Scopes & Cleaners for Home

[sledge]

I'm thinking about buying an ASET scope, idealscope and H&A viewer for the house. Also, probably a 10x loupe. What do you all recommend? Initially I saw the following advertised:

https://ideal-scope.com/product/aset-scope/
https://ideal-scope.com/product/expert-scope-with-cz/
https://ideal-scope.com/product/dual-light-super-loupe-10x/

I didn't see a H&A viewer there. Also, I was mildly interested in a good cleaner, if one can be obtained for a reasonable price.

Almost sounds like a need a "kit" of some sort. Just not sure one exists.

Appreciate some feedback. Thanks.

 

[Dancing Fire]

I'm thinking about buying an ASET scope, idealscope and H&A viewer for the house. Also, probably a 10x loupe. What do you all recommend?

Must have all the toys..

 

[mrs-b]

Scopes will do nothing for you if your stone isn't clean. So I'd suggest buying a cleaner first. You have a lot of pave, however, so you'll need to be careful.

I use a Gemoro Sparkle Spa ultrasonic, which you can pick up on Amazon for about $45, and clean my rings every second day. But I'd be asking Amy her opinion on the best way to clean your ring before I did anything. Melee can often be best cleaned using a soft toothbrush and cleaner, as both an ultrasonic and a steam cleaner can be too harsh.

One thing is for sure tho; with your amount of melee, a daily cleaning would be optimum, as your ring will get dirty very easily. It would be a shame not to optimize all that flash and sparkle, so I'd be looking for the best way forward with cleaning asap.

 

[sledge]

Thank you @Dancing Fire and @mrs-b!

I will reach out to Amy later today and ask her thoughts on a cleaner. Side note but I'm way more sensitive to all this then my girl. She is constantly using her fingers on the main stone to adjust the ring and gunking it up with body oils. Sometimes just to mess with me as we can both be quite the jokesters, lol.

She loves the sparkle so I'm sure she does it for the later reasons more than anything.

And @Dancing Fire don't hold out on me. Share some links where you bought your toys.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Thank you @Dancing Fire and @mrs-b!

And @Dancing Fire don't hold out on me. Share some links where you bought your toys.

H&A scope from Kassoy. You can buy the ASET and IS from Dave Atlas. The loupe from Amazon.

 

[Athena10X]

I bought my ASET and Ideal scope kit from Dave Atlas. I bought my H&A viewer on eBay and my Belomo Triple Hastings 10X loupe from Amazon. I have another loupe that I got as part of the ASET and Ideal scope kit, which also included the medialight. I’m not a fan of the medialight so I just use a blank screen on my iphone. Also, the inserts that came with the medialight didn’t allow the stones to sit well so I’m looking at an unconventional optional. I’m a competitive markswoman and my aperture sights come with inserts that I think will work fabulously:
http://www.champchoice.com/store/Main.aspx?p=ItemDetailOptions&item=972728
I plan to get another set in different sizes for diamond shopping/perusing.

When I was shopping for my e-ring, I also ordered an ASET matrix poster from AGS that showed computer generated light performance for various pavilion and crown angle combinations.

Now, picture me walking into a typical brick and mortar jewelry store with all of these tools. The SAs sent their managers because I must have intimidated them by asking them if they had their own in-house viewers. 90% of the time they didn’t know what an ASET was and I had to educate them on using the scopes. Granted, after seeing how underperforming their own diamonds were and certain that they weren’t going to get my business, they’d make an excuse to help another client who most likely wasn’t as informed.

 

[sledge]

What terms did you use to find your H&A viewer on eBay? I see many come in red. I would like a blue one like you have. I'd even be okay with red, if I could get it without the gold legs (currently what David Atlas shows on his site). Ugh, I can't stand yellow gold.

Edited to Add:
Here are the 3 options I saw on the Kassoy site.

$39.95 - similar to @Dancing Fire's viewer

$24.95 - Appears to be more of a hand held type H&A viewer (in red)

$45.95 - EroScope H&A viewer. Appears to also be a hand held and blue. Looks to be of good build quality.

 

[sledge]

Saw this one on Amazon for $37.95. Wood base looks old school, but appears to be blue and no gold/brass.

 

[Athena10X]

The last two look just like mine. In fact, I got rid of the wood base because the inserts didn’t fit in it and was a hassle to carry another piece around that was practically useless. I also like the appearance of the blue eroscope.

I didn’t use any magical query on eBay. Just happened to stumble upon one at good price and snatched it.

I am curious, though, where I can buy a second-hand AGS presentation ASET viewer? I already scoured the web and have to be an AGS member to buy new from them directly.

 

[Dancing Fire]

What terms did you use to find your H&A viewer on eBay? I see many come in red. I would like a blue one like you have. I'd even be okay with red, if I could get it without the gold legs (currently what David Atlas shows on his site). Ugh, I can't stand yellow gold.

Edited to Add:
Here are the 3 options I saw on the Kassoy site.

$39.95 - similar to @Dancing Fire's viewer

Mine came with a blue and a red film. I can switch b/t the two colors.

