The high average rating induced me to buy this set. Giving the set I received a one star rating is far too generous. Out of 100 slides in the box only three are useable. The rest are either under stained, where the subject shows no detail or over stained where all the detail is obliterated. The ones that aren't stained are simply poor quality samples that show little detail. Almost all of the slides are polluted with dust, dirt and fibers that detract from the subject you are trying to view. Most of the subjects are simply poorly mounted such that focus over 4x cannot be achieved. This is usually caused by either using a coverslip that is too thick or over applying the mounting solution that creates a mount that's too thick. A couple of slides were labeled, but lacked the specimen. All that was there was dust and dirt.

I have the Celestron set and it has some of the same subjects like pine leaf and blood. In the Celestron set the pine leaf shows clear, colorful detail. In this set the leaf is stained a dark green and appears as a blob. Many other subjects are stained the same way, over stained to the point that all detail is lost and you're looking at a featureless dark blob. The Celestron set has a slide with blood cells. It is stained properly and you can see a lot of detail at 100x and 400x. On the blood cell sample with this kit it is under stained and the cells are barely visible and all the detail is washed out.

One other thing. This page shows some examples of really nice specimens that lead you to believe this is the type of quality you'll receive. What you get is nothing close to the quality, color and detail shown in the photos. Also, there is not a single slide in my kit representing the samples depicted on this page. Three out of 100 useable slides is not worth 48 bucks so this set is going back.

Good for beginners but people who have experience can tel these slides were quickly stained and there is a lot of artifact and a rushed job when prepared. It confuses a novice if they aren't shown the mistakes.

For the price, this was a great set of slides. There were a few slides(about 4) that I swear are either not there or are so small, my high powered microscope can't see it. I do have a very powerful scope and do notice that some slides just can't go that close. Either my lens will hit the slide, or I can see every bubble in the (glue?) slide. Oh, and 1 slide cracked...maybe is shipping?
Overall though great set for the price. Great for homeschooling. Been using these to show a 10th grade biology class but can see how useful they will be in other age science classes.

I own an AMSCOPE microscope that I am very pleased with, this is a whole other story. I purchased these along with plastic prepared children's slides and I honestly won't ever be purchasing anymore of their slides. The children slides are terrible quality and these came a co pledge mess, all out of place and all over the box. They were scratched and one slide had a tiny chip out of the corner. I honestly attributed it to the shipping, until I realized the box was made so poorly that the slots are too long for regular sized slides and that's how the got shuffled around. So, basically the box is useless, it can't hold the slides. I am very unhappy with both ordered items....both very poor quality, odd sizes and don't fit the microscope or box.

Good variety of slides. Good quality slides. Lousy case.

For the price, these slides are great. There's a wide variety of interesting specimens in good condition. The case's rows' have a paper label on the bottom to label each slide slot and there is a piece of paper listing what is on each slide by slot number. The slides themselves are also labeled.

My case has one good row and one bad row. The slots on the latch side of the case don't line up with their counterparts, so all of the slide go in at an angle. This not only makes it difficult to remove and place the slides, but it leaves them loose enough to slide out of place and get bunched up. The case's latch does not close properly.