Levenhuk LabZZ DM200 LCD 17-55x Digital Microscope

The LabZZ DM200 is a children's microscope with a 4.3-inch colour screen in place of an eyepiece, so a child who can't yet hold one eye closed can still see the picture, and a parent can see it with them. Optical magnification is 17x to 55x, with a digital zoom to 220x. Levenhuk rates it as elementary and the setup as extremely simple, and suggests prepared slides, stones, fabric, insects, leaves and small electronics as subjects.

There are two lights, an LED under the stage for slides and leaves and a ring inside the lens for stones and bugs, with a brightness control for each situation. The stage is 120 by 180 mm with clips, coarse focus travels 93 mm, and the body is plastic. At 55x optical a woodlouse fills the screen and a prepared slide shows its larger structures; for single cells a child will need an eyepiece microscope at 400x, which our kids' microscope guide covers.

A wireless remote takes the photo or starts the video, so the picture doesn't shake, and it needs a CR2025 coin cell that isn't supplied. The 1 MP sensor saves stills at up to 4032 by 3024 pixels (12 MP, interpolated) and 1080p video to a microSD card of up to 32 GB, not included. A mini-USB cable links it to a Windows 7, 8 or 10 or a Mac computer with AMCAP or ViewPlayCap for showing the view on a bigger screen. The 1800 mAh battery gives about two and a half hours and takes around 20 hours to charge, or it runs from the USB cable on 5 V 1 A.

Levenhuk puts an experiment kit, ready-made slides and blank slides in the box. The LabZZ M101 below it is an eyepiece microscope that reaches 640x on slides. The Rainbow DM500 above it has a 5-inch screen that tilts and twelve named slides, and the other microscopes for kids are listed together.