 

[sledge]

Placed an order for the ASET scope directly from AGS earlier this AM.

Not sure about the rest yet. Might reach out to Lesley @ BGD, @Wink with HPD or @Texas Leaguer with WF and see if they offer (or can build) a kit of some sort.

Seems logical they might have one. Also, curious what devices are used by them to do their images they post on the website.

 

[sledge]

Oh yeah, talked to Amy @ DK and she had the following to say about a cleaner for the ring:

You need to get a soft baby toothbrush. Every so often with warm water & mild soap brush under and around the diamonds. If you buy an ultrasonic don't put the ring for long against something vibrating, hang it in the solution. you do not want to forget it and damage a metal prong.

Sounds like I need to be careful if I proceed down this path. Any recommendations?

Also, thinking about getting something a little more powerful than the loupe when the need arises. Considered something like this. Seems to have good reviews. Thoughts?

https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Microscope-Flexible-Observation-Magnification/dp/B00XNYXQHE

 

[HDer]

Oh yeah, talked to Amy @ DK and she had the following to say about a cleaner for the ring:



Sounds like I need to be careful if I proceed down this path. Any recommendations?

Also, thinking about getting something a little more powerful than the loupe when the need arises. Considered something like this. Seems to have good reviews. Thoughts?

https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Microscope-Flexible-Observation-Magnification/dp/B00XNYXQHE

I have that exact microscope, and it's pretty good. A couple of notes on that one:

1. The color reproduction is not great. If you're looking to take photos to show other people, you might want to photoshop them after the fact.
2. You'll have to manually adjust focus. And due to the way optics work, if you're zoomed in a lot, the depth of field (the distance range where we perceive something to be "in focus") is very thin, so you might not get everything.
3. It might take a couple of tries to align the scope to where you need it to be. There's no zoom ring, so the way you get more "zoom" is to get the scope closer to the actual object and then adjusting the focus ring. To get the maximum zoom, the scope needs to be very very close to the object.

Besides those caveats, it's definitely a nice little scope. I paid full price for it, and think it's well worth the money.

 

[WinkHPD]

Not sure about the rest yet. Might reach out to Lesley @ BGD, @Wink with HPD or @Texas Leaguer with WF and see if they offer (or can build) a kit of some sort.

While I provide a free kit to all who purchase one of my diamonds, if you want to buy a kit, you really need to go to the gentleman who imports these from the maker in Australia. That would be the often mentioned Dave Atlas, who is a joy to work with. He keeps them in stock and prices them right!

Wink

 

[sledge]

While I provide a free kit to all who purchase one of my diamonds, if you want to buy a kit, you really need to go to the gentleman who imports these from the maker in Australia. That would be the often mentioned Dave Atlas, who is a joy to work with. He keeps them in stock and prices them right!

Wink

Thank you @Wink!

Hey @oldminer, you've been called out, lol. I will probably end up getting an IS and some other oddities from you. I didn't see any listed on your site, but do you also have any H&A viewers you sell and/or recommend? It'd save me time & hassle if I could buy directly from you. Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.

 

[sledge]

Missed the special price on the other microscope and decided to get this little guy. Lots of great reviews and saw some other PSers had it too. Figured for $12 it was worth a gamble.

I may have to work harder to get photos, but figured it was a small price to pay for avoiding digital magnification. Although for the price point I'm fully expecting plastic lenses and not cream of the crop quality, obviously.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LAX52IQ

 

[Yimmers]

If you are worried about using an ultrasonic, get a steam cleaner. Pave does not do well in ultrasonics.

 

[Kaycee2018]

Missed the special price on the other microscope and decided to get this little guy. Lots of great reviews and saw some other PSers had it too. Figured for $12 it was worth a gamble.

I may have to work harder to get photos, but figured it was a small price to pay for avoiding digital magnification. Although for the price point I'm fully expecting plastic lenses and not cream of the crop quality, obviously.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LAX52IQ

I ordered this one from Amazon too. It arrived last night so I haven't had much time to play with it, but I will say that when I looked at the top of my VVS2 under this thing, it was both fascinating and frightening! I'll just say that diamonds at 60x are not nearly as attractive. LOL

 

[whitewave]

If you are worried about using an ultrasonic, get a steam cleaner. Pave does not do well in ultrasonics.

Cheaply done pave doesn’t do well in ultrasonics. I knocked out a stone from a $199 band I bought from Etsy.

CVB told me I could put my ring in an ultrasonic several times a day and I have. At least once a day. All stones still there.

But like @Texas Leaguer said, that 1-2 punch of ultrasonic and then stem is AMAZING.

 

[sledge]

This little guy showed up today. Just in time too as I'm moving!

I thought it would be bigger.

#ThatsWhatSheSaid

 

[WinkHPD]

Compared to most of the diamonds we see, it is...

Wink

 

[sledge]

Lol the 60-120x scope showed up too. I should really start reading dimensions. It's not much bigger than the ASET scope.

Pictures later. I'm doing the move from hell today. Taking forever!