Review: The Andonstar AD249S-M Digital Microscope Magnifies Up To 2040 Times

The Andonstar AD249S-M is a digital microscope with a 10-inch display and a magnification factor of up to 2040 times. It comes with three lenses, providing for three magnification ratio ranges: 18-720× (lens A), 1800-2040× (lens D) and 60-240× (lens L). Only one lens can be mounted at a time.

The microscope has an HDMI output that allows it to connect to an external monitor.

The Andonstar AD249S-M Has a Little Brother

There is also the AD246S-M, which is identical to the AD249S-M except for the size of the display, which has a 7-inch diagonal (instead of 10 inch). There is one other subtle, but important difference: the AD246S-M features dual-display mode, whereas the AD249S-M does not. Therefore, what follows is valid for both models unless explicitly specified otherwise.

Assembling the Andonstar AD249S-M

The microscope comes as a kit that you must assemble yourself. This is not very complicated as there aren’t many parts. Also, the only thing that you can get wrong is the orientation of the boom arm with bracket lift that can be mounted in two ways. The bracket lift is supposed to point upwards, not downwards. Clear assembly instructions are provided in the kit.
 

The display comes with lens A pre-mounted on it. Before you can slide the display assembly (which is actually the microscope) into the bracket ring, you must remove the lens, as its fixing screws do not pass through the ring. Doing so exposes the microscope’s image sensor that you want to keep free of dust, so do this in a clean, dust-free environment. Note that the lenses can be oriented in two ways; I prefer the text printed on them clearly visible on the front.

Handy Accessories

The kit also contains some accessories that may come in handy when manipulating objects to observe. There are, of course, three lenses and a power supply and a selection of USB and HDMI cables, and a remote control. But there is also a bug box, tweezers, and a slide holder with backlighting and a set of five slides with example specimens.

To my surprise, I found a 32 MB microSD card in my kit even though the manual clearly states in more than one place that it is not. Lucky me, or does the manual need updating?

Spare Parts

Just in case, some spare parts have been included too, together with a six-pan hexagonal key. This key lets you remove the baseplate, but it can also be used to slide the bracket ring up and down the bracket lift. This option adds 3 cm to the maximum clearance between the lens and the baseplate.

 

Tall Adjustable Stand

The bracket assembly mounts on a 26.5 cm tall column that can tilt forward and backwards. The bracket assembly can move up and down on the column (coarse adjustment) and rotate freely around it. A moveable ring ensures a lower-limit stop. The bracket lift provides vertical fine adjustment. A horizontal beam allows sliding the bracket backward and forward.

The bracket lift has a small knob on the rear that doesn’t seem to serve any purpose. I assume it is intended for blocking the lift, but it doesn’t go deep enough to achieve this. Actually, I found that it limits the microscope's horizontal backwards movement as it bumps into the column, and so I removed it.

Focus is adjusted on the microscope itself.

Two LED spotlights are mounted on the baseplate, together with two springy clips to fix specimens with.
 

Using the Andonstar AD249S-M

Using the AD249S-M microscope is as easy as any other microscope. First choose the lens that fits best the specimen you want to observe. Depending on the lens and the clearance you need, adjust the height of the microscope. Then, with the bracket lift and focus control, adjust the focus. The manual explains for each lens how to go about. Note that to use the advertised maximum magnification ratios, you must set the digital zoom to 3.

Lighting Objects and Specimens

The two spotlights, adjustable in both position and brightness, produce plenty of light to shine on the object of interest. In the case of slides on the slide holder, the light comes from the bottom of the slide holder. The intensity is adjustable, and the spotlights are not powered in this scenario.

Digital Features

The things that make a digital microscope like the AD249S-M from Andonstar really interesting are, of course, its digital capabilities. The big screen and easy image capturing and recording videos are more than nice-to-have options. Thanks to the HDMI output, the screen can be massive indeed. The dual-screen feature of the AD246S-M allows easy focusing when the external display is not (well) visible from the position of the microscope.

Other things that are easily done in the digital camera domain are changing colors, brightness, exposure, and contrast. Adding a timestamp to recordings is possible too. Some of these functions have keys on the remote control that provide direct access.
 

USB Connectivity

The microscope can also connect to a computer over USB. The Windows-only utility Microscope Measure lets you import photos. Now you can take precise measurements of sizes and distances in all sorts of configurations. You can also control the microscope with the program.

Wi-Fi Connectivity?

The curious thing of the AD249S-M microscope is that it features Wi-Fi without it being mentioned anywhere. Apparently, the electronics inside comes with Wi-Fi fitted, but the people at Andonstar didn’t disable it. When Wi-Fi is activated (because you accidentally pressed the 50/60 Hz button on the remote control; if you did, press it again to switch it off), some of the functions move to the connected app, making it difficult to control the microscope if you don't have the app.

When Wi-Fi is activated, it displays its SSID and WPA2 passphrase at the top of the screen. If you install the popular Ucam Dashcam app on your phone or tablet and connect your phone to the microscope’s network, you can control it and view the photos and videos stored on the microSD card.

Remote Control

The remote control included with the microscope is practical, even though some of its buttons have strange labels, making it difficult to remember which one controls what function. Its most important role though is taking photos and starting and stopping video recordings without having to touch the microscope. This avoids accidentally moving the specimen or losing focus or creating unwanted vibrations. This is particularly useful hat high magnification ratios.

 

Conclusion

The Andonstar AD249S-M is a very capable digital microscope targeted at much more than just the inspection of electronic circuit boards. Its three lenses give it a wide range of applications. The included handy accessories emphasize this.

Its stand has many adjustment options, providing the microscope with a lot of positioning freedom. Lens A allows a maximum clearance of almost 30 cm between the baseplate and the lens. Focusing is a bit complicated, however, as it is done directly on the objective. As the stand lacks a bit of rigidity, the image shakes when adjusting focus.

HDMI, USB and the undocumented Wi-Fi connectivity allow extending the microscope with a large display or a computer, and even a wireless device like a phone or a tablet. Also, they provide easy access to the photographs and video recordings without having to remove the microSD card.

More Lenses?

The example slide kit is a nice feature, although it would have been even better if it didn’t include honeybee body parts, as this is a threatened species.

Maybe more lenses will appear in the future, adding even more flexibility to the microscope?