Microscope buying help: CX21i vs. Theia-i (MLX-i)

[jayvee]

I want to buy a microscope for my daughter who is studying for BSc Biotech. I dont have much knowledge about microscopes, but with some amount of reading have homed in on two models - CX21i and Theia-i (MLX-i). Can someone who is familiar with scopes help me compare the two please.

 

[logistopath]

How much do either cost? We use Olympus in our department. It is very reliable, and the service is also good. In terms of specs, both Olympus and Magnus that you have mentioned have very similar specs with just minor variations. However, when it comes to microscopes, Olympus, Leica, Carl Zeiss, Nikon, etc are some of the big reliable names. I would opt for Olympus out of the two.
P.S: Where are you from?

 

[jayvee]

The Olympus CX21i with LED is 58K. The MLX-i (originally known as Theia-i) is also from Olympus, but manufactured in India. This is priced at 38K. Since, I am not from the scientific community, it is very hard for me to make out the differences, other than the price, which is huge. I am from Bangalore.

Here are the links:

CX21i : http://www.olympusoptosystems.in/Products.htm

MLX-i (aka Theia-i) : http://www.magnusoptics.com/theia-i-1

 

[logistopath]

Where did you get the pricing from? LED source is good, but I guess the halogen lamp variants will be cheaper. As I mentioned earlier, as per the specs, both options are almost similar. Do check with your daughter if an Olympus CH20i with halogen lamp source would suffice her needs. The last I checked, it cost around 40K. Optics are excellent (which is what matters a lot in microscopes. The higher pricing for the big name microscopes is because of the quality of internal optics).

 

[jayvee]

It is a surprise I am planning for my daughter, so I don't want to inform her. I did not want to pick up the CH20i as it is semi-plan. The CX21i is an infinity scope...so is the MLX-i (Theia-i). The final price offered to me for the CX21i (LED) is 53K and for the MLX-i (LED) is 42K...a difference of 11K. But I don't know what the technical differences are.

Could you make out anything from the links I sent you?

 

[logistopath]

I did not want to pick up the CH20i as it is semi-plan.

Fair enough. Plan achromat is always better than semi plan, although I'm not sure if it's gonna be very critical for your daughter's use.

But I don't know what the technical differences are.
Could you make out anything from the links I sent you?

As mentioned earlier, I could find very minor differences. Both come with plan achromat objectives, and wide 10x eyepiece. Stage seems to accommodate 2 slides at a time for the Magnus, while only 1 slide is possible for the Olympus (not much of a critical difference again). Everything else seems to be similar from what I can see in the brochures. It all comes down to the quality I guess.

P.S: You haven't mentioned where you got the price from.

 

[jayvee]

I contacted the Olympus office here in Bangalore and they coordinated with a distributor of theirs to give me the price.