EISCO Premium Quantitative Spectroscope - 400-700nm Range, 5nm Accuracy - for Studying Light Sources, Measuring Wavelengths & Color Spectra

I ordered these spectroscopes for a chemistry lab and they work great! Arrived quickly and in new condition.

Works fine for the price. I think the accuracy is overstated as plus and minus 5 nm, but for my lab, determining the wavelength of the output of various light-emitting diodes, it was accurate enough. Takes a couple of minutes to become adept with it.

I got this for my son's science project to see how the color of light affects how plants grow. I cannot speak for the quantitative accuracy of this spectroscope, but it works just fine for a fourth grader's science fair project. It helps him understand that the light he sees can be made up of a lot of different colors of light depending on the source. He thinks it is really cool and has been using it to check out the different light bulbs around the house.The build quality is adequate--it is plastic. But for the price it is fine. The scale is readable but takes a little getting used to in terms of learning how to aim the spectroscope to get a proper reading. Once you figure it out, it works great.

Worked as expected

To start, this is not a professional spectrophotometer or even spectrometer. (Did you expect one at this price?) It is a spectroscope, a lightweight device you can look through and see the colors emitted by an object. I turned it on a Soraa LED lamp (image above); Soraa makes the best such lamps. Most inexpensive LED lamps will have a bright emission line somewhere near 450 nm (4.5 on the scale shown), then a broad emission spectrum (the conversion phosphor) from around 580-650 nm. This has five visible lines: 435 nm (the wavelength of the driving LED), 485 nm (cyan), 535 nm (green), 575 nm (yellow), and 600 nm (red). These numbers came from reading the spectroscope. Being an optical scientist, I was sure these were inaccurate, since I had thought Soraa's green phosphor was at 550 nm. It turns out the spectroscope was right.This is actually the second of these spectroscopes I have purchased. I thought I had broken my previous one, because if I looked at the LED light in my office with the spectroscope, I didn't see anything near the scale, but did see a spectrum off to the side. The side spectrum is always there, and should duplicate the spectrum by the scale. I couldn't see the spectrum from my lamp because the driving LED is at 405 nm (my glasses have a 405-nm blocking additive for this reason) and the broad phosphor spectrum is too dim. When I look at my monitor screen with the spectroscope I see three phosphor emissions, as I should; when I look at sunlight reflected from a white paper (NEVER look directly at the sun or at a laser with--or without--the spectroscope) there is a continuous spectrum.Overall, this is somewhat more than an educational toy, but definitely less than a professional instrument. At the price of $10-$15, though, you can't really go wrong. And, as it turns out, the accuracy is far better than I had thought.

It was excellent for demonstrating basic spectroscopy in understanding space telescopes.

It has a great design and I was able to view the spectrum of space objects. The only problem is that my little kids moved the eye piece out of the way and now its not working... Careful with the little people! Its not a toy it's an instrument

I would not even use this for a classroom demo. There are numerous images of the spectrum visible, and it's not immediately obvious which one to use. (I suspect the scale is mounted upside down.) I could not always find the one aligned with the scale. The slit is far too wide to show clear lines.Frustrating and disappointing.I had better luck with one I made myself, using a grating cut from a pair of toy rainbow glasses, and a slit made from cardboard and black tape, all mounted on a paper towel tube. Of course, there was no scale, but I think it could have been roughly calibrated with red, green, and blue LEDs, which would have spec'd center wavelengths.If you must wear reading glasses, as I do, you might have a better view using them.