@jameh It is always kind of bad when a site starts selling something again and I realize I still have it sitting in the box from the last time they sold it.
@jameh I actually unboxed mine and discovered it worked great for soldering some small surface mount components! Worst case it's a 10$ soldering microscope!
Got this thing last time and it does not work. The computer sees there is "something" connected but never did get it working on windows 7 or 8. Tried a few different computers and even reinstalled one completely - still nothing. The Meh people said to get to tasco, tasco said get to them so I am stuck with a red broken thing. Does light up though.
@ChadP FOR ONCE AND FOR ALL! If you are filling the glass, when it is halfway, it's half full! If you are emptying the glass, when it is halfway, it's half empty! NOW LET US NEVER SPEAK OF THIS AGAIN. <3
@curtise I guess it is the glass that you find in the middle of the woods with no one around, so you don't know if it was being filled or emptied. Whether you actually drink random glasses of strange liquids in the woods is a whole other set of tests that might involve some medical professionals.
Just by price it is temping with VMP and free shipping, but I passed on those crappy stands yesterday that I thought sucked so I'm DEFINITELY passing on this. Probably better off burning the $10 than ordering this since I'd probably never actually use it.
Reviews are so so, but for $10 it's probably worth it for anyone who'd actually use it, can't get much for $10 these days.
@Albright One of the few things I think Sam's does better than Costco is pizza. Disclaimer: I've only had pizza from the Costco and two Sams in my hometown, so YMMV.
I bought one of these the first time for my son, and it worked well with little effort setting it up. Sure it's not as powerful as the $500 microscope I have at my office, but for ten bucks, the kids have had a great time with it. We've looked at spiders, lightning bugs, leaves, rocks, coins and various other stuff he drags in. Only negative is that my wife gets annoyed when he sets it up on the dinner table while she's trying to get ready to eat.
@bweather Do you actually have lightening bugs (fireflies) in your neighborhood? DDT done eliminated 'em from mine and we STILL have those pesky skeeters.
@Kleineleh Wow! I've been here in Northerm Utah going on six years and I think I've seen maybe one (can't really prove it as I saw some thing blink out of the side of my eye) North Texas (where I'm originally from) hasn't had them in decades.
@unkabob I'm in Dallas and they're around in some spots but definitely not like they used to be. Apparently all the light pollution is kind of a turnoff for them. Plus pesticides and perfectly manicured lawns. My neighborhood is pretty quiet and nearly pitch black at night and we had a few around in June and July.
I'm thinking this is powerful enough to scan my pets fecal matter for parasites and eggs since they usually start at 40-50x and then 100x when you see something you think may be a egg or worm.
$10 is sure cheaper than trips to the vet for multiple pets.
My 8 yr old son decided he wanted it to be wireless, needless to say it is now a imaginary bionic laser. Reminds me of how the Power Glove let me down as a child.
Got one of these pieces of fecal matter when Woot offered them months back. Save your money of you've ever upgraded from XP. Neither Windows 7 nor 8 was able to make this work. It would see something, but what that something was was completely beyond its grasp. Called the company, they said it's a driver issue. Tried every driver made available, none of them worked. Tried compatibility mode, no dice. Called back 3 or 4 times, they basically said screw off.
Stay away from this crap. It's got bad joo joo all over it. I feel bad for the 135 suckers who have already purchased this. Good luck with that one...
@deafinoneear It worked fine for me with the supplied drivers, in Windows 7 64bit. I was disappointed Ubuntu didn't just see it as a video device though..
I am one of the 110. I have not yet taken it out of the box. Right now it is Schroedinger's microscope; it may suck and it may not suck, but we can't know until we observe it. And that task will fall to my nephew this Christmas.
I'm just wondering what is the bussiness model of this site? Money pump from investor or what? Selling only a couple of $10 POSs a day with free shipping must mean they got these microscopes for free (I doubt it but may be possible by some large company in need to clean their warehouse) and they still barely make enough for the shipping cost. But how do they pay taxes, site, staff and packing costs? Hey, meh guys, when do you plan to make profit? 20014?
@snapster good luck guys, I hope you'll be able to sell your company and website for couple of billions to Microsoft to be included as homepage in every Windows Phone!
