Some of the comments here are just plain mean. I thought this was a great video and it helped me. There are so many of these Chinese cameras out there and to see someone review them who is actually a technician is very helpful. Keep up the good work!

Ohhhh I've been looking for a descent microscope for sometime and kinda gave up as I only found cheap&nasty or super expensive $3000+ I'm LOVED this Andostar 302 HD.. looks like they've got everything right and a good price too (this is not expensive, it could easily cost 10x or more) Thanks for this reeeeeeally good and honest review... so much POWEEEEEERRR

I graduated to a andonstar 302 from a 201.i used the 201 for several months and it does a fantastic job but i gotta say the 302 is leaps and bounds better not just a tad better. If you are spending more then $50 for a 201 just do yourself a favor and spend the extra $150 for the 302 cause its worth every single penny.

Im really digging the Andonstar ADSM 302 HD. Bit pricey but the output quality is just amazing. Thank you for the review!

Great comparison video.. Exactly what I was looking for. Currently, I use an 8 Mpixel that produces an excellent picture. I use it professionally, on a shoestring budget. It was about $100 on Amazon. The pix appears on the computer screen. I did have to make a custom mount for it to be useful.The overall problem I have with all of these is that they produce a 2-D image, no depth perception. I did get "used" to it, but. I'm used to 3-D with a stereo microscope, but at 2kilobucks. I'm waiting for a VR hood for the stereo USB microscope.BTW, another reason why the advertised resolution is not met, is that the salespeople just plain have no clue what they're talking about.Thanks again.

I've got the black Andonstar and it is great; you can focus at a far enough distance so you can comfortably get your soldering iron in there.

Helpful, Thanks. Everyone Ive been looking at tells you in the specs how low/close you’ll possibly need to be for figuring out your needed working distance& space. for many people thats major buying criteria especially for soldering work. Yes generics are available before being branded, but gains in savings may be lost in support especially in language options, etc.

Thanks for the comparison of those 4 model. i really appreciated u used same items and show how it looks from each video.. thanks!

Fantastic! I was able to cancel my order for a cheapo $36 scope and decided the ADSM302 little brother 301 is a much smarter investment for my older eyes. Thanks for the great review

This is the best Andonstar ADSM302 HD Microscope review out of all the others here on KZfaq..Very Helpful..We can see working distance Picture Quality and everything in detail man..I am going to buy this for sure within a month.good job.

MP (mega-pixel) IS important depending on what youre doing with the images.. if you are using them to look over the pic it took for faults and such then you would want a high MP cause that gives you a better ability to zoom in onto the pic after it has been taken, basically the higher the MP then the further you'll be able to zoom in before it starts to get fuzzy/loss of detail.

The Levenhuk DTX rc3 actually has a 3 megapixel camera. It can produce 12 megapixel pictures but they are really just blown up and do not contain more information than 3 mp pictures.

Nice comparison. I made an LED ring light that works with both andonstar microscopes and I also use a microphone boom arm instead of the original stand, you might like to check the videos on my channel. I added a battery to my adsm201, it has the pads for the battery on the PCB so you can just solder a small lithium battery, it's not that I need to use it outside or anything, it's mainly because the settings would reset everytime I disconnected the power. The adsm302 although it also can take a battery inside it already has a small backup battery to save the settings.

I found this video extremely helpful and one of the best on KZfaq to compare these types of microscopes, which led me to get the even larger (but same camera) AD407 - however - I wish Andonstar would give real specifications instead of telling you what magnification you can get on a screen they don't supply (up to 270x on a 27" screen?). Unfortunately they also fail to tell you the minimum magnification you can expect - I'm an electronics hobbyist, and for the majority of soldering I do, 2-3x zoom would be great, otherwise I'll always be moving the work around - at full height, with the camera mounted on the lower lens ring, you will only see about 25-30mm of PCB - I could not view a whole Wemos D1 chip on screen at minimum zoom. For a product sold to aid with electronics (and clearly not aimed at professionals), the magnification offered feels far too high.

You usually get what you pay for 90% of the time. I am getting the 302 right after this comment. I have been working this guy so I am at 170$ that's a steal honestly. I'm going to be using it for coins and that's plenty of enough space to move coins in and out plus i like the HDMI option. Thanks brother for the awesome review and actually showing the quality for comparison. Most reviews dont show live comparison like yourself.

for simple soldering the right most one is quite easy and nice. you do need a custom 3d printed base depending on how large pcb's you want to solder

Glad I found this review. You sold me on the ADSM302, looks leagues better that the stuff I've been looking at. Thanks!

