The strongest magnifying glasses for those with visual impairments are Video Magnifiers, also known as Electronic Magnifiers, or CCTV magnifying glasses. These are much more powerful than the strongest magnifying glasses with lights, and can go up to 50x in magnification. What’s more, the view display on a video magnifier is much larger than the surface area of a magnifying glass lens.
If you’ve ever had a strong magnifying glass, you may have been frustrated by the small lens! Digital magnifiers solve this problem. If you need magnification greater than 20x we would recommend a digital magnifier. They are higher budget, but our customers love them and say they wouldn’t cope without them. They can really help you to get your independence back and enable you to do all the tasks that you couldn’t do before.
Why are strong traditional magnifying glasses small?
Traditional magnifying glasses have lenses made from glass. They work by using a curved piece of glass, which bounces the light around so as to make the image appear larger. The deeper the curve is cut in the glass, the stronger the magnification can be.
The strongest magnifying glasses need a really, steeply curved piece of glass. To get the angles required the glass itself needs to be quite small, otherwise the entire unit would be so big it would be too heavy and unmanageable.
This explains why as magnifying glasses go up in strength, they go down in lens size.
We have a full range of video and digital magnifiers here.
What to look for in a strong magnifying glass?
If digital magnifiers are outside the budget, or you only want a magnifying glass between 10-30x magnification, here are some tips on what to look for:
- Get a magnifying glass with light, to maximise the visibility and contrast.
- The higher the level of magnification the stronger it will be.
- Strong but light-weight handle so that it’s easy to carry around.