@wishod Well, I think they are going to get me...here's how... I'm not an VMP...yet. So, $15 for this POS, ahem, experiment. But then I'll be an VMP, right? And future mehs will appear more attractive, at least for the next month, so I buy might something I might not otherwise. So, if they are losing $0.45 on every sale, they'll lose even more when I buy more! No, wait, that's not how it's supposed to work. Is it?
@DeuceSevin I found it humorous that at time of acquisition, the total historical profitability of Woot was greater than that of Amazon. Clearly we should have bought them but we dropped the ball.
I had this same microscope when I was a kid. I mean, the exact same one but with a blue color instead of red. I had a lot of fun with it and it was a pretty good piece of tech - in 1998.
where is my congratulatory "nice job" for not buying this? I come to this site for abuse and receive kudos, I now expect kudos and what do i get? un-editorialized sales specs. boo, meh. boo.
@wookie indeed, "nice job" was demoted to help explain why we would torture you. non-editorial sales specs though? Are you not seeing these? Just so-so magnification - Cheap plastic construction - Blah video resolution (640x480) - Not compatible with Mac - Must use with the included software
@snapster If I intend to use this as a science-fueled-projectile (that would be a good order phase, btw), am I still required to use the included software?
You all are looking at this wrong. There's a bunch of great uses for this valuable tool.
1) Give it to a child at your kid's school who's learning faster than your kid. This will allow them down and give yours ribs to catch up.
2) Bring it to Starbucks, sit at a table and start looking at their coffee beans. Make a lot of "hmmmm" and "ahhh" sounds, then sort the beans into two separate piles.
3) It's a microscope (debatable, but that's what it says on the label, right?). Just having it in your hands justifies unusual behavior like periodically jumping out of your chair, yelling "Eureka!" and running out of a room.
4) Having one automatically makes you a pseudoscientist. Buy this, then go make up some business cards.
It's all about perspective, people. This "microscope" will give you some.
@JonT stupid autoincorrect. Should read "This will slow them down and give your kid a chance to catch up." Although in hindsight I like the other version too...
you are right, I am wrong. your sales specs are editorial, my observations are not entirely accurate. you're smart, I'm dum. you're pretty, i'm ugly. you're clever, i'm engaging in a thread on an online shopping site. But still, thanks. I showed up for the abuse, but I'm staying for the bargains.
Apparently Californians (especially those in Los Angeles) really like meh stuff, including this pos lovely little microscope. I've noticed the ongoing trend of Cali being lit up like a theater marquee. I'll just assume this is due to all the Koreans ordering items through package forwarding services.
@snapster Which also explains Florida and New York. In what feels like a previous life, I helped create the fraud department for a very large ecommerce company. Shipping addresses of forwarding companies were a huge red flag for us.
@harrison@hamjudo From the last time Meh sold the microscope: Linux patch for the microscope I didn't have much luck once it was applied, but there's other people who have successfully used it under Linux with that or similar patches.
@dashcloud It has been a couple years since I built a kernel. My first attempt at building a module didn't work. I will try again when I have more time.
I got it to use as a magnification device for working on my watches, seeing slivers, inspecting my dogs for fleas, capturing photos of small parts, etc.. It's only $15 with s/h and is portable using a laptop. It's not meant to be a scientific instrument folks.
To those of you that are storing this in its box, unopened, Would you consider selling it (cheap) to a 4th grade school teacher? bruce.kryzer@kerrvilleisd.net
I set mine up per instructions and... Nothin'..!! Wadda rip-off.. so I slapped it around a bit and Bingo! It came up.. (guess it doesn't like being bitch slapped) so, as a last step after install, just give it a whack and it'll submit.. Top light won't work but I never intended to scope the ceiling anyway (meh!).
@janieb1953 Try not to take this the wrong way, but this item was sold September 2014- nearly two years ago: why did you wait until today to say something?
(If you’re not trolling, go here: https://meh.com/support and fill out the form and someone will get back to you).
Product Specs
Condition - New
Warranty - 1 Year Tasco
Ships Via - FedEx SmartPost
What’s in the box!?
Pictures
Tasco Microscope
Kids
Accessories and Microscope
In Use
Price Check
$42 at Amazon
Find a relevant price comparison? Please share it in a reply to this comment
Warranty
90 days
Lame.
@xEBRONx yeah boi.
