Thinking of buying a microscope...

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I am interested in biology and want to buy a microscope. But I am completely new to microscopes and, like buying a camera, all the different types and models are a bit overwhelming. I have a few questions.

- I mainly want a microscope to see tiny animals (e.g. tardigrades and rotifers) and protists. Being able to see bacteria would be nice too, but I know they're a lot smaller and it might be too expensive. I have no idea of the prices though, so:
- What magnification do I need to see these things?
- And how much would it cost to have a microscope with that magnification?

I also have some kind of eye disorder (not sure what) which means I only see with one eye at a time. Would that cause any problems?

And does anyone have any recommendations, bearing in mind what I've said?

(I posted this on Yahoo Answers first, but got no answer (No-one ever answers me on Yahoo Answers. Maybe it's because my questions are too open), so I came here. Hopefully some of you will know something about microscopes.)

Most microscopes are not binocular, so you will not have that problem.

Do you know how to stain your specimens. You will have to learn that.

ruveyn

For your general usage, this microscope should work out just fine. It's similar to one I've had since I was 6, and I never had any issues with seeing both small animals and bacteria. If you need to see something smaller, all that you'd need to do is buy a new eyepiece. If you're just using it for "recreational" purposes, learning how to stain really isn't that necessary. If you put a drop of pond water in, you'll have no issues finding things swimming around. It's only really necessary for differentiating between certain bacteria species (it's still not a bad skill to know).

well, most microscopes have a barrel with several objectives so you can change the magnification. probably up to 100x magn should be good enough.

i would recommend to look up used scientific equipement stores. there are bunch of them online. also edmund scientific has a range of deucational toys but also sells real scientific equipement so they'll probably be better.

There is some microscope sell for kids, and they work just fine. I had one for christmas when I was little who could up to 900X, enough for seing microscopic life. The main problem was the necessity to frequently change the tiny light bulb, but nowadays with LEDs it's likely not a problem anymore. By searching you certainly can found something that fit you.

Another possibility; used professional gear. I used to work at a Bio company, and they would send pallets of microscopes, etc., to companies for resale.

A lot of microscopes nowadays look like they have hookups for computers on them. I know I saw a lot of people doing research that way. Beats bashing your eyes against a binocular mount...;0