The Andonstar ADSM302 microscope - more versatile than you think!

BGA reballing and main board repair means staring at very small components. I am 51 years old now and need some decent magnification to be able to see these little balls, chips, resistors and whatnot.

The high end microscopes by Amtech or Eakins, which you see in various repair videos, are prohibitively expensive for occasional use, and also very bulky for my restricted workbench.

The new Andonstar ADSM302 came at the right time for me. After checking some reviews on YouTube and reading all about it, I bought one on eBay from Germany for 200 EUR.

This thing is great! The picture quality is more than I ever need. I'll show you some modifications, which I haven't seen so far anywhere. Those make it even more useful!

Turn the base by 180°

The base is not terribly small, but still annoying. I want my stuff to lay flat on my bench. It is dead easy to mount the holder to point away from the base. An old disk drive attached as a counterweight and there you have it, a flat workspace underneath the microscope!

Mount in two positions

That's not all. The optics can be attached to the holder in two positions, thanks to a second groove below the focus ring. The manual doesn't reveal that.

Large "zoom" range!

And now look what a fantasic range you get from this little microscope. We are looking at a CPU taken from a Philips TV. Beautiful full HD images on a 22 inch monitor.

Top position:

Bottom position, still enough room to work under it:

I dare to say that this is the best microscope in the 200€ range today. Second to none.