can anyone suggest a good reasonably priced optical visor? i tried the $12.00 one a sponsor and am not real impressed. am currently using a DONEGAN visor w/a #7 lens. maybe just need to go to a #10 lens? @#$%& getting old. thanks

Jim; I use two. One I got from Mark, at @#$%& and the Optivisor.

I found the one available from @#$%& perfect for me! It comes with 3 changeable lenses and is a very good quality for an inexpensive price

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

We engravers deal a lot with this and there are a lot of options out there depending on budget.

Optivisor Brand is about the best quality in the hooded visor category and if you are going that route Optivisor is what I would recommend. Most of the things you find on @#$%& are cheap knock offs of Optivisors and you get what you pay for in that dept.

The hooded magnifiers do have one big drawback. The interpupilary distance is set at the average for most people. If you interpupilary distance is in that average range they are great. However, if your pupils are set closer than average or wider than average that type of hooded magnifier will give you head aches after a while because you end up looking through the sides of the lens rather than the center. I can't use them for hat reason. My eyes are set closer than average and about 15 minutes is about all I can do before getting a splitting eye strain headache in my temples.

I have found regular reading glasses to be a better option. I have a set in 3, 4,5, and 6 diopter here that I use often. I lucked into these in the clearance isle at Wally world for $2.50 a pair. They do a good job magnifying, since they are set against my face the interpupilary distance is not an issue, they are light weight, and I can look over them rather than having to stop and raise the hood of an optivisor to look across the room.

For Wrapping the best option is an adjustable set of Dental or medical loupes. You cn get a decent set of Galileon loupes for about $200 and a good set used for about that. The nice thing about these other than good optics is that they are adjustable to the individual. You adjust them to your IP distance and then you can wear them all day without fatigue. IF you get the kind mounted on glasses frames you can still look over them to see far away.

Ray

Ray, when you use the reading glasses with whatever diopter you mentioned, do they allow you to see the thread well enough to count the actual turns you've made without getting 2" from the wrap? For example; can you put the glasses on and wrap as you would normally (12-14" of eye rest or whatever) and still count each thread on a trim band? I'm like you - I think that the flip up visor types are a bit cumbersome.

Jason,

A lot of that is going to depend on your eyesight and what power of glasses you have.

I use the #4 diopter glasses most and they have a focus distance on me of about 8-10", the #5 pair focuses at about 6-8" and the # 6 pair is up at about 4" and are like coke bottles. With the #4 diopter pair at 8-10" I can count wraps on size A thread. Now when I am using much smaller thread like size 100 silk I have to go to more magnification and i use my 4X surgical loupes which have a working distance of about 14"

The thing is though that the pair that focuses at 8-10 inches on me might focus closer in or farther out on you. What I would recommend is going to walmart and grabbing a spool of textile thread (close to size A) from the fabric section and head up to the pharmacy section where they keep the reading glasses. That way you can try them before you buy them and see just where things focus for you and just what magnification you need.

Another thing that is going on here too is that loupes are rates in X magnification so a 4X pair of loupes magnifies 4 times the size
Reading glasses use a diopter rating system that does not translate 1-1 like the loupe system. 4 diopter glasses do not magnify 4 times. Its that typical medical field making things more complicated than they have to.

Ray

Optivisor is pretty much the standard, and has been for decades.
Same company makes a lightweight, cheap, nonhooded visor magnifier called OptiSight. By far the handiest I've tried. Comes with 3 different powered lenses. Clears my saftey glasses too. I find I like without a hood much better for quick flips up and down, Sometimes I lower them a bit more for a bifocal sort of usage. Almost guaranteed the things are on my head when I'm in the garage working on stuff.

Ray, thanks for the info, thats what I was thinking too. I was at WalMart the other day picking up different glasses to no avail only to realize that they were just frame models with dummy lenses with no magnification. I was going crazy there for a moment.

The Optivisor works best for me. They work fine over prescription glasses and come in various interchangable optical powers.

I have several of the less expensive brands and was not at all happy with them.

Stan

Do any sponsors carry the Optivisor or Optisight? I think I need something! I nicked the main threads about 10 times with my razor blade this weekend while wrapping #6 flys.

Optivisors are everywhere, Optisights are cheaper but harder to find. My recommendation is go cheap at first, with a set of interchangable lenses. Once you've decided what you like best, and if you still want to get a full hooded visor, then go Optivisor with the lens power you like best.
I poked around at some of the sponsor sites and found nothing. Crafts and electronics stores usually have them. @#$%& has tons of them. As I mentioned, Optisight is my choice, ad my Optivisor gathers dust somewhere in the garage, well buried.