RadShack scope use tips

As many of you know, seeing anything can be quite difficult with this "toy".
Shaky hands, super tough focus, sqashing trich-heads . . . it's maddening at first!
But it's a week later and I've stumbled on a few ways of making things easier. Please add more if you can. Thanks.

Obviously anything re: hands would be reversed for lefties.

Stick to 60X.

Don't start trying to use this scope on your buds first. If you've a stash, focus on a piece of that, or anything microscopic, like maybe your penis?
(Comedy relief . . . this scope can be s t r e s s f u l ! )

What you're trying to do here is get this thing focused from as far away as possible . . . this seems to be about 1/2 an inch. The way this scope is designed is for you to "press it into" the object. I don't know about you, but I'm not doing that to my juicy buds. Anyhow, this done . . .

Now you're ready to have a glimpse. I am MUCH steadier sitting above my plant than standing above it. A LOT! I suggest you might be too.
That done . . .

With your left hand, reach out and take the target bud gently in your grip, thumb towards you, fingers around, or under growth. It's kinda like holding a brandy snifter, if you know what I mean. Anyway, unless one is brand new at growing, we all know how to touch a bud w/o smashing anything. Let common sense be your guide here.
Growth in hand, you can put the scope to your eye and lean on in, now using that thumb-on-top to not only support your scope hand, but also as a gage as to how far away you are . . . ideally in that 1/2" honey spot you set in the beginning.

This is how I've been able to finally effectively use this mini-microscope.
It ain't perfect, but it works, helps protect your trichs, and I really wish I'd known what you now do before I smashed a few beautiful droplets of your highness.

More tips?

Almost forgot, occasionally most of us are gonna shake too much to use this thing anyway . . . just try again later, after your adrenaline has settled, or whatever.

is looking at the leaves around the bud site an effective way to determine harvest? or do we look at the bud directally?

I clip off the small leaves jutting out from the buds. Then lay the leaves on a table and there you go. No shaking.

Ghost420 said:

is looking at the leaves around the bud site an effective way to determine harvest? or do we look at the bud directally?

Click to expand...

You're basically determining the readiness by the glands, regardless of where, but the buds are the better place to judge.

ya i do what "bud" does works great

I got one of these from radioshack. I took off that clear plastic part. It just slid right off. Now it's much easier to get the scope focused on the buds without touching them.

lol thought i was the only one that had trouble with this piece of shit, i almost took it back, ill try your method first

It still ain't foolproof, but it certainly has helped me NOT smoosh the good stuff as regularly.

Hey,

I was looking at my stuff by hand at 60x. I could easily see that my trichs had turned clear to milky using it that way but I couldn't see any amber trichs at all. Just to make sure, I clipped of a small bit of leaf (thanks to budsworth) and took another look at 100x. I could see plenty of amber trichs.

There was no way that I would've been able to tell that those trichs were amber without it being steady at 100x. I'm going to start doing that every couple of days. Thanks for the great tip Budswroth.

I've been awaiting my amber trichs. Seen none. Gonna have to clip today! Also, reckon it's 100X.
I was plannin' on huntin' this thread down again today and report that, despite my best efforts and experimentation, this scope, IMO, is a P.O. worthless S.
Obviously, clipping is the only reliable way to use it. Shoulda stuck w/my nose way of determining ripeness.