The Popular and Best Microscope Brands

For many of us, our introduction to the wonderful world of microscopy starts in school- specifically, the science lab. And, if you’re like me who had an amazing experience learning about tiny organisms, insects, crystalline structures, and the like, you probably don’t want the fun to end once you leave the campus.

Want to find a great microscope from the top microscope brands on the market? Here’s a handy guide to some of the best microscope brands in 2021 that offer wide selections of amazing microscopes and microscope accessories at reasonable prices.

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1. Omax

Omax is a relatively young brand in the microscope industry, having been in existence for roughly 46 years. It’s a well-established brand that constantly produces some of the best microscopes we see in various labs and research facilities today. The company’s foundation lies in the belief that technology is the way to improve education.

As such, the key to this microscope brand’s success is its culture of innovation that paves the way for developing high-quality software and products geared towards fostering a connected environment for learning. The result is dozens of different models suited for both students and professionals.

For instance, their student-friendly microscope models are designed to cultivate an interest in microscopy and come with features that encourage active participation and sharing. These include cameras, LED screens, and software for image editing, group observations, and specimen analysis. All of these features make for an enhanced learning experience.

Features:

Wide range of products geared towards learning and professional applications
Innovative measures towards increased functionality and ease of use
Focus on methods for sharing, learning, and engaging students
Best microscope brand for high-precision optical specialist microscopes
Exceptional visual presentation and multifunctional features

Top Omax microscopes

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Some of the best Omax microscopes are:

OMAX 40X-2500X Lab LED Binocular Microscope, a compound microscope that is equipped with a fully adjustable dual-layer mechanical stage. It boasts of solid metal construction and oil immersion objectives, and it comes with blank specimen slides, coverslips, and a pack of lens cleaning paper.
OMAX – MD82ES10 40X-2000X Digital LED Compound Microscope, a professional, high-quality microscope that comes with a built-in 1.3-megapixel camera for documenting and recording live specimens, and is compatible with both Windows and Mac software.
OMAX 40X-2500X LED Digital Trinocular Compound Microscope, a high magnification light microscope with a triple viewing head fitted with achromatic DIN lenses. It features adjustable optical diopters, transmitted illumination with LED lights, and a high-resolution 5-megapixel camera.

2. Amscope

Another leading microscope manufacturer is Amscope, which is an even younger brand that has surprisingly managed to beat the odds and make its mark in the elitist industry by offering a wide array of superior products at incredibly low prices.

The mission of this microscope brand is to further the advancement of science by making great microscopes easily available to all kinds of customers regardless of socioeconomic background. This is why they have a vast selection of microscopes and microscope accessories for amateur and professional users alike.

Perhaps the reason why the company is highly successful in this venture is that they take the lead in designing, manufacturing, and distributing their products, thereby allowing them to really target key areas that need improvement to better meet the market’s needs.

Features:

Wide range of models suited for different applications
Diverse customer base from kids to bio-medical research professionals
Outstanding customer service and positive consumer relations
Innovative culture with laser-like focus on accessibility, quality, and value

Top Amscope microscopes

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Below are the top 3 most popular Amscope microscopes:

AmScope 40X-1000X Beginners Microscope Kit, a complete set of microscopy accessories for curious kids and young students. It comes with the “World of The Microscope” guide book, blank and prepared slides, specimen stains, and lots of handy tools to help budding scientists prepare their own specimens.
AmScope M150C-I 40X-1000X Biological Compound Microscope, a student microscope featuring a sturdy and durable all-metal construction, high-quality glass optics, a convenient cordless design, and a 360-degree revolving monocular head with variable magnification.
AmScope SE400-Z Professional Binocular Stereo Microscope, an industrial-grade microscope with 10 and 20x magnification provided by interchangeable widefield eyepieces. Among its features are an adjustable boom-arm and stand, and bright, adjustable gooseneck LED lighting.

3. Nikon

You might know Nikon as a leading camera brand, but they are also one of the biggest microscope manufacturers worldwide, easily competing with the top microscope brands you see today. The Nikon company has been around since 1917, and its products are backed by a century of innovation and experience.

In fact, in the US, Nikon offers the biggest collection of microscope products on the market, with each model displaying the brand’s strengths- creativity and technological innovation. These values enabled this Japanese microscope brand to grow and adapt to the changing times in order to better meet the customers’ needs.

Not only that, these values have also paved the way for Nikon to be a revolutionary in some of the most notable scientific moments in history, especially in the field of imaging technology. Today, the Nikon brand is the market leader when it comes to industrial and biological microscopes. They also have the Nikon Museum of microscopy displaying their older models.

