A page magnifier. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
When do you need a magnifier?
Restaurant Menus
You need a magnifier on holiday or business to read a restaurant menu, small print in dim light, sometimes candle light. Checking the ingredients if you are allergic to shellfish or nuts. You could use the light in your phone. Or ask for another candle. But it would be handy to have a small magnifier.
You need to read small print in a supermarket. What are the ingredients?
Reading your camera instructions.
In the hotel reading the laundry bag list. Essential information, prices, items they won't accept, time they will return items - will it be in time for your farewell dinner, or before you check out next day!
When travelling to your destination, you might need to read the printed train route maps.
Before you leave, you might want to read the page of small print regarding the travel contract, terms of business. Or a contract you are signing.
Full Page Magnifiers
I just ordered a full size page reader. It magnifies only three times. Light, thin plastic.
A real magnifying glass, of thick heavy glass, should give you five or ten times magnification.
Buying Spare Reading Glasses
You can buy off the rack reading glasses at sizes 1 and 2 and sometimes three sixes and half sizes, from many pharmacies and supermarkets. Online you can buy several pairs cheaply. All identical, in case you lose them, or keep one on the desk and one in a rucksack and one in the car.
Borrowing A Friend's Spectacles In A Restaurant
On one occasion, I offered to read the menu to somebody else with my glasses. I did not have a spare pair of glasses. Then we realised he could use my glasses to read the menu, after I had used them.
As a long term prospect this is not very practical. Firstly, my eyes are different. So I cannot buy off the peg glasses. One eye would be struggling. It would be an effort with lots of head turning and leaning in and out and maybe getting a headache. Bur for two minutes to read a menu to order a drink or main course, or sandwich, borrowing someone else's reading glasses for five minutes saves the day.
So you could borrow somebody else's glasses. (You might not risk lending them, or have the cheek to ask a stranger, unless they were seated, and knew you, e g a business contact. You want to be sure there is no risk of them running off with your fancy frames.)
Since I have varifocals, the other person has to wiggle their head to get from distance to reading. But good to know this option.
Meanwhile, I have ordered the large page magnifier.
If the times three magnification is useful, I will invest in the teeny pocket size, credit card size ones, less bulky, I can keep one in my jacket pocket for reading the train mags.
Alternatively Reprint Maps Showing Larger Text & Number
The other things we have done with train maps.
Conference stand maps are also often so small it is hard to see the stand numbers. No room to write the name of the country exhobiting. We photograph the map, to make it bigger. We photograph the tiny map using the plus three magnification in edit mode which zooms in. Then print the map off in a larger size.
You want to do this a night or two before a conference. A large matt paper map is one on which you can write the names of people you want to visit, or have visited. If you are on good terms with the conference organizers, and their office is near reception, they might repirnt the map on the back of the A5 or smaller catalogue into a large A4 size.
Pocket Size Magnifier Features
Are all the pocket size products the same?
Some have an edge in black, which is useful, otherwise the see through item disappears on your desk. If you have a variety of coloured edging that is fun. But do they send you random colours, three of one colour but you don't know whether you will get black or red. Or one of each colour so you get three colours, one red, one black, one another colour. Some sellers say that a sleeve is included. Others show what looks like a centimetre measure along the edge, another plus.
Amazon And Ebay Prices For Pocket Magnifiers
I expect to get the large size magnifiers shortly. I ordered from Amazon, because they were cheaper than on Ebay. Only about three pounds including postage. But the tiny size cost more. Odd that. I don't know whether it is economies of scale, that they sell more of the bigger ones. Or they reduce the price of the bigger ones because they sell fewer.
Some of them offer one, with a reduction per item if you offer two, or three for the price of two.
Some seem to cost more but delivery is free. The cheaper ones charge you for delivery, so the one which looks dearer is better value.
Some offer only once piece. Others offer three. But I have already lost the one I had years ago, probably still in a jacket pocket, or the pocket of a handbag. So to have three, one in my coat, one in the bag I use most often, a third on my desk or to give to my husband or y grand-daughter. Or as a Xmas table gift, or a gift when I turn up at a party and unexpectedly find it is a birthday party.
My husband said, you don't know if they will work, so just choose the cheapest. I had so many on my screen that I was muddled. So I added what looked like the cheapest to my onscreen shopping basket. Then I could see the total including the postage in the right hand column. I could also click on remove, or pay only this seller. A feature which I get in Ebay. Temu has great prices, but often wants me to make a minimum order of fifteen pounds, so when I am in a hurry I go back to ebay.
I have Amazon prime, which gives quick delivery. It is an expense, but convenient if you order a lot. Eg ski clothes or sunglasses for a holiday. You might run off the cost against tax as a business expense if you occasionally or frequently urgently need to order items in a hurry such as stocks for a shop, or fire extinguishers for a new tenant in a property, or plumbing parts for builders or light bulbs.
I shall add more details tomorrow updating this post and starting another over the weekend - when maybe the item will arrive.
Useful Websites
Here are some ebay links for three times magnification at under five pounds..
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/166487533040?
Once you log onto that one, other offers are likely to pop up so you can check the postage to the country where you are currently.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=magnifiers%20pocket%20siz
A page size magnifier at five times magnification. On Amazon I could read the reviews, which were mixed. One person said you needed two hands to hold it. Another said it enlarges only minimally.
at a penny off ten pounds
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Magnifying-Lightweight-Magnifier
A ten times the size magnification, in a heavier circular item with a large black handle, costing £12.99 from meepro limited.
This was not what I needed, because I already have one.
Heavier circular magnifier with small circular higher magnification section. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
Update Sat April 18.
Set of 6 A5 page size magnifiers arrived.
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