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My eyes are not what they used to be....

last may it turns out I bought cheap eye loupes on ebay, 1 was 30x, the other 60x, and is lighted (blue led or white). In addition to that I own a 4 pack (maybe originally 5 pack) of Horror Freight plastic loupes. All are astoundingly ineffective at certain jobs, but I've managed. Case in point I recently dented up an lga1151 socket. Using the 30x I managed to unbend most of the pins w/o incident, but 1 was funky, even with the 60x loupe I found myself challenged. It was difficult to discern what was going on down in there. It seems to be the case that 1 of the pins has broken. Wow, just my frigged up luck. Sometimes it isn't enough to just have sufficient lighting. You need to direct it in a particular manner or you may not even be able to discern what you're looking at.

I can't even remember why I bought those loupes, maybe it was on account of a different board I thought had that very problem, but learned afterwards that wasn't the case at all. Not so long ago I started looking at visor thingees, but was put off by the price, and startlingly low magnification. Hell if I had trouble at 60x what good would 2,5,10, even 20x do me. I want to say I still have fairly good eyesight, never wore glasses (except for a very bried period when I was in 5th grade, but the things gave me headaches. Not even sure why they were prescribed). If I need magnification, I'm going to need some magnification.
 
I really appreciate all the insight brought to this thread. I would assume this is a pretty common issue as we all age so its good to get it out there.

What do you guys recommend for a microscope for a beginner? What are the pros and cons of a USB vs standalone. Are there any that can just interface with a VGA/DVI monitor without the need for a PC? Looking for a beginner model just to try it out.
 
VERAULT said:
Just a bit more than I would feel comfortable spending on my first microscope to be honest.
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I bought it primarily for soldering surface mount stuff, if I didn't do that I probably wouldn't have bought it.
 
Some people feel comfortable working with a cheap USB microscope. Too remote for me, but it clearly works for others.

Regardless, make sure that your microscope objective is protected from flux smoke. The stuff is somewhat corrosive.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Regardless, make sure that your microscope objective is protected from flux smoke. The stuff is somewhat corrosive.
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I keep a 4" x 4" piece of glass mounted on the bottom of the LED light with double stick tape and a few rubber bands.
 
tipc said:
Using the 30x I managed to unbend most of the pins w/o incident, but 1 was funky, even with the 60x loupe I found myself challenged. It was difficult to discern what was going on down in there. It seems to be the case that 1 of the pins has broken. Wow, just my frigged up luck. Sometimes it isn't enough to just have sufficient lighting. You need to direct it in a particular manner or you may not even be able to discern what you're looking at.
Click to expand...

Have you ever tried a stereoscopic microscope like those from Amscope with a heavy stand like a double boom arm to see if seeing in 3D versus 2D and/or having the stability of depth of field changes your ability to do fine manipulations?
 
After using a ring light on my Stereozoom, I opted for a single off-axis light that casts shadows. I find that it helps with depth perception. YMMV, of course.
 
I've got everything from an old Bausch & Lomb 10X loupe (plus a cheap set of H.F. loupes) to a AmScope Microscope plus wearable magnifiers and use them all for various tasks. I used to be able to see things up close, but over the years that has gone to crap. So good lighting and lots of optics these days.
 
Cataract surgery usually fixes your vision for distance. Some sort of optical aid, even if it's a strong set of reading glasses is necessary for just about any close work.
 
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