Bresser Junior 20x Stereo Microscope

The Bresser Junior 20x is a stereo microscope for a child, which means it looks at solid things rather than slides. Put a coin, a beetle, a shell or one of the twelve rock samples from the box on the stage, switch on the light and look through both eyepieces to see it in 3D at 20x. Bresser lists coins, stamps, insects and school work as the uses and places it in its beginners' range.

The optics are a pair of WF10x eyepieces over a 2x objective, giving a fixed 20x, with 65 mm between the lens and the object and room for anything up to 30 mm tall. A focus knob brings the picture sharp, and the eyepieces slide apart or together to match a child's eyes, though there's no dioptre adjustment. An LED shines down onto the object from above, so there's no light from underneath and a slide of pond water would stay dark.

It runs on two AA batteries, which aren't in the box, and the body is metal and plastic in white, 22 cm tall. The twelve mineral specimens include granite, marble, quartz, calcite, shale and a plant fossil, each small enough to sit under the lens, so a child can start the day it arrives. Our guide to choosing a microscope explains why a stereo model suits a younger child better than a compound one.

The Levenhuk 1ST below it is also 20x and comes with its batteries. The Junior 20-50x above it adds a second light under the stage for leaves and prepared slides, and the rest of our stereo microscopes go up from there.