Headband Magnifiers Recommendations

[treker_ed]

Hi all - Recommendations required if at all possible. Most of the time I wear glasses and vision is really good for all activities. However, I also wear contact lenses, but..... when I do, my close up vision is awful, and have to wear reading glasses. So guess what, no modelling happens. So I either only wear my normal glasses when modelling, or don't do any modelling at all when wearing my contacts. Consequently, I feel I'm not utilising my contacts as much as I would like, and wasting the money being paid on them.

 

I've seen loads of people using headband magnifiers, and done a few searches, but as there are so many available thought I'd ask here and see what the hive mind of the Britmodeller collective could suggest or recommend. No budget in mind at the moment, as this could potentially be going forward to be a birthday present later in the year.

 

Many thanks.

 

John

[Wez]

I use an Optivisor which I'd thoroughly recommend.

 

I've customised mine, it's got an additional magnifying loupe for my right eye (which is the weakest), and I've added an LED headtorch torch to it.

 

I look daft but it works for me.

[Skodadriver]

I have one of these which I find excellent. It is has a choice of headband or legs (like glasses), it has a built in LED light and the interchangeable lenses means you can easily get whatever degree of magnification you need. It takes a little getting used to but it's one tool I wouldn't want to be without.

[Kiwidave4]

I use a generic 'Optivisor' which cost a fraction of the price and has so far lasted me over twenty years with no problems. Got mine from an electronics shop back in the day.

 

 

 

 

[ckw]

1 hour ago, Skodadriver said:

I have one of these which I find excellent. It is has a choice of headband or legs (like glasses), it has a built in LED light and the interchangeable lenses means you can easily get whatever degree of magnification you need. It takes a little getting used to but it's one tool I wouldn't want to be without.

I had one of these, which was good while it lasted, however there are some weak(ish) points in the construction. After a year of heavy use, the arm hinges failed - now I'll admit that I was not particularly careful with them. I'm currently using an Optivisor clone. This is more robust, but the field of vision is not as good, and doesn't feel as comfortable to wear with normal glasses.

 

Having experienced both, I think I will go back to the Pancellent and accept it is a 'consumable' item (or try and treat it with more care), BTW I did not find the built in LED all that useful, but I do have very good lighting in my work area - I found saving a little weight by leaving out the batteries added to comfort.

 

Cheers,

 

Colin