h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Nice article; I have a little experience of what you speak - I'm effectively blind in one eye (torn retina; I've used black tape to cover one lens of my VDU specs to prevent the phenomenon of seeing multiple mouse cursors...) and have no peripheral vision in the other due to extensive laser treatment for Diabetic Retinopathy...

As for "Stand Magnifiers", you neglected to mention the (relatively cheap) illuminated "Workshop" type of anglepoise lamp, which I use to great effect on occasion... They are reasonably large (4.5" to 6" in diameter) and much stronger than a general-purpose hand-held magnifier. They come with either incandescent illumination (a bright 40w+ bulb on one side - good for 3D stuff where you need a strong shadow to clarify depth) or fluorescent illumination (a circular "tube" which casts little or no shadow when viewed through the magnifier, excellent for reading!).

Thanks, I have come across this type of mag., but at 6" diameter the magnification won't be more than 2 or 3 times at most. There are certainly quite a few people who would find a mag like this useful for specific tasks.

I'd be interested to know what you regard as cheap & from what supplier. In the NHS aids are loaned out & we haven't found a suitably priced mag of this type.

The one I use is an incandescent type, slightly under 5" in diameter (A CD overlaps the lens by a couple of mm all round), at least 4x magnification (a rough guess - I just used it to magnify my finger... ) and cost me £14.99. The fluorescent types have larger lenses with similar magnification, and come in around £30. Not really bank-breaking prices.

(Hint - the stronger ones are easy to spot as they always have a little "lid" to put over the lens to prevent a shaft of early-morning sunlight setting fire to your house... )

You also neglected to mention that it's possible to "stack" magnifiers, in that you can wear a spectacle mounted magnifier and still look through something like this to even greater effect!

Do you know what make they are? It's the sort of thing we could recommend to someone, even if not possible to loan out.

Even low powered mags can be a fire hazard - have to very careful where they are stored!

Yes, combining aids can make for more versatility. I love the patients who come in & tell me how they've rigged up their own custom built aid. usually better than anything we can offer. Some have even used camcorders to act as a CCTV.