No disrespect meant…what do you want your microscope to do? For me it’s a magnifying visual aid to help me to sharpen my knives with my W.E. My scope let’s me see where my scratch patterns are being laid down so I can better assess my sharpening efficiency and progress, and to determine existing bevel angles to match these when sharpening. Now, it just takes a quick glance. Just a spot check to see I’m doing what I want to do, is correct.
At the onset of my sharpening experience with my new W.E.P.S. I bought all the tools and aids, too. All the helpful toys. When I first used a USB scope I too was impressed by what I could see and I could photograph. I became interested in the quality of the magnified view. At that point I was still “oohing and aahing” over seeing the close ups of bevel damage and then the scratches and gouges in my steel knife edges that I had applied and caused with my sharpening stones. I thought, if I only had a better scope with a better view??? A scope that would let me see more and better….just what your wanting.
As I started to gain experiences and to gain control and confidence with my sharpening ability, by that time, I had correlated the placement of the scratches with the results I could expect through proper technique and grit progression. That is, if only I did the processes consistently and well. The view with the scope became less important. It required just a quick glance then I was back to the task at hand, sharpening strokes. I learned I was really more interested in seeing the scratches were diminishing.
Some people want to calibrate their scopes so they can correlate what they’re seeing and the size of it in relation to the field of view at that power. This was not something that interests me so that function was not important to me. I’m just interested in what is there that I can see, damage, bevel shapes and scratch patterns in particular, and what I don’t see.
These days, only when I’m looking to take a bevel picture to make a point while sharing the photographs does the quality of the microscope view really matter. If your looking to make another separate hobby of microscopic scratch pattern photography, or seriously, metallurgical analysis of hardened steels while sharpening knives, or abrasive particle size measurement, then maybe a better USB scope may be called for. Just for getting top rate results sharpening knives with your W.E., not so much. Even as I was going through everything your sharing today, by resurrecting this earlier thread, I eventually had bought 6 or 7 scopes chasing that better view. Each one “better” and more expensive then the last. For me, the first, simplest, least expensive scope I purchased, is still my go-to favorite. The only scope I use.
I’m glad to see you are reading back through old forum posts. There’s lots of great information to glean. I commend your efforts.
From what I’ve learned, the “wifi” USB scopes aren’t too good. Those in the price points most of us would be interested in, may include a separate transmitter box that connects the scope to your home wifi network. These types of scopes generally do not connect directly to your device through the wifi. Also, I’ve read others have shared they drop the wifi connections easily. I’ve not seen any direct connect blue tooth scopes. Also, there are Mac compatible USB wired scopes that seem to be similar in functionality to Windows compatible USB wired scopes. The issue here is finding the compatible download-able software app for the scope that matches your particular device and it’s OS version. The advantage of using a wired USB scopes is you can use it with an A/C powered laptop and leave it on hours on end. This way the scope just lays there “on”, ready to use, anytime I grab it. There are some Android compatible wired USB scopes that can be used with an “OTG” adapter. iOS compatible scopes for iPhone devices are generally more expensive and fewer and far between. Using scopes with smart devices there is also a battery life issue. Some smart devices with a specific OS and usually a special cable adapter can use a scope while charging/powering the devices simultaneously.
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