My first impressions of my brand new mega cheap optivisor thingy.

I have eventually come to the conclusion that my eyesight is deteriorating to the point where I can just about see the figure let alone paint the flippin thing. My focal length has changed to the point where I am painting at almost arms length. So having heard people rave about optiviosrs I thought I would purchase one.
Now ... when I looked them up there was a huge selection of what I could get. So being a bit of a skinflint I went for the cheapest that I could find.
This was the Rolson  2 LED Magnifying visor. Cost £12.50 inc postage from Amazon.


I awaited the arrival of my package and once arrived gave it a go. I decided to write something up as a bit of a review.
hopefully it will be of some interest

Product Description
This Rolson Tools 2 LED Magnifying Visor has a built in two LED directional lamp, Four lens plates with the following magnification, 1.2x, 1.8x, 2.5x, 3.5x. It has an adjustable head strap and the visor can be flipped up when not required. The visor can be used over spectacles if required.
Box Contains
1 x Adjustable head visor
4 x Four multiplet for the lens: 1.2x, 1.8x, 2.5x, 3.5x
2 x AAA batteries

So here goes...

The actual head piece does look quite flimsy, the visor has the led lamp on the top. The switch for the light is quite stiff and to be honest it was easier to take the whole thing off to switch the light on and off. The light is positionable both up and down and side to side.



The actual lenses come in a separate box. These are 1.2 x, 1.8x,  2.5x  and 3.5x  these clip into the underside of the visor, this again will probably cause issues in the future as eventually I would imagine that the way they clip in will fail.



I tried each lens in turn. The 1.2x meant I was still painting at quite a distance. It was only when I got to the  2.5x lens that I felt I could paint effectively. The maximum  magnification lens were great for looking at my fingerprints but I found them a bit too strong to paint with. The underside of the visor has two sets of clips so I experimented with  using two sets of lenses. This sort of worked but I found I couldn't look straight ahead as they distorted the view of the figure.

The bottom line.... I found I could paint a lot easier and realised how much I had missed on earlier figures too. The visor itself does have issues in both its flimsyness and method of attaching the lenses.
basically it goes from this to this:

Been using my one of those for eight months now with no problems. Couldn't paint without it now, I suspect ... there may of course be those who think I can't paint with it either

Haven't found it particularly flimsy.

Reasonably lightweight and pretty comfortable so probably wouldn't want anything too much more robust.

Only used the light on it once - too look under the fridge for an errant PD Predator - fortunately recovered and securely stored now!

I thought those predators were invisible? Does your optivisor have I/R or radar?

I've been using the same model for a few years now and although it's a bit on the 'placci' side, I've had now problems with it. Its robust enough to stand being dropped etc. Like others, I couldn't paint without it now, so it gets a thumbs up from me.

However, if anyone else has experience of a more up-market one then it would be interesting to hear their review of it?

Mr Rolson can't spell required, I see.

Been using one of the 'original' Optivisors for something approaching 20 years now.
I believe it might have been the only type easily available in those days.
Compared to the one M has reviewed, I'd say the original is more robust.....Has a better (to me) way of fixing the lenses in place, and the lenses themselves are made of glass.
(I think !!.....At least I haven't managed to scratch them yet.)
But if the one shown above works well....and I can't see any reason why it shouldn't....It looks an absolute bargain !
Hope it works well, 'M'.

Cheers - Phil

hee hee hee...you look like Phil

But I AM Phil ! 

stands up

I'm Phil!

I'm Phil, and so's my wife!

What are we all looking at?

 
Stop it, I've got to get on with work !
Cheers - Phil

I've been using one of the originals for just over a year now. I think there's a trade-off between robustness and lightness in these cases. The Optivisor is at the robust end of the scale. It's not uncomfortable to wear, the headband is infinitely adjustable, but when you take it off after a long painting session it's quite a relief.

I can't fault the magnification, I have the No 5 - 2.5x lenses which have a focal length of about 8 inches/20 cm which is fairly comfortable for most painting. However, in order to see what's on the workbench I need my reading glasses. So they spend most of the time perched on the end of my nose, below the Optivisor.

The other drawback is that because the Optivisor comes down over the eyes, you can't watch TV as you paint. Now I know why Techno spends so much time listening to audio books! Other than that, I like the Optivisor. It's not the cheapest on the market, however.

Quote from: FierceKitty on 12 March 2014, 07:53:54 AM
Mr Rolson can't spell required, I see.

Since he gets it right further down I guess Mr. Rolson can spell but not type ... I know the feeling

I've got one of these as well - same design but different manufacturer. Had made a big difference in my ability to paint

The light is basically useless though...

QuoteMr Rolson can't spell required, I see.

If it bothers you that much, why not write to the company and suggest they redo their packaging, rather than offer up snide comments to people that can do nothing about it or don't care.