Proops Magnifying Lamp 3 Magnification Daylight Bulb. Beauty, Craft, Hobby etc. (V5100) Free UK Postage

For a long time I have wanted a decent illuminated magnifier to use with my stamp collecting. I needed something which was large enough to work under, but without the glare or reflection from an overhead fluorescent desk-lamp and hand-held magnifying glass. I had looked in hobby shops and craft warehouses and, yes, I could pay a lot of money for a daylight craft lamp. So I started looking online. Same thing there, lots to choose from and often quite expensive. I looked at some small desk mounted battery lamps - don't bother.And then I came across this beast. I read the reviews, checked the measurements and saw the price. So, I ordered it on Sunday and it arrived via Royal Mail on Wednesday afternoon. Very impressive.My first impression was "Oh my God how heavy is this?" This is not for junior to do his homework. I can best describe it as industrial. It is large and substantial. It comes with a desk clamp which is man enough for the job. On the box, it shows a floor standing model, but I suspect you would buy the stand separately - I don't need it.It is mains powered and the cable is about 2 metres long. I want about 3½ metres, so I'll find an extension lead. You might need to consider that if you order one. Set it up (easy, just remove the bubble wrap and some wire ties), plugged it in, switched on. Awesome. I tried doing some perforation measurements, which as any philatelist will know needs magnification without refection, good eyesight and two hands. Easy. But then, I wanted a real close up and I found that I could use an ordinary magnifying glass, hand held under the illuminated lens, for a clear and greater magnification.The item itself is sturdily constructed and looks professional. I am very impressed.

This is a hefty piece of kit but once clamped to the table, unlike so many anglepoise-type lamps, it can be extended, swung, raised and their reverse to every mm in between. And the light needs its own praise, bright white, takes a second to come on, but it's excellentWhich brings me onto the magnifying element: No more screwing the eyes (how does that help anyhow????) just pull down in front of you, flip the lid and the dust free lens instantly illuminates that hard to find splinter, and the removal operation is so much easier too, with the full cooperation of the patient... providing they are allowed a glimpse now and then.Since then it's been used for mending clothes, a watch, glasses, as well as tying good knots for fishing, reading the small print and a bit of soldering.We have this permanently assembled, wouldn't want to keep fixing it up for a special task, and there's a good firm base for the clamp - a flimsy side table wouldn't be enough.It is just fit for purpose, and an excellent price tooAnd it arrived VERY quickly.

This is such a good magnifying light. I've had others before it; the first had a four-inch lens with a good focal length but only one candle-type bulb, and when its springs became too old to hold the lens up, a second which had a 5" lens with a too-short focal length and restricted articulation (sounds like an old person!).The lens here is seven inches wide and six top to bottom. The best image is when the object is about 6-7" below the lens. It's ideal for removing splinters (I do a lot of gardening), tying fly-fishing flies, and close-range repairs to small items. Being wide, it will be great for map-reading to plan holidays in due course. It represents excellent value for money.

I have been using these things at work for most of the past 40 years, most of the kit probably from the 1950s-60s, so I am more than familiar with them.I am torn between one and four star reviews for this one.The title to the listing is "3 Magnification", which implies X3 magnification. IT IS NOT, it is 3 dioptre, which is only X1.75 magnification. Although this type of magnifier is limited, by virtue of the laws of Physics, to magnification no greater than something like X5 at most, X1.75 is pretty low. (High class versions have small inset lenses to give higher magnification to something like X10 or so). All the more galling when the box that it was delivered here in, was dual purpose - for both 3 and 5 dioptre magnifiers (5 dioptre is X2.25 - still not great).On the plus side it is a built to last - incredibly heavy and well-made. Another minus point - the flip-up cover for the lens does not lock, so if you use it at any significant angle to horizontal, the cover just drops back over the lens - a serious flaw when considered against how incredibly simple a locking device would have been to fit.It almost does what I want. Do I send it back due to the very highly misleading title of the listing?Almost forgot - ludicrously cheap for what it is.

It's great as both an overhead desk lamp (as the evenings draw in) and as a magnifier for the very small amount of model building that I do (I suffer from that mid-life can't see the details of your own fingerprints at half an arm length nonsense since about four years ago and just normal reading glasses didn't fill in the gap).I have found and offcut 68mm x 196mm x 361mm offcut of European Oak into which I shall be plunging a hole to make a base for it. The clamps fine, but a little extra mobility isn't that difficult to improvise.