Bresser Junior Biolux SEL 40-1600x Microscope

The Biolux SEL is a step up from the Bresser Junior for children and families who want to look at more than slides. It has LED lights both under and over the stage, so it shows a prepared slide lit from below and a leaf, a feather or a small insect lit from above. Bresser puts the maximum height of an object under the top light at about 4 mm, so think flat things rather than stones.

Magnification runs from 40x to 1600x, using 4x, 10x and 40x objectives, 10x and 20x eyepieces and a pull-out Barlow lens in the eyepiece tube that raises the power by up to two times. The top settings make the picture bigger rather than sharper, so most use will be at 400x and below. A filter disc under the stage changes the colour and size of the light, and focus is a single coarse knob. It runs on three AA batteries, which are included.

In the box are prepared slides, blank slides and cover slips, a brine shrimp hatchery with eggs, sea salt and yeast, a mounting medium, a MicroCut hand microtome, tweezers, a dust cover and a smartphone holder for photographing what you see. The Biolux NV above it adds an HD camera, a metal body and a hard case. Available in blue.