For a microscope for working (vs. inspection), latency and focus depth are more important than image quality. I bougtht a cheapo one to try & the latency is so bad it induces tremors as the brain tries to correct for the delayed image

Great stuff! Was looking for a decent microscope for smd work, and this was just what I needed to see! Thanks!

Great video on the cheaper microscopes available. I actually use the first one you showed, it is cheap and cheaply made but it is very useful for me and I have used it on several electronics repair videos. If you look hard enough you can find it available with the silver ajustable stand up like the 3rd one you showed. I would love to have one like the 302 you showed. It looks really good. The older I get the more I love these little digital microscopes!

Very nice comparison with all important details. That´s what the people need and not bla bla bla! Thank you Sir!

Both Andonstar models you show have 3MPx sensors and just upscale to 12MPx photos. The 302 model showed better photo, because of more magnification and you just had different angle of the light. When filming open microchip reflected light changes how it looks dramatically. Probably the lens is a little better, but overall it is not much different. Unfortunately both Andonstar models output only 720p to PC over USB. 1080p is only on HDMI. What I like on the 203 is the large enough display for actual work. I am still deciding which one to buy, but I guess it will be the 201 model as it is half the price or 302 and not that much worse if you use PC or monitor.

Thanks for your video: I am looking for a digital microscope for SMD soldering and was bewildered by the number of options out there. Your video was very helpful and I enjoyed watching it.

Very interesting. I have one like the last one with an 8.5” screen. My one complaint is that minimum magnification is 50x and sometimes I’d be happier with 10x. When I first got it part of me wished I’d bought one with eyepieces over one with a screen because I struggled a bit with depth, especially when using tweezers. However, it doesn’t take much practice at all to get used to using one. I am the ultimate amateur and was previously using a jeweller’s visor, the difference even a lower end microscope is phenomenal.

12:12 thats a no brainer. Being able to have this much travel (or free space) will allow you to easily put a hot air gun between the microscope and the pcb

This is not intended to be harsh, because this video is genuinely useful and sincerely appreciated. But in the spirit of trying to be helpful, here are a few suggestions. Write out a script that 1. describes the goal of the video and gives us your specific evaluation criteria 2. shows the scopes and how they compare using the framework you set for us in part 1. and 3. wraps it all up with a few concise summaries and conclusions. This video (forgive me if I sound like a dick) spends a lot of time - yours and ours - unnecessarily. It meanders back and forth, mentions this and that randomly, etc. etc. With some more prep work, it could be a high quality, professional review. Btw, it took me 55 minutes to compose this comment. Lots of false starts, reworked sentences, entire parts deleted, others moved from back and forth. But I wanted to be as concise and clear as I could, so I took the time. That’s basically all I’m suggesting. That said, I’m glad you made the video as it really is helpful.

Thank you for this! but how about lag? do they have lag in the video? good job man

Nice review! Do you know if those resolutions are true resolution or if there is some shady upscaling going on like you often see on the cheapest cameras/microscopes?

I have the Mustek G600 from Banggood, which I believe is the same microscope as the Koolertron 4.3. Nice video.

The lack of range in the 2nd microscope can be alleviated by locking the screw above the diffuser, instead of above the focus ring.

Thanks for the review. I am currently looking at the AM4115ZT Dino-lite for soldering electronic components. The cost for this is $630.00 usd.

Hi, can you tell me about where you bought your red magnetic stand for your microscope (G600) the first left with its forceps? Thank you

Great review. But not enough close ups of super tiny things. Can you find a 01005 SMD to zoom in on?? Or better: 008004. I'd like to see how close it can make them appear

Hi there, thanks 10x for this review! Comes in handy as I am looking for a soldering microscope. Question: Does Andostar ADSM302 have any latency in the video? With other words, say you are soldering under the microscope, do you feel any delay between soldering and this being visualised on the screen for you. Do you need to artificially slow down yourself down in order to see/get soldering right or this latency completely unnoticeable? Is there any difference in the latency between the build in screen/monitor/USB?

Thanks for the review. Didn't mention if the 302 has record capability.

Thank you for this review! It helped me a lot!

Thank you very much for your time !!! Super !!!

You seem to talk about the quality of "pictures" a lot but to be honest as a soldering aid I am not interested in how well it takes pictures. I need to know what it is like in use whilst soldering. ie, is there a decent working distance? Is there any latency between the camera and screen? Is the stand stable? will it maintain focus in use? what is the clarity of the screen in use? If there is going to be a part 2 to this comparison, could you please demonstrate the microscopes in use as soldering microscopes. I bought a cheap "soldering" microscope, the USB type that you plug into a computer and it was as much use as a chocolate coffee pot. The colors are off, it won't stay in focus, it wobbles all over the place in use and worst of all there is about a 200-millisecond latency on it. It's absolutely terrible. So I have ordered a good old-fashioned optical microscope for soldering work.instead. It has X20 and X40 lenses, a good focal distance and a good solid stand.

