I do still want a bio microscope though. I've been looking for an
unwanted/unused one for years, but no luck to date. The ones on e-bay
are to rich for my blood. Using polarized contrast-phase lighting,
you can view LIVE specimines without killing them.
Try American Science and Surplus (
www.sciplus.com)
They've got a nice-sounding 0060-1500X binocular microscope
for only about $600.
(there's cheaper ones too, down to about $130,
but that's the nice one)