Meh
My internet is so slow now I couldn't even get the first meh. meh
@jjohns71 yeah, what the fuck was that all about?
@somf69 We're in the battle for the net sire https://www.battleforthenet.com/?from=banner
I bought one of these the first time meh offered them, and it's done a GREAT job sitting in the box.
@jameh It is always kind of bad when a site starts selling something again and I realize I still have it sitting in the box from the last time they sold it.
@jameh yeah, I haven't opened mine either. As in they might have shipped me an empty cardboard box and I wouldn't know it yet.
@unlikely Muahahaha, project "ship empty boxes and see if anyone actually notices" is working perfectly.
@jameh I actually unboxed mine and discovered it worked great for soldering some small surface mount components! Worst case it's a 10$ soldering microscope!
@jameh Mine too! I think it really enjoys hiding in the box, on the dresser, under a stack or clothes that need to be put away.
@TehMaliron I was thinking of getting one for exactly the same purpose, but my computers are not on the same desk as the soldering station.
Got this thing last time and it does not work. The computer sees there is "something" connected but never did get it working on windows 7 or 8. Tried a few different computers and even reinstalled one completely - still nothing. The Meh people said to get to tasco, tasco said get to them so I am stuck with a red broken thing. Does light up though.
@Ectoprime "Does light up though" Maybe it would look nice on your Christmas tree.
@Ectoprime Same thing happened to me, I opened mine, and it lights up, but is never detected by the computer... My kids were stoked about it too.
Even using one of these you'd be unable to see how little I care...
I was going to buy one for my 11 year old but, I'm not sure now.
@somf69 don't
On the plus side, if you eradicate the S you'll have a Taco.
@SinNYC
@ChadP FOR ONCE AND FOR ALL! If you are filling the glass, when it is halfway, it's half full! If you are emptying the glass, when it is halfway, it's half empty! NOW LET US NEVER SPEAK OF THIS AGAIN. <3
@curtise "I've drank some of this, but it's still half full of you want the rest. ." "You offered me juice, but this glass is still half empty."
@curtise I guess it is the glass that you find in the middle of the woods with no one around, so you don't know if it was being filled or emptied. Whether you actually drink random glasses of strange liquids in the woods is a whole other set of tests that might involve some medical professionals.
Pour it in a smaller glass. Problem solved.
@ChadP While you guys were arguing about it, I drank it.
@ChadP It's all the way full...1/2 air, 1/2 liquid
@tightwad shut up you're the worst kind of person
@ChadP Does the package warn the 'consumer' not to attempt to eat this ta(s)co?
@ChadP What if the glass is half full of sour milk?
Just by price it is temping with VMP and free shipping, but I passed on those crappy stands yesterday that I thought sucked so I'm DEFINITELY passing on this. Probably better off burning the $10 than ordering this since I'd probably never actually use it.
Reviews are so so, but for $10 it's probably worth it for anyone who'd actually use it, can't get much for $10 these days.
@Stallion Dude, for ten bucks I can get a whole pizza at Costco.
@mamawoot Costco pizzas are disappointing. :(
@Albright
THEY'RE DELICIOUS
@mamawoot a crappy pizza at best.
@JonT what's it like not to have tastebuds?
@Stallion We could have passed on those crappy stands yesterday? Dang, I bought 2 (or 4 using Tuesday math)
@Albright One of the few things I think Sam's does better than Costco is pizza. Disclaimer: I've only had pizza from the Costco and two Sams in my hometown, so YMMV.
@Albright I enjoy Costco pizzas, and it is hard to beat the price.
Irk, please sum up my thoughts in song form:
@Collin1000 ha
I bought one of these the first time for my son, and it worked well with little effort setting it up. Sure it's not as powerful as the $500 microscope I have at my office, but for ten bucks, the kids have had a great time with it. We've looked at spiders, lightning bugs, leaves, rocks, coins and various other stuff he drags in. Only negative is that my wife gets annoyed when he sets it up on the dinner table while she's trying to get ready to eat.
@bweather These are the kind of reviews I'm looking for! Well done my friend.
@bweather why haven't you stolen the $500 one for them from work, like any normal parent? It's like you want your kids to fail. ;-)
@bweather Do you actually have lightening bugs (fireflies) in your neighborhood? DDT done eliminated 'em from mine and we STILL have those pesky skeeters.
