Best Magnifying Visor Recommendations?

[richard poitras]

Best Magnifying Visor Recommendations?

I am taking a week long class on veneering in May down at the Mark Adams School in Indiana. They have a class tool list of things to bring, one of which is a Magnifying Visor for close up work. For those of you that have visors which ones have you tried and would recommend? I know these are used a lot in scroll saw work also but I have no experience with them and if I buy a pair I would like to a good set right out of the get go and not have to experiment.

Thanks Richard

[Jamie Buxton]

Don't get a magnifying visor. Get a binocular loupe. You may have noticed that your dentist wears a binocular loupe, or the surgeons on those hospital TV shows.

Magnifying visors have short focal distances. That is, your face is close to the workpiece -- the workpiece where some sharp powerful tool is cutting. Binocular loupes have longer focal distances. This keeps your face away from the danger zone.

For instance, a magnifying visor with a magnification of 3 focuses about 3-4" away from your nose. A 3X binocular loupe focuses a good 12" away from your nose.

The loupes used by doctors cost a thousand bucks or more. They can be autoclaved, and can be worn all day. For a tenth that price, you can buy a loupe with plastic lenses (not autoclavable), with a headband that's not quite so comfortable, but still good enough for woodshop use. For instance http://www.amazon.com/Grobet-EDROY-MAGNIFIER-BINOCULAR-LOUPE/dp/B000HTZSOC

[joe milana]

Best way to pick out a visor is to try them out. Not only is magnification and focal length an issue, but field of view plays a big factor as well. 2.5 magnification at 14" sounds good, but not if your field of view is the size of a dime.
Optivisor is a popular brand and I believe can be found locally at craft stores, rock shops, etc. if you call around. Go try a pair on.

If you want to spend big bucks, look up designs for vision on the web. I bet a local rep would come to your house and let you try on several styles if you can convince him you are serious. These are truly custom built loop lenses.

PS. Ask the instructor to be more specific, maybe a $20 pair of 3X readers from the drug store would be adequate...

[Tom Henderson2]

Donegan Optivisor #5

[John McClanahan]

Good binocular loupes can cost $1000 or more. I paid $75 for a Russian made pair with zoom, and don't care for them. I ended up using a pair of 3.5X readers and a clip on Jeweler's loupe that I got at Harbor Freight Tools.

John

[John Coloccia]

Binocular loupes are nice, but cheap ones tend to be...well, cheap. I'm partial to Bausch & Lomb mag visors. The important thing, as mentioned above, is to get something with a working distance of at least 9", or so. 2X @ 9" is probably about what you're looking for.

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

I have 3 Donegan OptiVisors, all with #3 optics and a flip down loupe. I also have a light that attaches to it. I can't live (see) without them.

[richard poitras]

Thanks for the tips and info, being I never looked at these before it is very helpful information especially the tips on the working distance of the magnification to the work being done. That is something I never considered.

Richard

[Joe Kieve]

I have a 2X Optivisor that I use occasionally for tying trout flies and I love it for that. However, there are no flying chips, etc. when I'm tying. They're available for around $20. That being said, hear what others have said about focal length. That to me would be the determining factor.
Good luck.

joe

[Dan Forman]

I got a cheap visor at Harbor Freight that works very well. It has dual magnifiers which can be used singly or in tandem. The single is I think 2x (maybe less), and gives about 11" focal range (eye to object, not lens to object). With the second flipped down, range decreases to about 6". I'm really not sure what strength either of the magnifiers are, I got it a long time ago. It also has a little loupe mounted on it, which I replaced with a 10x loupe from eBay. That focal range is closer to 2". The HF visor has dual headlights, one on either side which really can help under poor lighting conditions. I think the visor cost about $5. I use it quite a bit, and highly recommend checking one out.

Dan