up quickly afterwards.
If getting this as a gift, keep in mind that the microscope comes without any slides. You’ll want to get some blank slides if they want to make their own. Or possibly prepared slides if you want more advanced samples than what is possible to make at home. This microscope kit will last you many, many years with its metal construction and glass optics when taken care of.
For more information on purchasing, or other customer reviews, you can visit Amazon (where I get all of my microscopy equipment) here: CS-MD82ES10
Hello. I own a OMAX MD82ES10 but am lacking a user manual. I have tried locating but to no avail. Any suggestions on how to obtain one?
Hello Melissa! My sincerest apologies for the extremely late reply. I would contact MicroscopeNet.com in regards to getting a manual, as they distribute Omax brand microscopes. I unfortunately do not have a digital copy I can send you.
The URL provided by Microscopenet.com for the manual is invalid and they don’t do the obvious by linking the manual off of the product page, which would be the smart thing to do.
Hello Kevin! The link worked for us at the time we received this unit, so I’m sorry to hear it’s not working. Did you try contacting them to send you an updated download link, or to get a manual?
If not, a quick Google search turned this up at manualslib.com: http://www.manualslib.com/manual/846262/Omax-M82es-Series.html#manual
Often times, they don’t link openly because IP laws are nonexistent where many of these units are manufactured, so open distribution of a manual means it can be easily taken and repurposed to suit other knock off brands as authentic. It’s annoying to us consumers, but a little understandable as to why it’s necessary. Really should be printed and in the box though, I agree.
Hope that helps!