Carson CP-11 X-Scope 7-in-1 Exploration Tool Featuring Microscope and Telescope, Green

I was nervous about this purchase. So many microscopes for children are flimsy and fiddly, offering impractical magnifications that attract but are virtually unusable. Far better to be in the 10-50x range than the 200-500x. This product is excellent for the scale of thing that a young child might want to look at. The optics are good, the LED light works well, the whole thing feels robust and it could be carried easily on a country walk. Supervision is needed, especially in the use of slides and cover slips, though they are plastic. I bought it as a Christmas present for my youngest granddaughter. The picture shows me setting a slide up for her. (Water from the saucer of a plant pot. She did other, dry, objects herself. Session 1: leaves and onion layers - cells seen and described. Session 2: the dirty water as mentioned. Even though in winter and after a lot of rain, we managed to see some swimming single-cell organisms - probably Euglena. Her observations of these were spot on. Great product - not a toy microscope - a genuine introduction to another world.

Bought this for my nine-year-old son primarily for the microscope. It works really well and gives enough magnification to see astonishing details in everything from carpets to bugs. It's a lot better than a more conventional microscope, which we've found hard to use and easy to break. The other features range from useful to unnecessary. The telescope functions pretty well, although we haven't used it outdoors yet. The magnifying glass and whistle are handy; the torch is OK, but the compass and clock feel a bit superfluous.

Really good magnifier a bit bigger than I thought. But provides a very clear image

The X scope is a great toy for interested inquisitive little hands and minds. The very fact they have managed to cram seven functions into one toy is quite an achievement . All the functions are very good and work well and some perform above expendations. 1. The whistle , what I loved about this is you can hear it but it's not going to get you looking for a hammer to terminate the annoying noise. It's loud enough for my grandson to warn me that the zombie hoards are approaching , but not to loud ar shrill tha the neighbors will complain. 2. The microscope , I was very impressed by its simplicity and its function. Just adjust the light and take a look as we did at a dead wood louse and it looked like an armoured dinosaur from a science fiction film ,you could see clearly every detail even the tiny hairs on the legs . My little grandson was absolutely amazed , he spent hours looking for things to inspect around the garden. 3. The torch is a small bulb led light. It's not going to light up a room but great for a little boy to go in his blanket den. 4. The pirate telescope as my grandson called it has a good magnification ,again it's not gong to replace your lika binoculars to go twitching. But for a five year old boy it's powerful enough to look for pirates on the high seas or look for granddads jack Russell down the garden. 5. The clock is a great little aid to help a boy or girl learn the time. 6. I have now got a better sense of where everything is placed in my house and garden. My little explorer loves the compass he checks the direction of everything and is making a treasure map using his compass. 7. Last but not least a magnifying glass which makes checking things quickly before putting them under the microscope. It's a great educational , fun , toy. Like all toys of this nature it's not a toy you can give to a child and let him get on with it as he would proberly but it down after a few minutes. However if you take time to explain and demonstrate what it can do , your child like my grandson will get hours of fun from this inexpensive educational toy. Well worth every penny hours of fun and exploration for very little outlay.

On the plus side it's well made, ie sturdy, and when looking at the object being studied the image is pretty sharp. However, the eyepiece is small and the magnification is a maximum of 40x (you can vary it from 20x to 40x). You can place the small object being studied into the base, although I found it easier to dispense with the base and slide the microscope over whatever you're looking at. Bear in mind it only cost me £10 on Amazon, so it's definitely value for money. It could certainly spark curiosity in small children, and you might then decide to splash out on a more sophisticated microscope with greater magnification.

Looks like real thing . Great quality and value.

Excellent nice kit. Kids loved it. Love taking it with them

We bought these through our school PTA for class gifts at Christmas and they've been really popular. The images you get are very impressive and are just as fascinating for the adults are they are the children. It is small and compact, so could be easily carried around if you wanted to take it outdoors to explore nature. The light works well. Good value item.