BioniCam

First of all, I must apologize to all the people who read my previous, useless reviews. I will try harder to stick to the topic and provide detailed information that will help you all. Anyway, to business. The Bionicam. Yes, it is great, a wonderful magnifying toy that helped me identify what might be two lunar meteorites, according to a meteoricist friend of mine. But, it is a finnicky, fickle toy that is very sensitive. I would not recommend this toy unless you have a neurosurgeons steady hands, because it shows every movement your gripping hand makes, down to the pulse of blood through your veins. The IRIS is also difficult to focus and requires lots of trial and error to get the right focus for each individual object you are magnifying. If this sounds more like work than fun, you might be right, and would probably do better in not getting this. For someone who seriously needs a photographic microscope with video capability, this is, I repeat, not a photographic microscope with video capability. This is a high magnification toy with photographic and video capabilities. If you are someone like me, who needed a microscope that could take pictures, upload them to a computer, and do whatever you want with those pictures, this toy is a little too much work, and too little reward. BUT! If you are like everyone else who has a casual interest in the world around you up close and personal, and want to take pictures of flies and beetles, carpets and upholstery, fabrics, hairs, fibers, flowers, plants, animals, inorganic materials, etc. and show the world your findings, than this is perfect for you! Oh, and a few tips. Be prepared to buy truckloads of AA batteries for this product. Keep the focusing disk, you will need it. Try using a fixed platform vise to hold the Bionicams handle, (not too hard on the handle, its only cheap plastic, after all!), and a portable vise for the object being viewed. Try viewing plants, they are really cool up close. And be prepared to spend hours trying to get the perfect photo or video, if you so choose. Be patient with it, it is not a perfect toy, after all. Try setting the lighting to low on the menu screen, if you are viewing a crystalline substance, as it reflects badly when the lighting is on high or medium. And, most importantly, not to sound lame or anything, but have fun with it. Hope this helps.

This is totally awesome! A must have gift for any child interested in the sciences, and a gift that can spark an interest in science!The hand held microscope works very well, gave it as a Christmas present, and we tested it right away. You have to put the unit right against what you are trying to view. Subjects are lit up by white leds (more could be better) and displayed at decent resolution on the lcd screen.Saving photos are easy and they reside on the usb stick which is included. The unit is lightweight and easy to carry around.This is an amazing toy that really gets kids exploring and learning about the natural world all around them!The only cons I thought It had was that its in a weird shape of a gross eye (less appealing to girls?) and the focusing ring (the white part) should have been independent as when turning it at high magnifications can cause you to lose the subject as it has to be right up against the material.

I got this toy for my 8 year old. It took us forever to undertand how to focus as the instructions are not really clear and the little card to look into in order to see the letters and focus (imagine an eye exam) are extremely hard to do. All you see is nothing... so we almost returned the toy. In the end we realized that if you put the things literally into the lens then you see things, then it became fun for my son. Another warning it eats battery like crazy and it takes 5 batteries and no recharchables!

I bought the original Eyeclops last year and bought this one mostly because of the discounted price and extra features. This is an amazingly good improvement from the first version. I especially like that you can switch between magnifications of 100x, 200x, and 400x. The original only had a 200x power. Honestly the 100x is the best and the easiest to get a good focused photo on. You have to have quite a steady hand and moderate patience to get a clear photo on the stronger magnifications. I love the portability of this model, the USB hook up option, and features (has modes for; video camera, pictures, slideshow, and galleries for photos and videos). It has a 2 1/4 inch diagonal full color viewing screen that rivals any current digital camera. The screen/buttons are very intuitive. My 9 yr old didn't even look at the manual and had no problem figuring out all the function options, including uploading the photos on the computer. You can see any shots/video you've made on the built in screen, or on your TV or computer through very easy hook-ups. Saving or deleting can be done on the BioniCam. I highly recommend this very cool and educational toy!