Two decades ago I had my employer buy a Macroscope 25 from RF Interscience Company. That’s a very useful 25X portable microscope for looking at small objects like weld imperfections, paint problems, documents, or insects. It’s just nine inches tall, and the eyepiece has a 5-mm reticle for measuring things. They sell a penlight holder for lighting the area you’re looking at. There also is a camera adapter that screws on threads under the rubber eyepiece cup so you can take pictures of what you see.
Better yet, you also can remove the the top part and use it as an 8X monocular for watching birds. I missed having a Macroscope 25.
Last month on eBay I say a couple of used Macroscopes for sale. I got outbid on the first one, but won the second one on a Friday evening for less than $25 including shipping. (Right now a new one is $140). When it arrived I was disappointed to find that the knurled ring on the eyepiece didn’t move properly, so I couldn’t focus to see the image or reticle clearly.
I called up RF Interscience, and they said to send it in for service. Then they would look at it and tell me if it could be fixed. So, I sent it off via USPS Priority Mail on August 1st.
Monday morning I realized that I hadn’t heard back from them, and I was considering calling to check where it was. That afternoon a UPS package arrived containing the repaired Macroscope. They had cleaned the lenses, and tightened the loose setscrews on the eyepiece. There was no charge, and they had sent it back on August 3rd, the very same day they got it. That’s great service!
All the delay just was from shipping it back via UPS Ground. The invoice also said that this was a first edition Macroscope 25 made for them in Japan. Small specks in the image resulted from aging of the cement used to bond the reticle to the window. If that bothered me, they could replace the reticle assembly.
This early Macroscope doesn’t have threads on the eyepiece for a camera adapter. Otherwise it was a great buy at eBay, the garage sale for the world.
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