Microscopes from £500 to £1,000

From £500 to £1,000 you're into the instruments that college labs, vet practices, clinics and quality-control benches run all day. The compound models are the Bresser Science TFM-201, a binocular with semi-plan objectives, 30 mm eyepieces and Koehler illumination, its trinocular siblings the TFM-301 and TRM-301, the halogen-lit Bresser Bioscience and the Levenhuk MED D10T, which has a 3 MP camera built into the head. Stereo models for inspection are the Bresser Science ETD-201, a trinocular 8x to 50x zoom with 105 mm of clearance under the lens, and the Bresser Advance ICD zoom from 10x to 160x. The MikroCam PRO and MikroCam II cameras sit in this band too.

Free UK delivery on orders over £100, otherwise £6.90

10 products

What lab-grade means in practice

Three features separate these from the hobby models below them. Koehler illumination is a way of setting the lamp, field diaphragm and condenser so there's no hot spot in the middle of the view. Plan and semi-plan objectives keep the whole field in focus at once rather than only the centre, which matters when you're photographing or counting. And 30 mm eyepiece tubes with wide-field eyepieces give a larger circle of view than the 23.2 mm tubes on hobby models.

Ordering for an organisation

We take purchase orders from schools, colleges, NHS trusts and companies and will quote in writing for a specific configuration or several units. The same models appear in the Laboratory & Professional section with prices ex VAT, which is usually the figure a finance office wants.

£500 to £1,000 FAQs

Halogen or LED for a lab microscope?

The Bioscience's 30 W halogen gives the warm, continuous spectrum stained histology slides were designed for. The TFM, TRM and MED D10T use dimmable LED, which runs cool and holds its colour as you dim it. Our camera guide covers adding a camera to any of them.