@unkabob We still have them in my neighborhood. And TONS of mosquitoes
@Kleineleh Wow! I've been here in Northerm Utah going on six years and I think I've seen maybe one (can't really prove it as I saw some thing blink out of the side of my eye) North Texas (where I'm originally from) hasn't had them in decades.
@unkabob I'm in Dallas and they're around in some spots but definitely not like they used to be. Apparently all the light pollution is kind of a turnoff for them. Plus pesticides and perfectly manicured lawns. My neighborhood is pretty quiet and nearly pitch black at night and we had a few around in June and July.
@Kleineleh Yeah, that's great.. At least their not obsolete. I was born and raised in Fort Worth, glad to here from a Texas neighbor.
@unkabob @Kleineleh : They are still doing fine in WNY. I here from relatives that PA has a nice population as well.
@ceagee Godda love the 'lil critters.
haha meh.com - you've still not gotten a bite from ole unixrab. not one! keep trying mediocrebot !! lulz
I'm thinking this is powerful enough to scan my pets fecal matter for parasites and eggs since they usually start at 40-50x and then 100x when you see something you think may be a egg or worm.
$10 is sure cheaper than trips to the vet for multiple pets.
@Outofmymind Hopefully Meh will have a sale on exam gloves for you.
My 8 yr old son decided he wanted it to be wireless, needless to say it is now a imaginary bionic laser. Reminds me of how the Power Glove let me down as a child.
I'm tired. At first I thought it was a juicer.
Got one of these pieces of fecal matter when Woot offered them months back. Save your money of you've ever upgraded from XP. Neither Windows 7 nor 8 was able to make this work. It would see something, but what that something was was completely beyond its grasp. Called the company, they said it's a driver issue. Tried every driver made available, none of them worked. Tried compatibility mode, no dice. Called back 3 or 4 times, they basically said screw off.
Stay away from this crap. It's got bad joo joo all over it. I feel bad for the 135 suckers who have already purchased this. Good luck with that one...
@deafinoneear It worked fine for me with the supplied drivers, in Windows 7 64bit. I was disappointed Ubuntu didn't just see it as a video device though..
Bought it just in hopes of doing fecal exams as well. Hopefully it works (got win8).
I am one of the 110. I have not yet taken it out of the box. Right now it is Schroedinger's microscope; it may suck and it may not suck, but we can't know until we observe it. And that task will fall to my nephew this Christmas.
I'm just wondering what is the bussiness model of this site? Money pump from investor or what? Selling only a couple of $10 POSs a day with free shipping must mean they got these microscopes for free (I doubt it but may be possible by some large company in need to clean their warehouse) and they still barely make enough for the shipping cost. But how do they pay taxes, site, staff and packing costs?
Hey, meh guys, when do you plan to make profit? 20014?
@wishod Hey I think we made 75 cents on the x-minis. Oh and this story is the opposite of that one, you might note.
We're like mad scientist Steve Balmers. Experiments, Experiments, Experiments.
@snapster good luck guys, I hope you'll be able to sell your company and website for couple of billions to Microsoft to be included as homepage in every Windows Phone!
@wishod Well, I think they are going to get me...here's how... I'm not an VMP...yet. So, $15 for this POS, ahem, experiment. But then I'll be an VMP, right? And future mehs will appear more attractive, at least for the next month, so I buy might something I might not otherwise. So, if they are losing $0.45 on every sale, they'll lose even more when I buy more! No, wait, that's not how it's supposed to work. Is it?
@wishod Isn't that the same business model of Amazon? Don't make any money for the first 10 years.
@DeuceSevin I found it humorous that at time of acquisition, the total historical profitability of Woot was greater than that of Amazon. Clearly we should have bought them but we dropped the ball.
When they sell out to Amazon again?
Beyond "meh"...more like crap. I guess you have to endure the bad for teh good! Another reminder of the past...
I'm not sure what to think about all the people buying this to examine fecal matter. Is this some sort of fetish?
@woo545 I think some people are taking the whole "bag of crap" thing way too literally.
