Hi everyone!
About a week ago, I received a pair of magnifying glass from Fancii to help me when I have to deal with fine parts. There is also a light included (by using 3 AAA batteries). I decided to use the headband but you can decide to use it as a pair of normal glasses.
This product comes with a box including five magnifying lenses of different force (1X, 1.5X, 2X, 2.5X and 3.5X).
So, how do you find them? Useful? I only have heard good things about this design (comes under many different brandings).
I use cheap magnifying reader glasses in a variety of magnification levels, along with a nice, bright headlamp. Recently added a few clip-on magnification boosters which also work well.
Agreed.
I used an Optivisor-type knockoff for years, and it worked great. Then, one day on a wild hair, I picked up a pair of cheap 2.5x readers at the drug storeā¦and havenāt used the Optivisor since.
The readers are lighter and more comfortable with a better field of viewā¦and donā t give that āwalled off from the worldā sensation the āgogglesā did.
Thatās exactly the first thing I noticed when I ditched my Optivisor. A lot less stuff was accidentally getting knocked over on my bench that was outside the tunnel. The clip-ons I added recently made them even more useful. Now when I need more magnification, I can just flip them down instead of having to go get my higher magnification set.
Although I use dollar store readers, I do acknowledge special magnifying glasses. Readers do not include a prism in the grind. As a result as you increase the power, your eyes are forced to converge further. Beyond about 3X, this causes eyestrain and headaches with long use. Better quality magnifiers built for higher powers include this prismatic grind. You can use them for longer times without headaches. For me, anything beyond 2.75X merely magnifies my finger shakes, so dollar store readers are okay.
Don, now that you mention convergence, I do seem to be having more problems in the last couple of years with seeing things up-close without readers. It does seem to be that my eyes are wanting to converge at a longer distance. Iām going to have to try the Optivisor again for a while and see if that improves. I guess it canāt be a coincidence that my vision has deteriorated so rapidly in just the last couple of years, and seeing things at a distance still isnāt a problem. Maybe the readers arenāt such a great idea afterall.
I use the Carson visor. It has the same magnification lenses as the ones you noted. Itās really comfortable and along with my airbrush itās probably the biggest game changer on my bench.
I bought that, too, a couple of years ago. I like the idea of having focused light aimed at the piece of work (yes, even on a well-lit bench). I use it with the arms, not the headband.
But I donāt like it. I have tried, but I cannot get used to it. I find the weight of the batteries too heavy on the bridge of my nose. And the highest magnification in that set is still not as high as the magnification the loupe on my Optivisor provides.
I may just get a new Optivisor with built-in lighting, or an add-on light set to attach to the one I already have.
I also use a pair of drugstore reading glasses, for intermediate magnification.
I bought the same exact set a couple of years ago to work on card models but now I use it for all kinds of small parts, and even soldering repairs on surface mount boards. I like them and they work just fine for me. A good investment if you work with really small fiddly items.
Hi everyone!
Sorry for the long delay but it was impossible to connect to my account.
So for the lenses, I really enjoy them. I have been using them regularly for more than a month and they are very useful.
Bringing this one back to life, I have been curious what everyone uses, the goggles and visors seam very cumbersome and tunnel vision like, personally I use 1.5 Doppler readers with an addition 1.5 or 2.5 Doppler clip on that flips up. I do run into the issue though that when I flip them up everything is super blurry because my eyes donāt focus well at all these days. Luckily my optometrist informed me a few years ago that itās going to get worse fast, such a comforting thing to say 
Since my eyes have had a lot of birthdays, Iād been helping them out with a magnifier desk lamp. It wasnāt bad, but always had to adjust the position of the part I was working on under the right spot of the magnifier. Yesterday I got these Carson magnifiers and tried them this morning ā theyāre great! A lot more flexibility with how/where I hold the parts because it focuses on wherever Iām looking. And the light above the lenses is nice and bright.
Those look like a solid choice. Where did you buy them and if I may ask, how much were they?
They were $37.99 on Amazon, the CP-60 model. Iāve been working with them today and they definitely help me see better - my mistakes are big and clear now!
Has anyone in the US tried the Harbor Freight magnifier? It looks goofy, but more open than my Optivisor. It gets good reviews, and is only $15:
@Don_Stauffer, Iāve been using inexpensive OTC readers for decades because I had surgery for an esotropia issue as a kid and the magnification helps spread the pupils apart (and the surgery long ago āwore offāā¦). Now Iām old and need some extra diopters just to see my own food, but Iām finding that I still prefer the OTC readers instead of the expensive lenses ground with prism provided by my eye doc. I have no idea if Iāve just simply become used to not having prism, or if thereās a different issue at play, butā¦yeah, prism is definitely a thing people should think about!
For the discussion, I use OTC readers at the bench, either my regular ones or something in the +3 to +4 range for a little more detail. My biggest issue is that if I use those for any extended period of time, when I take them off I have trouble focusing again! The esotropia is still around, so Iāve found I canāt read or do anything else up close for a long time without taking an extended break to let distance vision to get back to normal.
Maybe I just need to stay at the workbench all dayā¦
So I grabbed the HF magnifier with a coupon deal the other day. I like it a lot better than my Optivisor. The lenses are un-rimmed, so it doesnāt block my peripheral vision. I can tilt my head up and look below the lens to reach for a tool or whatever without having to flip anything up. There are two main lenses, which flip down as needed, so itās easy to change magnification on the fly, which my Optivisor canāt do. Plus thereās a separate monocle for even more magnification (which I havenāt used yet). Lastly, the built-in light is handy, though it reads a bit blue on the lower intensity setting. Time will tell. But so far I really like it.
How heavy is it? I had a similar one and it too worked great, but it was just too heavy. Now Iām just using readers, but would like to get something with a light.
I donāt have a scale handy. But itās about double the weight of my Optivisor. About 1/3 of the weight is the batteries (3xAA) for the light. And as youād guess, the weight is all out front. Itās certainly noticeable, but in my opinion, not uncomfortable. The headband is easily adjustable, and feels comfortable. I didnāt have any issues with it slipping in use.
