Impressed by the high resolution and easy operation of the new generation scanning tunneling microscopes (STMs), we built a pocket‐size high‐stability atomic force microscope (AFM) with deflection measurement by tunneling. It was our aim to reach high mechanical and thermal stability of the tunnel junction as well as full compatibility with our existing STM system. Our first AFM scanhead, designed for large scan ranges up to 15 &mgr;m, stably measured an artificial grid structure on SiO2, reproducibly showing details of less than 1 nm in size. On this well‐defined sample we compared constant force with variable deflection measurements.