One wouldn't - there's the rub. In this case, I was assured it could be returned if there were any problems. I wouldn't have bought it otherwise. As with anything else you buy on eBay (plants, for sure) you take a chance. What more can I say? Ellen On Sat, Mar 1, 2014 at 6:58 PM, Mark Mazer <markemazer@gmail.com> wrote: > "(they had bought it from an industrial lab that closed), and so I want > particularly to thank Kathleen Sayce for looking at the listing for me and > telling me which questions I needed to ask,' > > So exactly how would one eval a used optical instrument over EBay? > Educational and industrial grade mics are notorious for being abused. > M > > > On Sat, Mar 1, 2014 at 2:23 PM, James Frelichowski < > butterflyamaryllis@yahoo.com> wrote: > > > Jealous, lol. Great find!! > > > > > > > > > > On Saturday, March 1, 2014 12:17 PM, Ellen Hornig <hornig@oswego.edu> > > wrote: > > > > After I asked the list a while back for advice about dissecting > > microscopes, I ventured onto eBay and made an astounding catch: an > > Accu-Scope 3076 trinocular microscope with zoom, detachable 2x objective > > lens, and 10x and 20x eyepieces, with a boom stand, a Micrometrics 318 > > digital camera, and a Dolan-Jenner Fiber-Lite M1-150 fiber-optic > > illuminator (with both a ring light and dual gooseneck cables), all for > > $400, which was ridiculously low. The seller did not know what they had > > (they had bought it from an industrial lab that closed), and so I want > > particularly to thank Kathleen Sayce for looking at the listing for me > and > > telling me which questions I needed to ask, and why. She's a born > teacher - > > she picked up perfectly on how little I knew about where to even start, > and > > took it from there. Thanks, Kathleen! > > > > Over the course of two days I have set it all up, downloaded manuals for > > everything and software for the camera (thank goodness for the Internet), > > and started to play. I haven't yet had a chance to botanize (20" of snow > > on the ground), but I have found the most amazing peripheral benefit in > > just having the microscope sitting here at my elbow beside my desk: it's > > made a kid of me again. I have a lot of natural objets strewn about the > > house: stones, shells, feathers, etc; and I find myself repeatedly > grabbing > > some new thing and putting it under the microscope for inspection. I > would > > highly recommend this to anyone suffering from cabin fever. You will > > remember how beautiful nature is, and what a joy it is to contemplate it > > with no other motive than to enjoy its beauty. > > > > And that's why I wrote: to encourage everyone to get themselves a stereo > > microscope and see the world anew. Do it! > > > > Ellen > > -- > > Ellen Hornig > > 212 Grafton St > > Shrewsbury MA 01545 > > _______________________________________________ > > pbs mailing list > > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > > _______________________________________________ > > pbs mailing list > > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > -- Ellen Hornig 212 Grafton St Shrewsbury MA 01545