The Assistive Technology Blog

A reader wrote to us about the "small hand held electronic magnifier that could see a few lines of a newspaper column and enlarge the image X3 and increase the contrast to a nice high contrast B/W...3X is much too much because the enlarged line exceeds the screen width."

Here's our response, thanks to our FOB (friend of the blog) Amy:

The reduced field is always an issue...if you are only interested in something to help with reading the newspaper and in increased contrast, I would recommend something less techy than electronic... like a handheld, illuminated magnifier or a dome magnifier. They are easy to manipulate.

BUT, I would also recommend that the person see a low vision specialist. This is typically an optometrist who has a special certification.

In the meantime, if you want electronic, look into these:

QuickLook Zoom (about $945) - by Ash - 3x to 18x; screen size 4.3 in., 8.8 oz.; see http://www.visual-techconnection.com/quicklk.htm
OPAL (about $795) - by Freedom Scientific - 4.5x - 9x; screen size 4 in. diagonal, 10 oz.; see http://www.freedomscientific.com/products/lv/opal-product-page.asp
SmartView (about $595) - by Humanware - 3x - 9x; screen size 3.6 in., 4.9 oz.; see http://www.iltsource.com/SmartView_Pocket_Portable_CCTV_Magnifier_p/smartviewpocket.htm?Click=2&gclid=CIaf8P7jxZgCFRlcagodrjoF2w
Compact+ (about $795) - by Optelec - 5x - 10x; screen size 4.3 in.; 10 oz.; see http://www.visual-techconnection.com/compact.htm
PocketViewer (about $645) - by PocketViewer - up to 7x (don't know why it doesn't say how low it goes...); screen size 4x3 in.; 0.7 lbs.; see http://www.humanware.com/en-usa/products/low_vision/pocketviewer/_details/id_9/pocketviewer.html

Thanks for the questions-keep 'em coming!