Features:

In-house glass manufacturing paving the way for the highest quality optics
Enhanced capabilities and functionalities to meet the needs of different research fields
Highly durable mechanical componentry and a wide selection of useful accessories
The impressive resolution, contrast, and fields of view

Top Nikon microscopes

Among the best Nikon microscopes are the following:

Nikon N-SIM S Super-Resolution Microscope System, a unique illumination system with a high-speed structure that can achieve a 15fps top acquisition speed for capturing fast biological processes. It can be used in combination with a confocal microscope to better target key locations and view them in extreme resolution.
Nikon A1 HD25/A1R HD25 Confocal Microscope, the best confocal microscope in its class with the widest field of view at 25 mm. It expands the limits of research and science by allowing users to observe and document large samples like living organisms, tissues, and organs.
Nikon Eclipse Ni-E Upright Microscope, an advanced research microscope that is fully motorized and can offer automatic acquisition capabilities when dealing with multi-dimensional specimen images. It’s a flexible, expandable, and customizable optical tool that can be used in a wide range of applications.

4. Leica

Perhaps one of the oldest existing microscope brands today is Leica, which was founded in 1869. Aside from also being a premium camera brand, Leica is a global leader in the world of optical system design and production, constantly producing state of the art products intended for industrial, medical, and scientific communities.

The brand works closely with said communities and fosters an innovative culture that allows the company to set new industry standards time and again. The unbeatable quality and superior optics of Leica microscopes is one of the brand’s biggest strengths, especially when it comes to their large frame research microscopes.

Leica also continues to take innovative steps geared towards revolutionizing the microscopy industry. This is evident in the way they continuously produce versatile microscopes that are suitable for various applications, uses, and techniques.

Features:

Adaptable ergonomics that meet the user’s needs and requirements
Customizable microscope models with specialized viewing systems
Focus on high precision, accuracy, reliability, and safety
Wide range of high-quality accessories geared towards functionality and efficiency

Top Leica microscopes

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Check out these amazing Leica microscopes:

Leica Microsystems 10450311 A60 F Stereo Microscope, an easy to use, a preconfigured system that boasts of easy handling, great depth of field, and uniform, neutral, and bright LED illumination. It’s available with a flex arm stand for freedom of movement, as well as a swing arm stand for optimum stability.
Leica Microsystems 10447197 EZ4 Stereo Microscope, an entry-level low magnification optical microscope suitable for students and hobbyists interested in the fields of anatomy, biology, and chemistry. It features a 7-way LED illumination system that offers ample lighting and three-dimensional specimen imagery.
Leica Microsystems 10450310 A60 S Stereo Microscope, a routine manual stereoscope that is ideal for quality control, assembly, and inspection applications in the fields of medical devices, PCB and electronics, and jewelry and watchmaking. Among its best features include great depth of field, high resolution, and convenient operations.

5. Olympus

Among the handful of good microscope, brands is Olympus, which has been around in the industry since the 1920s. It’s a well-known brand that has quite a few important contributions to the field of microscopy, and regularly produces world-renowned, high-quality microscopy instruments focused on meeting the market’s needs through technological advancements.

As such, Olympus microscopes are known for their ergonomics and performance. They have a wide range of products in various sizes, magnifications, and functionalities geared towards hobbyists, students, and professional users.

This microscope brand not only outputs new innovations periodically but also continues to evolve their older, more basic models and transforms them into newer, more advanced versions that come with special incorporated features designed for enhanced performance, including better resolution and contrast, as well as expanded viewing fields.

Features:

Ease of use even for beginners, students, and young users
Durability, flexibility, and viability in learning environments
Increased functionality for diverse applications in different fields
Great overall performance with constant improvements and innovations

Top Olympus microscopes

Here are the best microscopes from Olympus:

Olympus CX43/CX33 Biological Microscope, a comfortable optical tool for routine high throughput microscopy with superior ergonomic features including a contoured microscope frame that conforms to the user’s hands, optimized control knob locations for efficiency and convenience, and one-handed operations.
Olympus MVX10 Macro Zoom Fluorescence Microscope System, an intuitive and flexible stereo microscope that’s designed for efficiency in terms of high fluorescence. It’s intended for researchers studying protein function and gene expression in organisms, tissues, and organs at the cellular level.
Olympus FV3000 Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope, a modern, revolutionary microscope system pioneering a new generation of modern science with unique features such as high speed and sensitivity, which are valuable in deep tissue observation and live-cell imaging.

