Hi all,
Based largely on Dave's enthusiastic video on the Mantis Elite, I set up an eBay alert for any that pop up hoping to snag a deal. Eventually I got one for $800 USD with a 10X objective, which I figured was a pretty good deal. It was missing a few plastic bits and the table clamp/mount, but I eventually procured the missing parts and got it all put together. I also bought a 4X objective.
Now that I have it all together and I've had a chance to use it, I'm kind of unimpressed. For comparison, my daily driver has been a Nikon SMZ1000 with a 1X Apo objective and a Chinese ring light. The LED lights on the Mantis are probably only about 5-10% as bright, but its quite possible they are shot (some are dead) and need replacement. The dim lights allow a lot of ambient reflections on the view screen to distract me. I also noticed a lot of pincushion distortion in the image as well as some ghosting. My eyes felt MORE fatigued on the Mantis compared to my Nikon - it felt like I was looking at things cross-eyed (yes I adjusted the eye spacing control).
I was looking forward to the longer working distance on the Mantis, but I didn't anticipate the additional complications of the giant size of the microscope head kind of getting in the way of my work space.
It's possible that the particular Mantis I bought, which was in somewhat rough shape, needs some adjustments before it's in proper working condition. So I want to withhold final judgement until I have it working in tip top shape, but my gut tells me I'm still going to be underwhelmed.
Has anyone else tried a Mantis, compared it to a traditional stereomicroscope, and preferred the traditional microscope over the Mantis?