Recommendation? which Optivisor and why?
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Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith
ilmarinen - MODERATOR
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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You pick the lens for the distance you work.
I use a #3 in most of my hoods.
I use a #3 in most of my hoods.
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i have the 1.5x, 2x, 2.5x and the 3.5x. i use the 2x most often. the 1.5 is like a good pair of reading glasses. i use the 2.5x when hand sanding blades to make sure the previous scratches are gone. the 3.5x i rarely use, just when looking for perfection. one thing to remember- as you go higher in magnification, the focus "range" changes more greatly. for example, with the 3.5x, once it is in focus, moving your head closer or farther away by one inch will make it go out of focus. the 2.5x is not too bad, you can move toward or away about 2 inches without blur. the 2x you can move about 4 inches with out too much blur. i would suggest a pair of regular reading glasses from the drugstore for the 1.5x, and a 2x & 2.5x optivisor.
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I have the 2.5 lens in both of my Optivisors along with the Quasar LED lighting system. Mounted the battery housing on the hood above the lens.
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Depends on your vision, and how close you wanna be tap tap tapping on shit bruh. The "inch" measurement is a good idea. Try holding a ruler from your face and asking if you are comfortable working at that distance.
Optivisor is a stop gap IMO (caveat: my vision is better than I deserve, make up for it in other ways though thx.). Frankly the focal range is dogshit if you have good vision and aren't used to wearing glasses. On the other hand, there are two superior solutions: 1) A variable zoom stereo microscope. Leica A60 and better are kind of the go-to currently in the engraving sphere, and once you get used to having one, good luck living without it. However, it's stationary (and it's probably more revealing than most of us actually want to see). If you want something head-mounted, there's option 2 (and far superior to an optivisor IMO!). 2) Carl Zeiss, or Eshenbach (et al.) magnifying galilean binocular.
I've got the Eschenbach version, it's basically like a glasses frame mounted zoom eye piece, each being adjustable for focus, and IPD.
Caveat: Neither option is remotely in the price range of an Optivisor, however, there are Chinese knockoffs of option "2" on ebay that look decent.
Here's a link: https://www.eschenbach.com/products/telescopes-galilean-system-for-distance-1634-4.asp
One of the optivisors is semi-useful for me, working on a certain vise on a certain bench. However, since I acquired these and a scope for engraving, I haven't touched the optivisors I've got. If you don't need corrective lenses, you may run into the same issue.
Optivisor is a stop gap IMO (caveat: my vision is better than I deserve, make up for it in other ways though thx.). Frankly the focal range is dogshit if you have good vision and aren't used to wearing glasses. On the other hand, there are two superior solutions: 1) A variable zoom stereo microscope. Leica A60 and better are kind of the go-to currently in the engraving sphere, and once you get used to having one, good luck living without it. However, it's stationary (and it's probably more revealing than most of us actually want to see). If you want something head-mounted, there's option 2 (and far superior to an optivisor IMO!). 2) Carl Zeiss, or Eshenbach (et al.) magnifying galilean binocular.
I've got the Eschenbach version, it's basically like a glasses frame mounted zoom eye piece, each being adjustable for focus, and IPD.
Caveat: Neither option is remotely in the price range of an Optivisor, however, there are Chinese knockoffs of option "2" on ebay that look decent.
Here's a link: https://www.eschenbach.com/products/telescopes-galilean-system-for-distance-1634-4.asp
One of the optivisors is semi-useful for me, working on a certain vise on a certain bench. However, since I acquired these and a scope for engraving, I haven't touched the optivisors I've got. If you don't need corrective lenses, you may run into the same issue.
