When did Victorinox change the magnifying glass on the Explorer?

eswartz

eswartz

Basic Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2005
Messages
748
I just got a new Explorer Plus to replace one I bought a few months ago that I gave away as a gift.

To my surprise, it sported a completely different magnifying glass. Not the gray plastic one I have known forever, but one with a larger lens and is all translucent "clear" plastic (no color).

Is this something new or did I get an older one when I bought the other one a few months ago?

I did a search here in the forum and did not come across any post that may deal with this topic.

VicDSC07858sm.jpg


VicDSC07859sm.jpg


Eric.
 
You got the new style magnifyer. As far as I know the change happened early in 2007. The opinions of the SAK crowd are mostly in favour of the old grey plastic and glass style...
Alexei
 
ufox9al said:
You got the new style magnifyer. As far as I know the change happened early in 2007. The opinions of the SAK crowd are mostly in favour of the old grey plastic and glass style...
Alexei
Click to expand...

Why, do you suppose? :confused: The new one provides a larger, therefore more useful magnifying area. Although the older one looks more substantial, I find it doubtful Vic would modify anything making it less sturdy. Could it be cosmetics?
 
Right now, I think I prefer the older one. This one feels like it would crack or snap off pretty easily, since it is a hard plastic, and not the more flexible gray type of plastic. Maybe not, I think I am warming to it.

The focal length is different. It seems to magnify about half as much at the same distance. But pull back a little and the image is larger and not as distorted at full magnification.

Eric.
 
The new style magnifier scratches easily and one of mine has also developed some blotchy areas where it looks like some substance has etched the plastic surface of the lens. The lens on the old style magnifier is glass and is much more robust.

- Tim
 
To summarize, here are the common complaints regarding the new magnifier layer: looks like it is easy to break (although, no breaks reported so far on the forums), with the transparent edge the layer looks empty, the Phillips is shorter, the magnification is lower, the lens is easily scratched, the etching is possible (when, for example, using the oil that is not "plastic safe", even if it does not affect cellidor). The only plus, it seems, is the larger magnification area. All this said, I personally have not had any issues so far with the magnifier on my +B Yeoman.
Alexei
 
well having both

-it appears that Vic is saving costs on eliminating the glass lens as well as a two piece component

otoh while i havent tried th new version in the sun to try and start a flame-it does seem to be larger and better able to gather light
 
stevedenver said:
well having both

-otoh while i havent tried th new version in the sun to try and start a flame-it does seem to be larger and better able to gather light
Click to expand...


I was just going to ask that - has anyone tried firestarting with it? It looks as if it would do a better job than the old style (which didn't work at all:()
 
Recently bumped into a brand new old stock Explorer with old-style grey magnifier in a small dump shop. Bought it, and it is my EDC now. Has some nostalgic value for me, for the original Explorer (without the multi-pupose hook) was my first real SAK as a kid (lost it unfortunately).

Firestarting with an Explorer? Many people tried it. Not gonna work. Well, maybe on a very hot day, at noon, in the desert, if you have some special bonedry material to set fire to. But who needs a warm fire at noon in the desert?
 
I've been thinking about getting the explorer with the USA flag but it seems to have the older magnifier maybe. :confused:
 
I've never heard of a fire being started using a magnifyer on any SAK knife. I'm not sure they could make one if they wanted to. That being said it's strictly for seeing things up close. I don't have an old style one so I'm not sure which one is better. Though the new one must be lighter (even if only by a gram)
 
Honestly, the SAK magnifier is not worth it. Get a loupe. Bausch and Lomb, for instance, do a great range fro cheap to expensive, all little, all good. And there's Belomo too - an excellent Hastings triplet for very little. It is a bit big though :D
 
they used to have a metal magnifying glass didn't they?
i have used it to light a fire although on a hot sunny day.
 
DrivebyTrucker said:
I've never heard of a fire being started using a magnifyer on any SAK knife. I'm not sure they could make one if they wanted to. That being said it's strictly for seeing things up close. I don't have an old style one so I'm not sure which one is better. Though the new one must be lighter (even if only by a gram)
Click to expand...

Although I have heard of SAK magnifiers starting fires, that's something I have never been able to accomplish despite decades of trying. Although I have been able to burn holes through paper and get a wisp of smoke out of fuzz, the only practical use I ever got out of the project was to give unsuspecting friends a spot of heat (then running for my life :D ). Since then, having grown up a little, I left off trying to burn stuff with the magnifier, but recently I got a few tips about how it could be done and may yet make another attempt. If it works, I'll post the recipe.

Noddy said:
Honestly, the SAK magnifier is not worth it. Get a loupe. Bausch and Lomb, for instance, do a great range fro cheap to expensive, all little, all good. And there's Belomo too - an excellent Hastings triplet for very little. It is a bit big though :D
Click to expand...

Those are good suggestions, but the SAK magnifier is more useful than you might think.

Most of my life in photography was spent with film. Although I did all my
B&W processing, my color slides and negatives were done by professional photofinishers in the area. Before ordering prints or doing anything else with them, I had to examine the films for sharpness and almost always the loupes provided for customers by the labs were either missing or in use. My Swisschamp magnifier proved to be almost perfect for the purpose, providing clarity close enough to the standards of a dedicated optic. There was no need to clutter my pockets with yet another gadget, so that was the glass of choice when away from my "studio."

Over the years, I have also used the magnifier for examining all manner of tiny stuff. A small loupe might have been more convenient or provide some other benefit, but not all that necessary. Less can be more.
 
I was unable to started a fire with my old-style Explorer magnifier, using drier lint and direct sun.
 
I got several explorer, some with new 5x mag and one with older 8x mag... i was expecting that i would prefer the new version, but actually, i prefer the older style...
BTW, using the vics magnification is work better if you put the lens near your eyes and let the object move closer to the lense... the older work superb this way that the new wider one dont benefit the larger diameter...

any chance you could retrieve your older explorer that you gave away? i mean ofcourse you replace it with another sak... hehehe... sorry if i dont make you feel better... =)
 
I have an Explorer and really like it, but as far as lighting fires with the magnifier goes - you are focusing a very small amount of sunlight into a spot, that is just not going to do all that much unless the sunlight is very strong. If you had a normal sized magnifier then you could focus a much larger amount of sunlight into a small spot and have a much better chance of starting a fire.
Or you could just use a lighter . . .
 
Anyone knows how to re-buff the new magnifying glass? The one made in plastic?

I was just wondering because for some reason, one of my magnifying glasses got a little too cloudy. I don't know if it's because it reacted to some chemical or oil or something, but I was hoping to be able to buff it clear again. Anyone knows any compound I can use?

Thanks.
 
All of my SAKS have the older glass. I purposely sought them out on Ebay. The in line driver is also longer, and the layer has better snap on the older models. Now the trade off IMO is that the file on the older models is much less agressive than the file on the newer models (and I like the more aggressive newer version). My wife has a newer SwissChamp with the new style glass. It seems to ahve held up decently, but not as well as my older models. If you search out the older ones, you can generally find them in new condition from estate sales, etc., and you also often find them with the old tang stamp, and the thicker tang. I/ve found an Explorer Plus, two SwissChamps, and a Champion Plus like this all in new condition and I don't think I paid more than $30 for any of them. That said, I bought most of them between 2008-2010, and prices seem to have gone up a bit more recently.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top