Magnifiers

[Kipper4]

Guys I'm thinking of upgrading my magnifier to a hands free headworn type.
I guess minimum magnification would be 5x preferably 10x for smd.
I wear spectacles already so I'd prefer to keep them on as well as the magnifier.
Maybe that changes things, maybe not. I'd appreciate some advice and the benefit of your personal experiences.
I'd rather not have to stoop down to the workbench for the sake of my ageing back.
For referance my eye peeps are around 15" from the bench. Yes I is short.....
Which way should I go.
Thanks
Rich

[PRR]

> I wear spectacles

Why?

The fewer lenses the better, maybe. Take your specs off. What distance do you focus best? Do dots look like round blurs or oval blurs? Can you focus both eyes on one spot without strain? Do you have a note from your eye-doc?

For someone with good distance vision, and not-too-oval blurs, but aging eyes, the "proper" lens for 15 inch working distance is "2.6X" reading specs. A 2" block under the work gives 13" distance, "3X" reading glasses, and things look a bit bigger. 2.5X and 3X readers are readily available, cheap, and aging eyes need them.

This will also apply if you have oval blur (astigmatism) and wear your corrected distance glasses. Get a big pair of 3X readers and try them over your regular specs. You look funny, but who is looking?

Significant magnification with good working distance requires compound optics, essentially small close-focus telescopes. Costly, awkward, thus outside my experience.

[Jdansti]

As PRR mentioned, sometimes no specs help you see better depending on the way your eyes focus. I have to take my glasses off to see up close because I'm super nearsighted. The problem though is safety. I try to wear some type of eye protection while I'm using the soldering iron to protect my eyes from solder splatter.  I have computer glasses with progressive safety lenses which only allow me see to near to medium distances, so that's what I usually use for protection.  I'll take my glasses off or look under them between soldering to see close up.  If I need magnification while keeping my hands free, I use a head set magnifier similar to these:
https://www.google.com/search?q=magnifier+headband&client=safari&hl=en-us&prmd=sivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjamPafhczPAhVP5mMKHW7vDf4Q_AUICCgC&biw=667&bih=375

If I need really high magnification, I use a loupe.