Inspect-a-gadget lenses

I've never seen a large single lense that doesn't distort the image,
though it sounds like yours has surface imperfections as well. I don't
know what the Jaycar and Altronics lenses are like, or what sorts of
things you use it for, but for surface mount soldering and inspection,
I use a Jaycar QM3510 head-band magnifier, which is under $30. They're
better than any single lense could be, though when I have really fine
stuff I still don the plastic-surgeon's binocular loupe (>>$).

The headband is good because it has selectable magnifications, but it
could be improved by the addition of a white LED illuminator. The more
magnification you use, the more light you need.

Clifford Heath.

I haven't had a really good look at the cheap stuff from Jaycar et al
but I would be surprised if they could be as good as a Maggy Lamp
which uses a "real" glass lens. I have one which is over 30 years old
and it still performs well without any distortion.

http://www.wiltronics.com.au/catalogue/shop.php?cid44%8

Ahhh thanks - just what I've also been looking for.

Rod

Very $ though , watch ebay as they do come along occasionally for around
$100.00 , I found mine at a garage sale for $50.00 and ran away with it
smirking .

I use a CT-200M from here, he's a local guy in
Melbourne with a lot of good priced imported tools,
soldering gear and stuff,

I have this one
  http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut127
there's a cheaper bench mounted one
  http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut31

The key to it being easy to look through is the 'diopter lens',
on these models anyway, when he came by with these and other
non-diopter models it was good to try looking through them
all.
We also got a high magnification non-diopter CT-200D,
it is much more tiring to look through...
The page says 'out of stock' on these for now, but if you enquire
he usually does have stock coming in and out regularly.

catalogue page
  http://www.cutter.com.au/products.php?cat11 %