Age has caught up with me- interested in feedback on various magnifier types for bench work and layout work. Are those visor type head worn devices better than a fixed magnifier on a support?
Don’t know what I’d do without my OptiVisor. Also have a quality fixed magnifier, but rarely use it. The visor is handy & versatile.
Regards, Peter
I completely enorse the Optivisor. I use a #5 all the time. With a fixed magnifier, your work and your eyes have to be in a standardized position. With the Optivisor, you can move your head around to different positions. The work, too, for that matter.
Ed
I agree about the Optivisor and how it allows more freedom of movement. The only time I use the fixed magnifier now is for small sctatch building projects that can be done fixed in one place.
Joe
Another vote for the Optivisor. I have three or four shop locations (basement and garage) where I do various work, in addition to my on-layout jobs and jobs at friends’ houses on their layouts, so the portability factor is an important one.
Wayne
I’ve used the Opti-Viser type for a number of years now. It quickly becomes second nature and you forget you have it on.
A second vote for the Opti-Visor- I have two- one for close up work and one for regular use. Can’ beat them!
I have an Optivisor and it does work very good but for me it is annoying to wear. I went with a X4.5 pair of clip-on for my regular glasses, they annoy my wife but work great for painting HO figures.
Mel
My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Bakersfield, California
I’m beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
Another vote for the genuine Opti-Visor. Don’t fall for a cheap knockoff, either. I had two with different magnifications for the degree of detail I needed to see.
I lost my extra pair when my wife found out how nice it was to use for needlepoint and cross stitching!
I’m going to buy another, soon so I can be sure to have a spare on hand .
Regards, Ed
Amazon sells the Optivisor with different lenses and an eye loop you can attach. Mine has the eye loop.
Rich
I started a thread about what power opti visor to use. Don’t have time to look for it.
The higher the power, the closer you have to be to the object you are working on. Mine is a DA-5 which is 2.5x and a focal length of 8" If you go up to 3.5x your focal length drops in half to 4"
http://www.doneganoptical.com/products/optivisor
Magnification is not a substitute for routine eye care. As we age, we are more susceptable to eye disease like glaucoma and macular degeneration. You want to catch those early.
Place my input as another positive for the Optivisor.
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I see a pattern in this thread.
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-Kevin
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My most important hobby tool is my Optivisor. Gotta have an Optivisor.
Rich
Another Optivisor user here. I also recently did a drastic increase in lighting over my work table. Also helps a lot.
Dave
I would like to endorse Henry’s comment about eye health. Don’t assume that downturns in quality of vision are “just one of those things that happen with age”. Go to your eye doc every once in awhile. Get checked out. You need your eyes to play with trains.
The brighter the light at your workbench, the greater depth of field for your eyes. Not only are more things in focus at once, but sharpness increases closer to your eyes. Good lighting (as in bright diffused lighting) is a very useful thing for model builders.
Ed
Another vote for Optivisor and with Quasar lights which really do the job!
love my optivisor, couldn’t model without it. so portable. FA-1
I’m in with the eye health, and Optivisor group. I have a check-up once a year, and this year, needed to renew my WI. DL., and flunked. The girl gave me 3 trys, so, I now wear glass for driving, and it’s good. Normaly, I use “readers” for reading and computor.
I bought the original Donagan optiVisor, from Walthers, with 4 lenses, for about $70. It’s great. The only glitch is one of the “rivets” that snap the changeable lens in place, doesn’t hold, so I have to figure something out. Us modelers can do that, and make it work.
Mike.
Mine is only a year or two old and it has screws and nuts holding the lens.
Does anyone have the led add on systems for the optivisor?
That’s what I’m going to do. I think I bought mine about 3 or 4 years ago.
Mike