My Turn To Have A L@@K

darkzero

Global Moderator
Staff member
H-M Lifetime Diamond Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2012
Messages
7,852
These past few weeks my eyes have been getting strained at night. If I'm in the shop or working on stuff a lot up close my eyesight will eventually get blurry when I try to focus on things up close. Things like looking at a part in the lathe chuck or mill vise up close, soldering, my phone, etc.

Earlier this year I went in for a physical & doc said I had 20/20 vision (had non of this eye strain issues at that time). Still I know that doesn't mean there could be something wrong with my eyes. Yesterday I went & bought a pair of 1.25x reading glasses, wow do they help when my eyes get strained!

So I bought one of those headband magnifiers to try out. I know these are commonly used by lots of people but I never had a need to consider buying one until now. Less then $10 shipped so worth a try. Has a 1.5x diopter. It also has a second set of lenses that flip down for 3x as well as a loupe (forget the magnification on that). Also has an adjustable LED light, works but nothing worth talking about. Wow again, these really do help me.

20200601_143129.jpg20200601_142642.jpg


Perhaps I'm in denial but NO I'm not old yet! :D Really I think it's cause of rona again, all this staying at home & spending too much time in front of the computer screen or my phone. On days where I don't look at a lot of things up close or stay away from my phone my eyes are fine focusing up close for short periods of time. For now anyway.

The $10 magnifiers were just to see if I would find them useful and they are. So next was to get me some genuine Optivisors with the glass diopters (LX models by Donegan are more affordable with plastic diopters). Seems like the DA-5 is the most popular for general use, 2.5x. Then it seems like many people get the DA-10 for really fine detail work, 3.5x. Amazon has great prices on them but did not have the DA-5 in stock but I found them cheaper elsewhere. Under $40 shipped no tax.

Turns out the DA-5 is plenty good for up close detail work for me which I did not expect. In my case I wouldn't be comfortable with higher magnification & have to work even closer to my face. So I then decided to buy the DA-3 for general use, 1.75x. These are pretty much perfect for me for detail work in the shop. So these will stay in the shop, the DA-5 will stay by my soldering station, & the $10 ones I'll keep in my room.

20200601_142509.jpg


I must say, I'm surprised how comfortable these are because of how lightweight they are, even the $10 ones with the light & AA batteries. I just hope I don't end up like @mikey one day searching for my Optivsior only to find it already on my head! :D

And NO, I'm not old yet!
 
Hah, I knew that story would come back and bite me in the butt one day!

I literally laughed out loud when I read that story! And as you can see it quickly came to mind after trying these out. I just had to mention it!
 
I have 2 of the cheap economical HF visors (without light). The flip down lens malfunctioned on both and was removed, but the basic visor works very well. Just modified my cheap very cheap auto-darkening welding hood for a 2x magnifier, helps a lot. I am old and don't care who knows.
 
The HF one was actually the one I went to go buy first cause they are only $5. But all the of the HF stores within a 50 mile radius of me did not have any in stock.
 
I rapidly went through 1.00, 1.25, 1.50, and to 1.75. I lived with that for awhile, and by mistake put on a pair of 1.00s, and found out I could see far again. I have pterygiums, and low grade cataracts, so light, and prescriptions are here now. Might have to invest in one of the movie set arc lights:D
 
Last year it happened to me, seemed like it almost happened overnight. And I'm not playing a game of one-up-manship but I have 20/15 vision - which is why your story really resonated with me because when my doctor casually told me I needed 1.25x reading glasses, I was flabbergasted - I thought there was something more seriously wrong.

He said, "Nope, you are just getting older."

I'm upto 1.75x a year later. My issue is I break them all the time, I'm worried about buying a prescription pair - so probably never will. Thanks for the part number listings, I find direct light is really helpful in sharpening up text and fine detail up close. I can almost squint through what I'm looking at with bright light. Sounds like these will be useful in my shop as well.
 
Back
Top