Purchaseing A Microscope Under $50....

If you don't mind quoting higher options, too.

@mox what do you mean?

And thanks fuzzy.

The lower the mag the better,5x to 100x for example. You will have a learning curve with the lights no matter the one you buy. You can buy them as low as $15.
John1

USB microscopes? I have a Celestron 44302 Deluxe USB Microscope which is one of the better low budget ones (under $40). My biggest gripe is the lighting. It has 6 LEDs that stay on all the time with no way to adjust the brightness. Some forum members that use this same model put electrical tape over some of the LEDs. Others made and put diffuser filters onto the lights. The little stand that comes with the device is a bit limited. To get the whole coin in the shot, you need to set the scope onto a book to raise it up. I'll post a photo to show you what it can do.

Is there anyway to increase your budget a little bit? If I had it to do over, I would buy the next better model, the Celestron model 44308 for less than $70. It has a better stand, 5 MP camera resolution compared to 2 MP of the one I got, and (most importantly) the light is adjustable. You can even turn the lights off.