I like to use a magnifying glass with light 10x whenever I am trying to read a very detailed map. As a self proclaimed geography enthusiast, if there can be such a thing, I like to know my cities and locations, and know the terrain in and around each specific area. Sometimes, a city or town may be in painfully small print, and I’ll require a handy magnifier to do my bidding.
Yes, there are other tools for the job, but there’s just something about a 10x magnifier that makes it perfect for reading a map.
Of course, a magnifying glass with light 10x can do other things, as well. I like to use my lighted magnifier as a tool for feeding my stamp hobby. I have a pretty impressive stamp collection, if I do say so myself, and 10x magnification is just what I need to see all of the details that I like to see in the stamps I come across.
Of course, the obvious draw back is that nowadays, it’s very easy, let alone affordable, to acquire a magnifier with higher magnification than a magnifying glass with light 10x. A lot of my friends who also enjoy collecting stamps swear by using their 30x magnifier. A higher magnification multiplier translates into the ability to enlarge the image of a particular object even more, of course.
To me, I can see 30x being necessary in certain situations. But, I think it can be overkill for most jobs, especially for the casual stamp collector. The 10x magnifying glass with light even comes in handy for my other hobby — reading the newspaper.
Okay, so it’s not so much a hobby as it is a public service. In case you haven’t heard, the newspaper industry is getting hit pretty hard nowadays. I hold the newspaper to be very important in our society, and I would really hate for it to die off completely. Don’t get me wrong — I love the internet. But, I still have to believe there’s room in this world for both media types.
Back to my point — I find a 30x magnifying glass a little ridiculous when it comes to reading “normal sized” print like you would find in an ordinary newspaper article. As you may have heard by now, bigger isn’t always better.
I like to keep a magnifying glass with light 10x pretty handy, as it is one of the more versatile tools in its class. Whatever your hobby is, — be it stamps, or map reading like me — or even things like jewelry collecting, I think you’ll find this magnification more than enough for your needs.