Your specific needs determine the best sort of magnifying lamp for your purpose. Most people searching the internet for information on magnifying lamps are looking for lamps for one of two purposes. Either you are a hobbyist who works on miniatures or very detailed intricate work, or you are buying a magnifying lamp for work purposes. Either way, the basics remain the same, so we just need to think about the various options that influence choice.

If you are going to have your lamp on for extended periods of time, two things come into play. The first is not a large issue if you are only talking about one lamp, but power usage can be a factor if you have multiple lamps.

Manufacturing facilities, using lots of lamps for work such as electronics production and assembly, could potentially be saving a lot of money by considering light emitting diodes (LED’s) as opposed to fluorescent lamps or even conventional light bulbs.

Most illuminating magnifiers built today are either LED or fluorescent lamps. In the past, nearly all magnifiers were fluorescent, but this is quickly starting to shift to LEDs. This is for the first reason (power consumption) but also for a second reason: heat.

This is a factor for hobbyists and professionals alike. If you are working around a magnifying lamp, generally you are going to have your face very near the light source and magnifying glass surface. Fluorescent bulbs tend to throw off a lot of heat, where LEDs are relatively cool.

The next thing to consider is how much magnification you want. Adults tend to lose focal length as they age and that can be “corrected” through the use of a lighted magnifying lamp.

Lamps are generally rated as a three, five or ten diopter. To convert diopter to magnification, you simply divide by four. So a 3 diopter lens multiplies the viewed area by.75 meaning it is 75% larger than life. 5 diopter is 125% larger, 10 d is 250% larger than life.

You may think that larger is better, but you also have to consider the focal length. A larger magnification level also means that the area in focus is going to be smaller.

So if you want to focus on one square inch, multiplying that by a factor of 5 might be alright, but if you are looking at an area the size of the palm of your hand, magnifying that more than 100% would make it impossible to see all of the area. You would constantly have to move the magnifying lens or the object you are working on. This is known as the “field of view” and is a very important consideration.

Last in this quick overview is the mechanics of the device itself. Do you want to be able to move the magnifier in an out of your work space as needed, or is it more of a permanent fixture above a work space? There are many different types of swing-arm lamps available for today’s hobbyist. How much you move the magnifying lamp around determines how good a quality lamp you need.

If you are a very part time hobbyist, an inexpensive fluorescent lamp can be purchased for under $20. A more robust magnifying lamp can cost hundreds of dollars. A price consideration can also come into play when you consider the cost of replacing the fluorescent bulb. LEDs last many times longer, consume less power, and generate less heat, but fluorescent lamps are much cheaper out of the box.