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I need a reading/magnifying lamp

13 years ago

My mother has severe vision problems from macular degeneration. I would love to get her a good magnifying lamp for Christmas. Does anyone have a suggestion of one that is good quality. I have looked at the ones from JoAnne's and the reviews seem to indicate that they are not a very good quality. Any suggestions from anyone?

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Comments (3)

User
13 years ago
The Macular Degeneration Foundation recommends Luxo Magnifying Lamps. I've seen them on Amazon.com.

My 95 year old aunt has severe MD and she uses a hand held magnifying glass and a very bright regular table lamp. She couldn't be bothered with anything else during the 15ish years she's struggled with MD.
moonshadow
13 years ago
I tried one or two lamps for my mother and they were awkward to use. Maybe it was the brand/style, but they wouldn't stay positioned in place well.

Her eye doctor recommended one like this. Not that brand, and the price was about $100 through the eye MD. If you're interested, I can get the name of the brand for you. Or check a local optical department of a good eye clinic. It sits higher up, so is rested on the page and then slide from side to side while reading. Has a light inside.
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Good,glad you solved the problem.We need to have good lighting when we create. My sewing room used to be the master bedroom many years ago,it's a 16x22 room,that we had 1/2 of it added to a pre existing room in the 70's.Dh at the time was still in the marines,so a lot of the time he wasn't home,then he retired and went to work for s.calif Edison,and at one point for a few years he traveled almost 2 hours north to work,and did a different shift every week.That got old real quick,so he took our fifth wheel up to where his job was and lived in that for a few years,coming home when he had a long weekend(4 days) off in a row. So I suggested I take the master as my sewing room,and the sewing room I had would be our bedroom. He didn't think I could pull it off.Fooled him.The next time he came home I had everything changed out.Was able to get everything into the new bedroom,was tight at first and had to turn the night stands sideways,but eventually I downsized the bed to a queen,and everything worked better. I did all of it by myself except for the mattress,and called ds over to help me with that. Another ds cane over and put a lot of shelves in what used to be the master closet. I'm still in that room and downsizing to a smaller bedroom didn't cause any problems.We've kept it this way all these years. We sewers and crafters have to do what we need to do to be able to be comfortable in our spaces,don't we. Kathi
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I guess I should include the picture of the desk, too! There is 12" of wall space on either side of the desk. I could move the desk over 8"-10" toward the blinds, but I do like it centered. The desk and photo are straight; my camera usage is crooked. The books are ones I am currently reading so they change constantly. The DVDs are my Last of the Summer Wine collection, which I'm watching right now so they will stay. Even with the DVDs on the desk I have plenty or reading and writing room. Also, would this larger Ray Harm Purple Martins print be too big over the desk? Right now it's just propped up there. I would hang it so the bottom frame is about 4" above the desk's hutch. I love both the print and the photo, but the photo usually stays in my sewing room. It shows the view from my apartment of the Basilica de Nuestra Senora del Pilar in Zaragoza, Spain. Of course, you had to go to the very top roof of the tall-but-modest apartment building, then climb up on some utility housings, and lean w-a-y over the edge to see this view - but it was there! LOL My questions boil down to "Big print or smaller photo?" and "What style and height of lamp to use?"
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yogacat
13 years ago
DH is blind (light perception in one eye; counts fingers in the other) and teaches kids who are visually impaired/blind. What I can tell you about magnifiers is that no matter how good they are, you still have to deal with personal preference. Especially since macular degeneration is about loss of the central field of vision, it would be best if you could take your mother somewhere to try our different devices.

How much magnification is needed? Remember that more magnification means that less text is displayed. Reading 2x magnification isn't greatly different than reading unenlarged text, but at 10x you're looking at parts of words.

Where does your mother read? If she's willing to sit at a table, a good goose-neck desk lamp, a plain magnifier and possibly a reading stand will give here a lot of flexibility. On most hand-held magnifiers, the light is not adjustable.

DH's favorite pocket magnifier hasn't been made for many years. His second choice would be a Bausch and Lomb. They aren't terribly expensive, but they're not illuminated. The illuminated hand magnifiers are nice enough, but the bulbs tend to burn out quickly. I'd probably go for an LED or Xenon version.

At the higher price points:

The SmartView by Humanware (around $600) is very portable and nice when it works. We had quality issues with both the original one I purchased and the one that was sent as a replacement.

The Amigo by Enhanced Vision ($1700) isn't portable enough to use in the grocery store, but if you're seated at a table to read a book or other text, it's wonderful. It's far the best quality of the various low vision aids for reading in our house.

If you don't have a local store for low vision aids, check the link below. I have purchased from them and they do have a reasonable return policy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Magnifiers at Independent Living

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