I have the Andonstar ADSM201, and although it does record full 1080 when using the USB, the HDMI out is only 720 regardless of what it is set to. I was a little disappointed in that since using it with a 1080 monitor was my primary intention, the 720 still looks good but it wasn't what I paid for. Also there seems to be an issue with windows 7, I could get it to record but the program got an error trying to use the preview screen. In Linux it worked without a hitch, i must say there is a lot of lag though.

Thanks for sharing 😀👍, I have thought about buying one of those microcops 👍

first 3 really look like modified dash cams, 1st one basically is.

i have the 1st andonstar from years ago 1600x1200 which had no lcd and was 15fps def getting on the 302 now

It would be nice to see each one "in action". Zooming in on a chip is marvelous, but in practice you usually have lower magnification. If the microscope can't capture video [and even if it can] then videos from an adjacent camera showing smoke blowing on sensors, or a soldering iron trying to reach a joint, make for a great visual aid to go with your comments.

Enjoyed your review in the microscopes, thanķs

This review made up my mind to buy one, keep up the good reviews

As an Electronic Technician, I don't understand the push for Videos and Pictures in a Microscope. For homework, I only want to use the microscopes to better see what I am doing on SMD boards. Unless you are required to document the work or rework you are doing, videos and pictures mean nothing to the Electronics Technician.

Looks like a Noga mount would work great. Thanks for the review

thanks for the review, doesn't look like much has changed in this market since you posted this. My own research point me to the 302 as the one i need for mineral examination (and having a good image stored). Would also be good for stamp and coin collectors as well as all sorts of hobbies.

Which one is best suited for electronics technician work based on fact that a solder iron have to be used under it at any given time when working on SMD's circuitry?

What is minimum magnification of ADSM 302, 301, and 201?

The 1st one, with the red base, is what i can afford. Thanks for the comparisons 🤓

I don't understand why the ability and quality of taking photos is of any concern when you are talking about using microscopes to assist with soldering.

Excellent product!

I looked this microscope up up on ebay (price seems to range $300 - $400 US) and the spec does show a 12 MP photo resolution...but, also a 3 MP image sensor. The image looks really good in your video but, I really do question the interpolating of pixels. Thoughts?

I think it is unfortunate that you criticize a microscope for not having enough space beneath it to do soldering work when the microscope was designed for viewing, not working.

The Andonstar 302 is $350, but there's an Andonstar 301 out there too, going for only about $200. It appears to be similar, but lower magnification (up to 260×) and lower focus range (5-12 cm) and with a slightly different form factor for the stand.

Nice informative video it helped me decide on a microscope for electronics. i chosen the cheapest since the range is better.

Muy buena comparativa. Muchas Gracias por compartirla.

Great video, thanks for all the detail. It sure is a big help for a novice

Amazing video, thanks, now I know what to purchase.

Спасибо! Интересное сравнение!

Thanks for the review, I'm getting into watch repair and adsm302 looks to be what would give me the room to work on the watch. Has anyone used it for this by the way?

thank you for the demo.sir

what kind of batteries does the remote take?

Thanks for taking the time to make the video. I have a few questions. How do these compare to a stereo optical microscope for rework and other manual soldering? What is the latency like on these devices, and general speed of the UI? What are the optical and digital zoom capabilities like? The views you show are quite close in, certainly more so than I'd generally use, and I regularly go down 0.4mm pitch and 0201 passives, sometimes even 01005 size. How well would these digital microscopes work with, day, a 2" diagonal target? Thanks again!

I think its hard not to take a kick back. 🤣👍🏻 I mean if it was me what would I do? Geezez. 😆😂 I'll just take the money.😎 Ok cue the Bob Segar "Old time rock and roll.

Hello, thanks for the share. Can you tell me if it´s possible to have via HDMI only the image, without timer, icons, etc. I am thinking about use this ANDONSTAR AD407 for a art perfomance and I am looking for only the image. thank you very much.

Perfect video and thank you for sharing ❤😊

just got a cheap one as i only use for free friends repair work, waiting for it, but sure will suck.