6. Zeiss

Among the oldest microscope brands in the world is Zeiss, which is also one of today’s largest optical equipment manufacturers. This company has always been at the forefront of innovation when it comes to microscope manufacturing and design. Naturally, the brand fosters an innovative culture that cultivates its continued success.

Today, Zeiss has a wide offering of some of the industry’s best surgical microscopes, and it’s also one of the top electron microscope brands worldwide. The brand is also a leader when it comes to microscope parts, service, manufacturing, and electronics, with their entire fleet of microscopes a testament to quality, health, and safety.

Furthermore, Zeiss also manufactures a wide arrow of microscopes and microscopy accessories for a variety of applications, such as ion beam microscopes, electron microscopes, laser scanning microscopes with confocal systems, standard light microscopes, and so on.

Features:

Exceptional flexibility with highly configurable microscope models
Multifunctional products suitable for a wide range of uses
Software solutions perfectly tailored for image documentation and processing
Huge portfolio of surgery, ion beam, and electron microscopes

Top Zeiss microscopes

A couple of great examples of innovative Zeiss microscopes include:

Zeiss Axioscope.A1 Upright Light Microscope, a uniquely designed optical tool that offers superior user comfort with the best viewing experience possible. It comes with well-positioned control knobs, a vibration-reducing pyramidal frame, and other outstanding features.
Zeiss EVO Scanning Electron Microscope, a modular SEM platform that is designed for research applications, routine investigations, and intuitive operations. It’s a high performing yet user friendly microscope that new and experienced users alike are sure to appreciate, especially with the comprehensive range of solutions available.
Zeiss Stemi 305 Compact Greenough Stereo Microscope, a 5:1 zoom stereoscope for industrial production and biological education. It allows for three dimensional viewing of specimens in crisp contrast and with little to no preparation requirements. It’s also really easy to use with integrated parts and components.

Other microscope brands to check out

Looking for other good microscope brands? Below is a list of other reputable microscope manufacturers from all around the world:

Dino-Lite

Actually a baby brand of another microscope manufacturer, Omano, Dino-Lite is a popular line of digital USB microscopes that are powerful, reliable, and compact. The entire series is available in TV/AVI or USB output, and is geared towards individual users, educational institutions, government use, and industrial applications such as health sciences, law enforcement, and quality control.

Jenoptik

Jenoptik ProgRes is a german microscope brand offering a wide range of Firewire and USB digital microscope cameras that are intended for high-end industrial applications and life sciences demanding superior color resolution. Jenoptik microscopes are cost-effective optical tools that don’t compromise on quality and performance.

Meiji

Another Japanese microscope brand aside from Nikon is Meiji, which is popular for its sizable collection of microscopes and microscopy accessories. This brand is in constant high demand in both the educational and industrial markets, and has recently ventured into laboratory applications.

Motic

A well-known Chinese microscope brand name in the field of stereo, compound, and digital microscopes is Motic. This Hong Kong based manufacturer produces a wide range of high quality microscopes designed for laboratory and educational applications. They come from the parent company, Speed Fair Co., which also owns Swift Microscopes and National Optical.

National Optical

Motic’s sister brand, National Optical, is more focused towards educational applications and younger users in elementary and middle school. As such, most of their microscope models are user-friendly and easy to use stereoscopes and compound light microscopes, although the brand also offers several specialty and digital microscopes.

Omano

Omano is a microscope brand that is sold by Microscope.com., and has been in the market as early as 1998. All Omano microscopes are manufactured in China, which translates to decent quality optics at affordable prices. As such, Omano microscopes are ideal for everyday users, as well as for educational, industrial, electrical, and clinical applications. You’ll find great Omano microscopes anywhere from nursery schools to NASA facilities.

Optixcam

Finally, OptixCam is a house brand of The Microscope Store, LLC, and offers an impressive lineup of high quality digital microscope cameras. These microscope cams are general purpose tools that are ideal for image capturing and documentation, and offer a great value for money. The brand also offers several sophisticated CCD cameras intended for lab research, which are known for superior color resolution despite the low prices.

Overview

Now that you’ve seen all these good microscope brands, the question is: which one is the best?

Truth is, the answer really depends on you. Buying a microscope should, first and foremost, be based on the user’s specific needs.

Who is using the microscope? What is his skill level and understanding of microscopy? What types of specimens will he study? What kinds of results does he expect to get? These are just some of the questions that need to be answered before you can buy the right microscope for you.

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Last update on 2025-03-19 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API