Help choosing a magnifying lamp

[Karhedron]

As an N gauge modeller, small details are a fact of life. As a far of 3 children, most of my (limited) modelling time is after they (and the sun) have gone to bed. With this in mind I have decided to reduce my eyestrain and get a magnifying lamp but I am not sure what sort would be best. They come in various sizes and there are LED vs CFT, mains vs battery.

 

I am currently leaning towards mains powered as I don't want to hunting for batteries every time I want to do modelling only to discover the kids have "borrowed" them to power the X-box controllers. Also CFT seems better than LED as it provides a continuous ring of illumination rather than a series of points.

 

Does anyone have any recommendations, advice or products to avoid?

[Mike Storey]

Excellent question. I too, am in the hunt for one after messing about with free-standing magnifying glass and separate anglepoise for many years. The choice is huge now and the price range extraordinary.

[31A]

Good question indeed; I really need to bite the bullet and get one of these after struggling for years with indifferent lighting.  There were some suggestions in this thread:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/129234-magnifying-glass-with-lighting/

[Robin2]

I got a present of a very good one several years ago - large glass surrounded by a flourescent tube all on an anglepoise fitting.

 

I hardly ever used it because I found it very awkward to orient things under it - it always seemed to get in the way and the focus changed when I moved my head

 

Nowadays I use a magnifier that I wear on my head - I find it much more effective because the magnifier stays in position in front of my eyes when I move my head.

 

...R

[Izzy]

Having now worn glasses since my early 40's - varifocals from the start - and working in 2mm since 2010, I feel I am very lucky to have discovered an old anglepoise magnifying lamp originally bought from Argos that my son once used in his aircraft model making days. This has 1.7x magnification, I have no trouble looking through it at any distance it is set at from the work, and allows plenty of room underneath it with which to work, more than enough to wield a soldering iron etc.

 

I have tried to obtain a modern day replacement with LED's or fluorescent tubes in the hope less heat would be produced from the bulb/light source used, but they have all seemed to have either much poorer elements or higher magnification, and often both. This includes the present day one from Argos. Higher magnification means room to work underneath becomes very restricted. You can see the items, perhaps examine them, but not easily work on them with tools.

 

Because of these findings I would suggest that using the headband type magnification with a separate light source might be found to be the better option although I have no experience of them. I have some cheap clip-on ones I sometimes use with my glasses which are okay but a bit heavy.

 

Izzy

[The Johnster]

You clearly need to look into this...

 

Coat?