Hi there, very interesting video, thanks ! I think the 302 is ideal for my needs, but I am wondering about the field of view (max and min). I would say that the biggest thing I would ever need to take a pic of would be 20mm squared. Even that would be unusually large. 99% would be under 10mm. Would be interested to know what you estimate this thing can go up to. Many thanks !

cual es el mejor microscopio para reparar celulares

Great review thanks

Hello! I have a question I don’t feel is asked too often about these particular microscopes. I’m wondering if the ADSM302 is good for looking at plants, bugs, or just things around the house that you want to see up close? I’m interested in the scope for just fun and curiosity. Thanks in advance! 😊

Very nicely done

Thanks for the great review! I ordered the Andonstar 302HD after shopping for the less expensive version after seeing it in your last video. It hasn't arrived yet, but it's great to see the difference. Sounds like I made the right choice. What's are the latencies like on these?

Anyway you can show how you made the base to the first one? I am purchasing that camera and would like to assemble the base like yours. I just cannot see how it's all put together. I'm a better visual learner. Thanks. Make a video of it?

Thank you.

Nice review, lots of useful info. P.S. If AvE see you didn't assemble the ruler, shes gonna release the shmoooooo... :D

Question. The one with the added base. Where can I get that base? I just ordered it and it should be here in a few days.

Wouldn’t it better to get a cheap (80-90$) stereo microscope?

I noticed you wearing a respirator. Do you recommend any respirator for soldering fumes? I don't wanna breathe in too much bad stuff. With Covid it's harder to find one but I still would appreciate any recommendation.

All your links show unavailable items and one really shady site.

Did you managed it to connect them to a PC and use a software where you can change contrast, brightness, color and so on?

yh you can see the detail on that last 1 its decent

prices have come way down . i got the G600 on ebay for $35 with free shipping!

Andonstar ADSM302 HD Microscope ----Question can you run the Microscope display and the extra display while recording?

Great informative video thank you

Hi, are these things good for regular soldering (no SMC but regular through hole stuff etc)? I am starting to be pissed off at my augment lent “second hand” and thinking about trying something more professional.

Thanks for the info I had no Idea what I was getting into.

How do you prevent the soldering fumes from setting on the lens?

Andonstar ADSM302 amzn.to/2CfmUvh suo.im/3KYdli Andonstar ADSM201 amzn.to/2CuRjsG Koolerton 4.3” Microscope amzn.to/2Cfmo0j Koolerton 2.3” Microscope amzn.to/2CxyRQo

for adsm302 you said 12megapixels. but the amazon link description say 3megapixels. ?

thanks for video reviews...

The ADSM302 has a 3 mp sensor, not 12 as stated.

Great review! Thanks!

I would say 1 and 2 are more PCB inflection stations. 4 not bad, how is it working from a monitor? I tried using external out to a 20 inch monitor, or 40 inch tv. The depth of view just isn’t the same as looking down a microscope. To bad they don’t disclose that size the sensor is, or what sensor it uses. If you knew the size you could play with other lenses and maybe even increase the working distance without loosing quality. Yes, I agree megapixels don’t matter to much with the live image or HD recordings. It does help a little if your going to post editing a photo and do some major cropping on a photo. But for me, I don’t keep photos around, so it doesn’t matter. The sensor size does matter for letting in more light and capturing more area. Does the negative view help at all with finding traces like on black soldering mask boards? Well I’m more curious then anything on how some of the better ones stack up to a microscope, but not willing to pay $300 to find out. But for free I would have given it a try also. I’ve never used the measuring distance software myself for my setup, but i guess if your designing a board and know the dimensions of the components out need to fit onto an existing board then it might be useful. I think some of the features are not exactly targeted at electronics only, but for other hobbies as well. Nice comparison.

how do you come up with 12 Mega pixels

What do you need for an auxiliary light?

Take a look at the AmScope SE400 stereo microscope. It's fairly cheap ($150-200 depending on eyepieces), and works MUCH better than any camera because it is STEREO! With it I easily manually solder 0402's, and place 0201's for reflow (they are too damn small for manual soldering).

Here are more photos of a 2cm wide board taken with the 4 units: Andonstar ADSM302 taken @ 20.5cm i.imgur.com/uzFEcRA.jpg Andonstar ADSM201 taken @ 12cm i.imgur.com/Zh7Pf5I.jpg 2.5" "Koolertron" Microscope taken @ 11cm with no light i.imgur.com/cVwB9KZ.jpg 2.5" "Koolertron" Microscope taken @ 11cm with light at lowest setting i.imgur.com/gLUf2KR.jpg 4.3" "Koolertron" Microscope taken @ 21cm i.imgur.com/9HJ58hx.jpg