Jim Yanik said:
you can buy binocular magnifiers at Home Depot,around $22 USD,IIRC;I've got
two of them.
It may take some looking to locate where they are in the store....(tool
section,around the measuring tools)
Or you can go to one of the budget on-line glasses places (with prices
down in the $14 delivered range on up, depending on which website you
choose and what frames you want), but you'll need a tiny bit of research
into how to specify a magnifier in optician terms. (ie, +3 diopter is
1.75X, +5 is 2.25X, +12 is 4X). If you happen to wear glasses, this can
be a very good option, as you can get magnifying glasses that fit your
eye spacing and other aspects of your prescription in one package (by
starting with your prescription and adding appropriate magnification).
If you bring the subject up while in the eye doctor's office, you can
probably have a preview of the effect (useful - bring something you'd
like to look at with you) and a prescription for your "special
work-magnifying reading-type glasses" if you feel the need. If you don't
wear glasses, it's still cheaper than most magnifiers, and you can still
get the correct eyespacing (good luck on that with most magnivisors).
These simple magnifiers have working distance limitations (shorter as
the power gets higher - 4X would have the work awfully close to your
nose), but no worse or different than the visor type things that are the
same principle. Telescopic magnifiers can improve the working distance,
but generally cost quite a bit more. There's probably a way to home-brew
a cheaper solution to the telescopic versions.
