henning wrote in message ...
"Loren A. Coe" wrote:

i am just getting introduced, thinking of sinking some $$
into a decent used or new compound biological or industrial
unit. also, any recommendations or recent experiences
would be very welcome. thanks! --Loren


Think first hard for a moment what you are going to use the scope for.
I´m not sure what theterm biological microscope means in this case.
As a biologist i´ve used everything from 5X loupes to scanning
electron microscopes. For most non science work I would get a stereo
scope with a zoom. saay 10 to 40x magnification. The Olympuses I´ve
used were great. For the big spender a Leitz is the king

I believe the illumination scheme from a condenser under a slide stage
is the main thing defining a "biological" scope. If the illumination
is from above I believe this is considered metalurgical. Not sure if
this is the complete story. Many low power scopes can use either
illumination mode.