The most important thing when purchasing lighted magnifiers are the type of lighting. Lighted magnifiers come in LED and incandescent styles. Generally speaking, the lighted magnifier with an incandescent bulb will be less expensive than the LED lighted magnifier. However, LED magnifiers are generally brighter and use far less power than an incandescent bulb. So when you consider the cost of batteries, LED magnifiers are typically a cost-effective investment.

Not needed, the higher magnification the shorter focal distance. So use a high power magnifier, you will need to put the head very close to the object when you are seeing. A high power magnifier has a very small viewing area. If you have too high a magnification, it becomes difficult to use the Magnifier as you end up focusing on too small a part in the page. Don’t get too caught up with magnification.

A bifocal lens is a lens that has two different powers within it. An example of this is demonstrated in the Ultra 4x-8x handle magnifier. The large portion of the lens has 4x, and the smaller lens, which is molded as an integral part of the larger lens, has 8x.

The field of view is the size of the magnified area under the lens in focus. The field of viewing decreases as power increases. More powerful lenses make small details look large, but less of the total object is visible.