HNSB

I remember when I was learning to hone; I thought I needed a microscope to know what I was doing. I had no reliable tests to tell where I was at in the honing process, and I believed the microscope would open the door to honing nirvana.
It didn't.
I remember being totally baffled, confused, and disappointed by what I saw.
I had no frame of reference at that time.
My bevels looked good to me. I could not understand why I couldn't get my razors to shave.
I wish I could get back all the time I spent walking razors up to finishing hones, stropping, and test shaving only to find out that they wouldn't cut hair.
I didn't have my bevels set.
They looked like they were set: There was no flat at the edge, and there was no light reflecting in the microscope. All I could see was a single plane that went all the way to the edge, and the same thing on the other side of the razor. My eyes and my microscope said that the bevel was good.
My beard begged to differ.

I eventually put down the microscope and focused on other methods to determine where I was at in the honing process. Those methods worked. Not only that, they worked consistently and reliably once I came to trust them. I didn't look at a razor under a microscope again for several months.

Sometime last fall or winter I revisited the microscope. This time I was armed with a reliable means of knowing how my edges were; I had something to relate to I was seeing in the microscope.
My honing improved dramatically after that. I was finally able to understand what I was seeing, and see what I was feeling.
On the really difficult blades I was able to see what was happening under the microscope and troubleshoot problems to correct them.

With my microscopes, I can tell if I have microchips in my edge. I can tell if the scratch pattern is improving. I can tell if I have multiple bevels.
With my microscopes, I can't tell if my razor is shave ready. I can't tell how smooth the shave will be.
And...
I still can't tell if a bevel is set or not by looking at a microscope.
There is at least one guy who can tell if his bevels are set by looking at a microscope, but he lives in optical utopia with a high quality stereo microscope.

I have heard of others that can tell if the bevel is good via a monocular microscope. I often wonder if their resolution is better, their optics crisper, their eyes better, or if they're just pulling my leg?