Review on 🔮 Toysmith 79747 3D Mirascope: Mesmerizing 6-Inch Holographic Illusion Toy by Charles Parente

This Mirascope reflects (pun intended) much of what has been said and is well worth its small price if only as a table/desk - used as a conversation piece. . The quality is as expected for the price. All-plastic housing with highly polished mirror surfaces, which are VERY susceptible to scratches and can only be used to a limited extent due to their small size. To my surprise, I found that even a very thin microfiber cloth can scratch mirrors. So the best advice I can give is not to touch the mirrored surfaces, but when placing an object in or out of the miroscope, do so very carefully. The small size of this miroscope severely limits the size of objects it can display effectively. The little frog works well for the most part, its upright posture giving the reflection a three-dimensional look, but also the frog's head is high enough that the whole body can't be mirrored at some viewing angles. For the photos provided, I positioned the camera at what seemed to be the best angle of view and found it to be about 55° from the horizontal plane of the top of the miroscope. In general, however, perhaps the best result was achieved with what I saw, most often depicted in images of the Mirage - a penny. The depth of the coin is enough to add some 3D relief to the image, but the penny is short enough to significantly expand the viewing angles from which the coin can be viewed effectively, and actually appears to be on the miroscope . Also the diameter of the penny seems to be optimal as the penny still looks realistically flat. When trying a larger coin, the result was that the coin appeared curved rather than flat. Using something like a penny allows passers-by to quickly see the realism of the resulting reflected image, while the frog needs a more accurate viewing angle to make it out. The Mirascope image presented in the description is highly misleading; no part of the displayed object protrudes above the surface of the miroscope as shown. This product photo probably shows an actual plastic frog sitting on something to lift over the hole in the top. It is impossible to get such an image with a miroscope. The image produced by the miroscope is a reflection off an internal parabolic mirror surface, so that surface should appear like the background of the image relative to your viewing angle. If you try to put your finger "through" the pictured item, you won't be able to either. Since your finger is actually in front of the reflection, you're just blocking that part of the reflected image instead. This is shown in the photos provided where I extend the red plastic rod into the interior of the Mirascope well. The bar doesn't go through the penny, it just closes it. For the price I'd say this is one of the most effective illusions you can find and it really encourages you to explore what kind of objects can best be represented. The real limiting factor is the small size of this Mirascope; While it's well suited to being displayed on a table without taking up much space, it would be more "fun" to play with a large Mirascope, especially if the mirrored surfaces take a little abuse from touching, brushing, etc. allow. Needless to say, a large Mirascope built with quality materials and optics can get pretty expensive.