It is important to understand your needs when purchasing a magnifying glass. There are many designs and price ranges available.

Consider the following:

1. What items are to be magnified?

2. What detail are you intending to observe?

3. Where do you intend to use the magnifier?

The first question, what items are to be magnified, will help understand the size of the magnifier, particularly its dimensions. If the intention is to read a newspaper or text from a book, then depending on the eye strength, magnification rates between 2 times and 5 times will suffice, but it would be important to have a large magnifier that does not need to be moved across the page. A good rule of thumb about the physical size of magnifiers is that the smaller the diameter of the magnifying glass, the closer the eye needs to be to the object for correct focusing. Small magnifying glasses are designed for higher magnification. If the person has trouble holding the magnifier still (like some one with Parkinson’s disease) a stand would be appropriate.

The second question, what detail are you intending to observe? will help in determining the required magnification. The newspaper question is answered above. If the intention is to read all the detail from stamps or coins, then magnification up to 20 times might be required and a small diameter magnifying glass would do the job.

The third question, where do you intend to use the magnifier? helps decide on the shape and accessories that may be required. For outdoors using a folding magnifier with a protective cover makes a lot of sense. For young children a plastic lollipop style, like Sherlock Holmes is often depicted with is a good choice. If using the magnifier in poor light conditions, choose a magnifying glass with an in-built lighting system. For those who need both hands free to work at something, will need a magnifier on a adjustable stand.

Of course there will be other considerations, like how expensive a unit can one afford and does the magnifying glass give a true image (not distorted) and can replacement parts be obtained, in case of damage, etc. A magnifying glass is a tool to achieve some outcome - select the best for the task at hand!

If you are not sure of the required magnification, do some trial and error checks with the items that you intend to magnify. Usually the higher the price for a particular magnification (with all other things equal) the better the quality of the glass or the greater the number of lenses in the magnifying glass.

Magnifying Glasses are sometimes a little difficult to obtain. For more information about magnifying glasses and different configurations go to http://groovyideas.googlepages.com

Tags: folding magnifying glass, large magnifying glass, lighted magnifying glass, magnifying glass

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