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Workbench Magnifier Lamp Purchase

I enjoy soldering and repairing electronics, both old TV's, radios, and modern circuitboards. Unfortunately my eyesight isn't what it used to be, my nearsightedness has gotten worse the past two years. Now I'm thinking of buying a decent workbench magnifier lamp, like one of the Luxos.

My basic question for people who have made such a purchase, did you go for the 3 or 5 diopter lens, which gives a magnification of 1.75x or 2.25x. The price is pretty much the same either way and I'm sort of leaning towards the 5 diopter. My only concern is that maybe too much magnification might introduce errors or distortion?

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Reply to
George Orwell
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IMHO a waste of money and space. Most don't have a powerful enough light in them - especially as the losses are high through those cheap lenses. A better solution is an anglepoise desk lamp which can be used for everything and some magnifying glasses. Depending on your eyesight 'ready read' types can be ok. Over here you can get them in 5 dioptre strength. My sight is corrected via contact lenses and I find those ideal for examining PCBs, etc. If you already wear specs there are some workshop types that fit over them - but I'd find those uncomfortable to wear.

--
*Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies * 

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW 
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.
Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

magnification

6 dioptre is the one I use, circular flourescent lamp on long arm anglepoise

-- Diverse Devices, Southampton, England electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on

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Reply to
N_Cook

The more the merrier. But get a *good* one. I got a cheap one first, and the quality was lacking, plastic lens, light was poorly distributed.

My favorites are the ones with the circle bulb, and one that has two CFLs one on each side. That last one (I can post the model) was expensive (several hundred) but the circle bulb style are not so bad.

Reply to
PeterD

I have two Lemo brand circular fluorescent tube, angle poise style with interchangeable lens. Unfortunately my eyesight is going the other way and I'm becoming more long sighted. I find that the 5 dioptre lens has a more narrow field of view than the 3 dioptre one and is a little more difficult to work under. But for general examination use the 3 dioptre is fine.

I also have a headset with interchangeable lenses that are adjustable from 1.5 to 10 dioptre. I find that these are even worse if you want a wider field of view. Its a bit like looking down a tunnel that gets longer the higher magnification.

HTH

--
Best Regards:
                     Baron.
Reply to
Baron

Luxos are very good, although a tad spendy. The optical quality is excellent and the lights are plenty bright, evenly diffused, and of pleasing color. The 1.75x will give you better depth of field of course, and likely to be more than enough if your eyes are just now beginning to be problematic. If you're hand soldering 0402 components, that's another matter...

I have a range of magnification tools available: reading glasses in five different strengths, luxos, magnifying visors (Optivisor is a good brand), B & L Stereozoom microscopes (7 - 30x), and a high end camcorder mounted solidly above the workbench, with a 26" monitor. Each is used according to the demands of the day, and often two tools in conjuction.

Reply to
Smitty Two

On Wed, 28 Jan 2009 09:57:05 -0500, PeterD wrote (in article ):

[snip}

Amen to that. I got one with cheap hardware that wouldn't hold its position. Very frustrating.

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Nelson
Reply to
Nelson

In article , snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net says...>

If you're not afraid of spending real money, Mantis microscopes work very well. The ones I see on eBay are $1500 though.

Reply to
krw

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