Collecting my thoughts.
I have an Eakins microscope that works okay for my current requirements. This may not have been the optimal choice from the beginning, since I've bought a bunch of low-quality accessories like cameras and lenses and illuminators that cost real money when you add them together, but it gets the job done.
My "dream" microscope might be a Vision Engineering LYNX EVO. Great features: ergonomic design, quick objective lens switcher, camera capability (details unknown), oblique 360° viewing attachment. However I don't imagine acquiring one any time soon because they cost around $10k new, probably have limited service options, and amazingly poor product literature (I can't actually tell what the main difference is between the LYNX EVO and the much cheaper Mantis Elite despite much reading and youtubing.)
Maybe one day an eBay deal on such a microscope will come along, and maybe at that time I'll have a project that justifies the purchase, but also quite possibly not.
So what to do in the meantime? Maybe in parallel I can continue to research what would be the "dream" microscope so that I'm ready if and when opportunity and budget present themselves. I suppose that I could also invest in a better microscope than I have now provided it has good expected resale value in case it underwhelms or is replaced within a couple of years.
So that brings me back to scanning eBay for a deal on a Meiji EMZ-8TR that's probably a good upgrade from the Eakins, could probably be resold without losing much, and might end up being all that I ever want and need. I should check if there are any other brands/models to search for in parallel.
Zeiss Stemi 305... seems that it was not to be. Sure is shiny and does have an attractive new price, but risk is that the more limited magnification range would be aggravating, that the accessories like barlow lenses would be too expensive, and that the resale value would be disappointing.
Meanwhile I already have another microscope to setup and play with: a cheap monocular head on a stand to try with the RaspberryPi and Eakins cameras.
https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/microscope-stand-with-0-12-1-8x-lens Maybe this will be a good solution for inspection and close-up photography. In this setup I should be able to bring the lenses and lights in much closer to the subject. Maybe I'll even find that inspection is what I'm most interested in and come back to look at that non-stereo Wild Macroscope again one day...
Thanks so much jfiresto for all your guidance on this journey