Revelation! It IS possible to make an interesting, affordable set of prepared slides for the beginner microscopist. I have seen countless boring, over-priced prepared slide sets in my life but now I can rest easy, I have found a set from Celestron that truly exceeded my expectations.

These slides are less expensive than others I have encountered. I expected to encounter some cost cutting measures to make up for this but nothing immediately jumped out at me. These slides are optically sound, well produced, and effectively packaged in a sturdy wooden box.

The biggest selling feature of Celestron’s prepared slide collection is the cross-section of samples. There are, predictably, plant root, stem, and leaf sections. Protists (single celled organisms) are similarly well represented. The slides that catch my interest are the ones that people always seem to ask for the most: physiology slides. There are six in this collection: cardiac muscle, skeletal muscle, motor neuron, spinal cord, intestine, and a good old-fashioned blood smear.