# How powerful a microscope do you need . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 21, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-microscope-do-you-need/589790 "2011-07-21T01:25:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-microscope-do-you-need/589790/1 "2011-07-21T01:25:11Z")
. . . if you want to be able to see sperm in semen? My boyfriend has, in passing, expressed a desire to examine his own sperm under a microscope, and it’s never too early to plan for Christmas presents. Unfortunately I know nothing about microscopes. I was surfing around and found some cool-looking USB microscopes - does anyone know anything about those? ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-microscope-do-you-need/589790/2 "2011-07-21T01:31:50Z")
low power. you can see sperm with a hand lens (not well, but you can see it). those cheapo usb scopes should be more than powerful enough. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-microscope-do-you-need/589790/3 "2011-07-21T01:35:14Z")
Microscopes are more about the quality rather than the power overall. The cheap ones sometimes promise high magnification but poor field of view or picture quality even under a lamp. 400x magnification is recommended as the the minimum for good human sperm viewing. I did this experiment myself at a lab in college. I was convinced I was infertile for some reason and proved to myself rather quickly that I was about the opposite and later real life results with kids on demand proved that. Of course someone walked in while I was oogling mine and asked to see what I was looking at. Tell him to be careful. Lab quality microscopes are very expensive for a reason. You might be better off just borrowing one from a school if that is the main reason he wants one. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-microscope-do-you-need/589790/4 "2011-07-21T02:22:50Z")
Now _that_, my friends, is a committed girlfriend. What to get the boyfriend who has everything in hand? ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-microscope-do-you-need/589790/5 "2011-07-21T02:56:02Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/lFl_hhTxzSE/hqdefault.jpg "Sperm at 1000x Magnification") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFl_hhTxzSE) Various videos at 400x and 1000x are available. Seems to be the preferred numbers… ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-microscope-do-you-need/589790/6 "2011-07-22T01:43:05Z")
Thanks everyone. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-microscope-do-you-need/589790/7 "2011-07-22T02:03:46Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Now _that_, my friends, is a committed girlfriend. What to get the boyfriend who has everything in hand? Not much of a girlfriend if it’s in his hand. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MrFloppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@MrFloppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFloppy)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-microscope-do-you-need/589790/8 "2011-07-22T13:22:58Z")
Most geeky boys probably did this in their youth (right??). I know I did. I just had a cheap scope. I even stained mine 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-microscope-do-you-need/589790/9 "2011-07-22T13:27:24Z")
> [@MrFloppy](#): > > Most geeky boys probably did this in their youth (right??). I know I did. I just had a cheap scope. > > I even stained mine 🙂 geeky boys had plenty of stains. what did you use? p.s. good user name / post combo, it would suggest you put real effort into that experiment.