Product Review
Achiever Microscope

by Don Clark CSM, President, International Gem Society

Achiever Microscope

$259 + $10 Shipping
GreatScopes
P.O. Box 1948 Jamestown, NC 27282
www.greatscopes.com
Toll Free (877) 454-6364

Achiever Microscope Features: • Dual 10x wide field eyepieces, fully adjustable for both children and adults to look into • Your choice of paired 1x and 3x objectives (yielding 10 and 30 power) or 2x and 4x objectives (yielding 20 and 40 power) • The dual eyepieces and paired objectives result in 3-D viewing • Inclined binocular head rotates a full 360 degrees for comfortable viewing • Helical rack and pinion focusing with tension adjustment and slip clutch to protect gear system • Stage area can view objects as tall as 60 mm • Finish is acid and reagent resistant • 110 mm x 150 mm stage has a 75 mm stage plate. Stage plate is frosted glass with fluorescent light beneath • The Achiever is: 12.75 inches High 9 inches Long 6.5 inches Wide 9 lbs. in weight.

... A microscopes is one of the gemologists most useful tools. They range in price from a couple hundred dollars to around $7,000. If you can afford the best, then you should certainly consider it. However, even $1,000 is a major investment to most people and compromises must be made for the budget's sake.

... Microscopes have two general purposes. If you go into a jewelry store you will usually find a high end scope on a counter where customers can use it. Showing a customer a diamond under magnification is one of the best sales tools a jeweler has. For this purpose, you need a microscope whose appearance will impress the customer, as well as one that is easy for an inexperienced person to use.

... The other major uses of a microscope are in gem identification and grading. For these purposes a top end microscope isn’t necessary. Ease of use and the quality of the optics are still important, but less so. The bottom line is that, the value one gets out of a microscope has more to do with their experience than the quality of the scope. With this in mind, inexpensive microscopes become very practical.

... In my search to find affordable tools for IGS members, I came across the Achiever microscope. At just $259, I figured it was worth a look and GreatScopes offered to lend me one. I was immediately impressed. Regardless of the price, this is one of the finest microscopes available!

.. The first thing you notice when unpacking it is its impressive size and appearance. This is certainly suitable for displaying in front of customers. It is also easy enough to use that you can offer customers to look through it. The eye pieces are large and easy to adjust. Plus, the head rotates in a full circle. This is an excellent feature when more than one person needs to use a microscope. First you can get the feature you want to point out centered and focused. Then simply rotate the head for someone else to use. Moving the microscope is likely to move the gem and changing seats often gets tiring.

... The Achiever has a dual lighting system, both overhead and substage. They have separate controls that are intelligently located on the opposite side from the focusing mechanism. It uses standard lamps that are readily available from most hardware stores, or the lighting section of your local building supply.

... For beginners, I must point out not to rely on built in lighting. To understand why, set a gem in the microscope and inspect it with the built in lights. Then take a good pen light and illuminate a gem from a variety of angles. As the light enters the stone from different directions you will see inclusions in higher relief than before. Occasionally you will see inclusions that you had missed entirely. This is why fiber optic systems are made available for microscopes. Lacking one of these expensive units, you can get the comparable results from any moveable light source.

... The optics on the Achiever are very good. I was not able to do a direct comparison with other microscopes. I have used everything from the most inexpensive student microscope, to a $6,000 GIA special with Leica lenses, so I have a good idea of how they vary. Clarity doesn’t improve significantly with cost. It increases more with ease of focusing, in which the Achiever does very well, and brightness. The brightness of the image increases with the size of the lenses. The eye pieces in the Achiever are 21 mm in diameter, which compares favorably with the most high end microscopes.

... The Achiever is available in 10X and 30X, or 20X and 40X power. Changing from one to the other is done by rotating the bottom objectives, not by changing eye pieces as in some inexpensive microscopes. For gem identification purposes, the higher power is the most useful. More power can be obtained by ordering a set of 15X eye pieces for $59. This will give you 30 and 60 power magnification. If you are working at the professional level, this would be a good investment. Sometimes it take more than 40 power to find identifying inclusions, or to be able to see them well enough to distinguish them. For most users, the standard eye pieces should be sufficient.

... I have given this microscope a lot of praise. It is a superb instrument, while being almost the least expensive one on the market. It is not perfect and here are the disadvantages. Right out of the box, the focusing controls were stiff. They will probably loosen with time, but it would be difficult for a slight person to use for many hours.

... It is lacking a built in stone holder. You can get a lot of use from a microscope by holding your gems in tweezers, but there are times when you want more stability. If you have a third hand type of jewelry tool, with an alligator clip on a moveable arm, it could serve. Radio Shack has one for $9.99. If you have one with metal clips, it is a good idea to wrap them with tape. For built in stone holders, Rio Grande has a plastic model for $20.95, or you can get a wire one from the GIA for $80.

... It is also lacking any apparatus for dark field illumination. This is an absolute necessity for studying inclusions. There is a kit with an adjustable iris, available from Edmund Scientific for about $180.

... You can also make due with a variety of home made accessories. What you are trying to achieve, is to have light coming into the stone from the bottom, but still having a dark background for contrast.

... The first pattern in the illustration shows the simplest method. All you do is to lay a black disk, that is slightly larger than your gem, directly under it. This will allow light to come into the underside of the stone, but from the sides.

... Number 2 has the dark center disk, but with the amount of outside light restricted. If your microscope had a darkfield apparatus with an adjustable iris, this is how it would look. You would adjust the iris, (the amount of light entering the stone,) for maximum contrast. In other words, to make the inclusions stand out more clearly.

... The third pattern is actually a form of brightfield illumination. It shows how a microscope would use the iris for restricted lighting, but with the darkfield center removed. This will highlight different inclusions than the first two methods. Varying the size of the opening will control the contrast.

... A few home made disks like these will serve the same purpose as having a built in apparatus. It isn’t nearly as adjustable, or as convenient, but it will get the job done at a fraction of the cost.

... Though you have to add a few accessories for gemological study, this microscope is still highly recommended. I don’t know of any other microscope that can equal its appearance, quality of optics and ease of use for anywhere near this price. It is a first class instrument and one from which you will get years of satisfaction. I believe it, I bought it! :-)

International Gem Society