Which loupe to buy, and which features and power-range to look for?

[Bobby2shots]

Hey guys,

I'm thinking of buying a loupe, and wondering what character-specifics you guys have found to be worthwhile. I'd prefer a "quality" unit,,, possibly/probably with built-in lighting, and perhaps with an adjustable diopter.(if deemed necessary). What power-range do you recommend? What I'd like to examine are the factory edges on new knives (tiny micro-bevels, etc,,, as well as sharpening scratch-patterns. How important is eye-relief? What about battery-replacement in the lighted units? I presume these units would require tiny hearing-aid batteries, which are cheap and readily available. I believe I'd prefer the portability of a loupe, over using a microscope. So far, all I've seen are a variety of units on Amazon, generally selling under $50. Canadian/ $37. U.S.

 

[Matus]

I used to have this one before I got a proper compact optical microscope (that actually really offers 100x magnification).

Ignore the magnification numbers, it is more like around 40x, but still a great value IMO:

https://www.amazon.de/Carson-MM-300...ld=1&keywords=mikroskop&qid=1595438575&sr=8-3

 

[LostHighway]

I have a Swift Trilyte 777R, which is a combination compact 8x20 monocular with a stand that converts it into a quite decent 25X microscope. I'm not sure if they still make these but it used to be a fairly standard field tool for plant pathologists and, to a lesser extent, entomologists. I didn't buy it for knives. This has way better optics than the $10 - $20 PRC loupes but may be more than you really need. 25X isn't a bad magnification level for this application but perhaps a touch more than you really need most of the time, 15X to 20X might be a more ideal range.

 

[Honerabi]

The standard has been a Bausch and Lomb Hastings Triplet, 10X. Beware of cheap imitations. Nice and pocket size. Put a woven leather braid on it.