I had this same microscope when I was a kid. I mean, the exact same one but with a blue color instead of red. I had a lot of fun with it and it was a pretty good piece of tech - in 1998.
where is my congratulatory "nice job" for not buying this? I come to this site for abuse and receive kudos, I now expect kudos and what do i get? un-editorialized sales specs. boo, meh. boo.
@wookie indeed, "nice job" was demoted to help explain why we would torture you. non-editorial sales specs though? Are you not seeing these? Just so-so magnification - Cheap plastic construction - Blah video resolution (640x480) - Not compatible with Mac - Must use with the included software
@snapster If I intend to use this as a science-fueled-projectile (that would be a good order phase, btw), am I still required to use the included software?
@DaveInSoCal no but it'll look at you with disapproval
@snapster Oh, but it's so CUTE!!!
You all are looking at this wrong. There's a bunch of great uses for this valuable tool.
1) Give it to a child at your kid's school who's learning faster than your kid. This will allow them down and give yours ribs to catch up.
2) Bring it to Starbucks, sit at a table and start looking at their coffee beans. Make a lot of "hmmmm" and "ahhh" sounds, then sort the beans into two separate piles.
3) It's a microscope (debatable, but that's what it says on the label, right?). Just having it in your hands justifies unusual behavior like periodically jumping out of your chair, yelling "Eureka!" and running out of a room.
4) Having one automatically makes you a pseudoscientist. Buy this, then go make up some business cards.
It's all about perspective, people. This "microscope" will give you some.
@DaveInSoCal "This will allow them down and give yours ribs to catch up"
@JonT Translated from Korean using google I think...
@JonT stupid autoincorrect. Should read "This will slow them down and give your kid a chance to catch up." Although in hindsight I like the other version too...
@DaveInSoCal I like the original version better. The fact that your phone corrects "kids" to "ribs" proves you have your priorities in order.
you are right, I am wrong. your sales specs are editorial, my observations are not entirely accurate. you're smart, I'm dum. you're pretty, i'm ugly. you're clever, i'm engaging in a thread on an online shopping site. But still, thanks. I showed up for the abuse, but I'm staying for the bargains.
wait, strike that. reverse it.
@wookie you talk too much.
@RedHot no.
Thank you for joining the Internet Slowdown.
Apparently Californians (especially those in Los Angeles) really like meh stuff, including this
poslovely little microscope. I've noticed the ongoing trend of Cali being lit up like a theater marquee. I'll just assume this is due to all the Koreans ordering items through package forwarding services.yes, good assumption. though often it doesn't take much activity from South Koreans for those counties to light up (also one in Delaware).
@snapster Which also explains Florida and New York. In what feels like a previous life, I helped create the fraud department for a very large ecommerce company. Shipping addresses of forwarding companies were a huge red flag for us.
@harrison @hamjudo From the last time Meh sold the microscope: Linux patch for the microscope
I didn't have much luck once it was applied, but there's other people who have successfully used it under Linux with that or similar patches.
@dashcloud It has been a couple years since I built a kernel. My first attempt at building a module didn't work. I will try again when I have more time.
Why does it feel like this thing has been up for sale for more than a day? Much more than a day.
Windows 98 SE. Good times.
I can't believe over 700 people bought one of these things? What up with that?
@beachhead I know, right?
I got it to use as a magnification device for working on my watches, seeing slivers, inspecting my dogs for fleas, capturing photos of small parts, etc.. It's only $15 with s/h and is portable using a laptop. It's not meant to be a scientific instrument folks.
To those of you that are storing this in its box, unopened, Would you consider selling it (cheap) to a 4th grade school teacher? bruce.kryzer@kerrvilleisd.net
Bought one for my 7 year old. He loves it. We looked at a penny and a piece of a leaf on it last night. Got one for his second grade class too.
I set mine up per instructions and... Nothin'..!! Wadda rip-off.. so I slapped it around a bit and Bingo! It came up.. (guess it doesn't like being bitch slapped) so, as a last step after install, just give it a whack and it'll submit.. Top light won't work but I never intended to scope the ceiling anyway (meh!).
I did in fact get it to work under Linux. I present you the very meh photo that took a good hour to take:
Never received mine.
@janieb1953 Try not to take this the wrong way, but this item was sold September 2014- nearly two years ago: why did you wait until today to say something?
(If you’re not trolling, go here: https://meh.com/support and fill out the form and someone will get back to you).