GRS Acrobat Microscope Stand ---or--- Ebay Chinese knockoff????????

[SuperStudent]

The GRS Acrobat stand is well over $500.
An identical-looking Chinese stand on Ebay can be found for about $200.


Is the GRS stand made in China? If so, what advantage is there to paying 2-3 times as much to GRS as I would pay to a Chinese company?


I was given a tip to buy the Ebay Chinese stands because "they are just as good." Does anyone else have experience with these "knockoffs"?


I wouldn't skimp on a Chinese microscope over a quality Meiji, but for the stand, it seems as though the GRS and knockoffs are identical.

 

[esterr683]

Chinese grs is a tool of very poor quality. It's just a fake and even such type of tools as holders don't deserve of spending money. I saw in youtube like some bloggers try to promote it as 'not bad', but it's all just a garbage. Original grs always produced only in the USA. I had experience with one chineese holder and it fell and crashed my microscope. Since then I would never in my life advice to anyone to buy chineese tools.

 

[first]

The chinese holder is just lookalike but in fact it's absolutely not the same as the original. Binding of parts is inflexible and must always be regulated over and over again. In some months bolts and springs carroded. Adjustment became so difficult that just fray my nerves. I'd had it really. Now I bought used original acrobat and it's ok, works fine.

 

[plein88]

Never buy this tool from china If u want to save your money. Cause it's a ver very poor quality. The one and original is the GRS from America.

 

[Eugene Carkoski]

the only way you should buy from china is if you have the tools and material to rebuild and replace any part in other words never

 

[Baloo]

If you search well through the bay you will find plenty of second hand boom stand who had served in labs or industry, they are much more rigid than the GRS. I never tried one but when I look at the videos on youtube it looks to vibrate easily.

Check your pm

 

[gcleaker]

Well buy American. I've been to the GRS Factory Kansas while I was attending school I have their GRS stand I have tried Chinese knockoffs before and only thing I can say about them is they are no longer in use I will not so mistakes that I bought but simply throw them in the trash can. You will never be happy buying a Chinese knockoff GRS Lindsey are the only way to go in this someone earlier in his post said look for some industrial-grade used items but they need to come from a quality manufacturer such as Nikon Olympus just to mention one or two companies. Skill comes from diligence.

 

[Baloo]

Yes you're right, something like that ...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Leeds-Mode...pus-Model-SZ2-STB1-Focusing-Arm-/322410816309

I bought the same model but with a column and a base and it's incredibly stiff.
Even at this price it's a real bargain no doubt when you know the real price for this stuff.

http://www.leedsmicro.com/Stands-LMS-200K_-_Leeds_Boom_Stand_w_Articulated_Arm.html

I guess in the US you can have the column and the base for few bucks.

 

[Grayson]

I teach microscopy at a small university and have used steromicroscopes professionally since 1971. My favorite scopes were made in Switzerland (Wild), Germany (aus Jena), Japan (Nikon and Olympus) and America (B&L), in that order of preference. A colleague purchased an Oman (Chinese) with a boom stand. I actually liked the optics of the microscope, the focusing and zoom controls were OK, but the stand was terrible! At the slightest touch, it would bounce up and down, bringing the specimen in and out of focus. Another colleague bought a Russian scope with a standard base. The optics were OK, but all the controls were "flexible fliers" making it tedious to use.

YMMV, but I'll put in a plug for a used Wild scope. Mechanically, they are built like tanks. Whole scopes and parts are still available on EBay. The lenses are achromatic, but very, very good. I have never found the lack of a zoom lens to be a problem. An M5 with a boom stand recently sold for $850 + plus shipping.

 

[plein88]

Ahh… I am totally with u. I had it, yes it's very bad. It's just look-a-like, but fixation is absolutely different. I've endlessly corrected it and to evenings my neck groaned with pain. If you haven't money, search smt better but not chinese.

 

[johnsonwork]

+1. After several days of use this tool, my eyes started to hurt.

 

[frozenyogurt]

The only similarity between the original and the counterfeit Chinese Acrobat is the picture. I don't advise you to buy it, I share a story about my friend, the microscope fell down and cracked up. So, is such a kind of saving really worth it? ):

 

[johnsonwork]

The only similarity between the original and the counterfeit Chinese Acrobat is the picture. I don't advise you to buy it, I share a story about my friend, the microscope fell down and cracked up. So, is such a kind of saving really worth it? ):

There is no sense to buy china tool, because of low quality components and materials. It may present work hazards including exposure to unsafe chemicals and risk of fire.

 

[Olegraver]

Grs will be the best no doubt, but I could not afford one and went with this: https://www.amscope.com/articulatin...wdPj-odnivm0rUaz_igaAmBfEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
Have been rather pleased for
The price, but the quality is not what you will get with grs tools.

 

[bigboom4865]

Yes, the GRS costs money, but it fully corresponds to the quality. Chinese Acrobat is completely different in use, but actually, like all Chinese. I assure you, you don’t have to endlessly adjust or repair anything if you have deal with the original grs product. Even if you compare the usual gravers. Chinese gravers need to be sharpened endlessly. They break up instantly. Instead of working all you do is sharpen them again and again.

 

[diamondboss]

I did a lot of work on my life with the different devices and tools, but when I ran into a Chinese knockoffs just because of interest, I was very disappointed. Absolutely useless tools.

 

[RA40]

The term 'you get what you pay for' aptly corresponds in most cases. If buying higher line Chinesium parts they cost more. (Which seems amusing because of their long earned reputation for cost cutting products.)

They have their place for one shot short use but there is often disappointment and work around for the off spec tolerances too. Buy it right the first time.

 

[allan621]

"Sometimes its the prudent man who spends the most."

Ray Magliozzi - car talk radio show, or maybe it was Tom.


Allan

 

[crazyben]

An Acrobat is perfection, and you shouldn't even look at the other stands. It has the most convenient and very flexible system. Chinese stands have a very bad and unreliable fixation. It makes no sense to modify it.

 

[John B.]

If you like the Acrobat, fine.
But there are many other fine American made microscope stands.
Try some before you buy!