Desk mounted, illuminated magnifier

[spotco2]

I'm thinking about illuminated desk mounted magnifiers. I use reading glasses a lot but sometimes they are just not strong enough and I still have to find good lighting.

I see these commonly at office supply places. Affordable 'made in China' junk. Some part of these will fail far too early. Usually it will be a structural weakness type of failure.

I'm looking for a quality piece.

Any suggestions?

 

[Provincial]

I bought one from a local electronic supply house. Although it is made in China, it is much sturdier than the cheap ones and it has a glass (rather than plastic) lens. They gave me a discount on it and it still cost $80.00!

I find it much clearer than the cheap ones and it stays where you put it. It has the circular florescent light bulb and the switch is in the cord. It was made for factory use in assembling small parts/electronics. The brand is "daylight company."

Here is a link to the same lamp, but the price is scary!

https://us.daylightcompany.com/product/slimline-magnifying-lamp-white/

 

[Exceller8]

Great thread! I too have been looking for a quality version and haven't had any luck at all.

 

[superautobacs]

Lee Valley sells this: http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=56768&cat=1,70596,43349,56768



*I have no personal experience using one.

 

[WWIIjeep]

The go-to names for Circline magnifying lamps used to be Dazor and Luxo. They're pretty much a "you get what you pay for" item. Good long-lasting ones that adjust easily and solidly cost a LOT more than the cheapos.

It looks like Luxo may all come from China now, or at least, I couldn't find any online listings that said otherwise. Dazor I don't know, since they don't mention COO on their website.

http://www.luxous.com/productgroup/magnifiers-52.aspx

http://www.dazor.com/illuminated-magnifier-lamp.html

FWIW, I've got an older US-made Dazor and a 3 year old Chinese-made no-name cheapo from Woodcraft, which is probably the same as what you'd get at Harbor Freight or the like.

The cheapo works ok, but it doesn't move as freely nor stay in place anywhere near as well as the old Dazor does.

 

[Hal]

A little heads up on those magnifiers. Don't leave one set up where it can concentrate sunlight on anything flammable! A friend of mine came back from lunch one day and found a big hole melted in the pad on top of his workbench.

 

[pokey459]

i have one of these. they work well, but i find myself breathing
on the lens and fogging things up alot.i also use this type of affair
sometimes works better.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-HEAD-ST...590?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e4515b3e

 

[cmorr]

Take a look at this thread I started from a few months ago

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=209941

The HF model (they have a couple) has been working well for me

 

[Packard V8]

I've got an all-metal Dazor with a circline tube mounted on my basement workbench and it's much better than the half-plastic import with an incandescent bulb out in the garage.

I've heard rumors all the old-style fluorescent bulbs won't be made any more. If so, the old Dazors with the Circline circle tube lights will be useless. Maybe I'd better buy a spare just to be sure.

jack vines

 

[Jack Olsen]

I have a second-hand Dazor and I've been very happy with it. I use it a lot more than I thought I would.

I also recently a LED-lit magnifying headset like pokey459 linked. I like it for extended work on one thing, but the nice thing about the magnifying lamp on the bench is that when you look away from it, everything around you is in focus. With the headset, you've got to flip the thing up and out of the way.

 

[ckadams00]

I have two Luxos - one with a magnifier and one lamp. Picked up both at second hand stores. If you have some time you can find these for very good prices.

 

[spotco2]

Good info folks. I don't know how I missed that earlier thread about these.

I use reader glasses and visors on a regular basis but was thinking a couple of these might be nice on the benches.

I'll be on the lookout for some older Dazors and Luxos unless I just run up on something else sooner.