"Reading glass" optics have you working 2 inches from your nose - loupes let you work at arm's length. They can produce 2.5-3.5 magnification at 16 inches. Even higher magnifications but around 6x, the doctors switch over to surgical microscopes. My dentist paid $5000 for his, but they start at $50 on eBay. I believe there exist cheap ones with acceptable quality (clarity, depth and field of view, weight, illumination). I've read the ratings it's hard to form any opinion. I've been hooked on stereo microscopes since the 70's and have 3 nice ones. I have the uber Fisher Scientific boom stand that lets me inspect valve seats among other things. (once you remove a splinter with a SM, you'll never go back - in fact, that was how I was introduced to them.)
good idea - see surgeons wearing them too - but, be sure to take them off before you get behind the wheel of the car
The cheap dollar store magnifier glasses allow me to work at arms length as well. I have 4 or 5 of them in various places in house and in the shop
My wife makes jewelry and uses a magnified visor like this https://www.firemountaingems.com/itemdetails/h204919tl Sent from my SM-G950U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
If you are using visors or reading glasses, if you ever look through a stereo microscope, you'll be blown away. Shortly after that you'll want surgical loupes. NOTE: if you are working at "arms length" you don't have any magnification. Strong reading glasses "magnify" because they allow you to work closer than your eyes will focus. I used to be able to focus 1" from my nose - I used to paint the insignias on HO scale soldier dress uniforms with my naked eye. Now my min focal length is 10-12 inches. Moving from 10" to 1" is 10x magnification.
No doubt these would be a good thing to have but I don't understand what you mean above. I'm using dime store reading glasses to read this right now, 2 feet from the screen. Take them off, it's a blur. Same thing digging through my bolt bin.
The stronger you get those reading glasses, the shorter the working distance. When I work under a dash, I have to take at least 2 different power reading glasses for "near" and "far" stuff. (there is even a cheap plastic 2-stack adjustable lens reading glass that has a manual "zoom" adjustment - also saw a youtube where they said readers over +2.50 are illegal w/o a prescription. Go China!) RE: Wheel Wells! Ahhhhh...they Suck! You should see the various lenses I have for my welding helmets for working in close quarters!
The Jalopy Journal
