About Portable Electronic Magnifiers
Many people living with low vision use optical magnifiers for their daily reading tasks such as reading mail, looking at buttons on the stove, or looking at price tags in the grocery store. Optical magnifiers use a curved piece of glass or plastic to magnify text at a certain distance. An optical magnifier is a useful tool, but the fixed magnification and small field of view can be tedious to work with as you have to move the magnifier all over the page viewing just a word or two at a time. That is why people turn to handheld magnifiers that use digital magnification called Portable Electronic Magnifiers.
What is a Portable Electronic Magnifier?
A portable electronic magnifier is a simple-to-use technology that helps people living with low vision by magnifying their reading material and surroundings to make things more visible. They are devices the size of a smart phone or tablet that have a camera that views your subject matter and a screen where you can see that object magnified to whatever level is best for your vision.
Portable Electronic Magnifiers are ideal for short-term reading magnifying tasks like looking at the thermostat, viewing a menu at a restaurant or looking at a prescription bottle. They are relatively small in size which makes them the perfect companion while on the go. While they can be used for longer reading periods, that job is better handled by our desktop magnifiers.
Electronic Magnifiers vs. Optical Magnification
Sometimes referred to as video magnifiers or digital magnifiers, these devices overcome the limitations of optical magnification. Optical magnifiers made of curved glass have a limited field of view which requires the user to move the magnifier all over their reading material. This can become tedious and tiresome.
Electronic magnifiers give the user a much larger field of view in order to see a large area of magnified text. Portable electronic magnifiers come with a 4” to 8” high-definition display that allows the user to see much more magnified text on the screen at one time.
Optical magnifiers have a fixed degree of magnification. If you are looking at small print or your vision deteriorates over time to the point that you need more magnification, you will need to replace your optical magnifier with a new more powerful one. We often see people with drawers full of optical magnifiers that worked for a time, but don’t do the job anymore.
One electronic magnifier can do the job of an entire drawer full of optical magnifiers, and then some! If you need more magnification, simply press the button to zoom in. You can make the text as big or small as needed based on your vision.
Finally, electronic magnifiers can enhance contrast. Whereas optical magnifiers can only show you a larger image, portable electronic magnifiers allow you to make the text appear bolder and brighter with the touch of a button. Many people prefer to read using the high contrast modes with black text on a white background or white text on a black background.
Examples of Portable Electronic Magnifiers
Pebble HD is the most economical option of the portable vision enhancement devices that we carry. It has a 4.3” high-definition screen, large tactile buttons and is very easy to use. Its rechargeable battery allows for up to three hours of continuous use. The Pebble’s handle doubles as a stand that can be used for hands free viewing of your reading material.
Explore 5” is similar to the Pebble HD in purpose though it has a slightly larger 5” screen. Its slim profile allows for maximum portability and it’s rechargeable battery holds a charge for over three and a half hours. Explore 5” wakes up and is ready to use from the moment you open the handle or stand and turns off automatically when you close the handle or stand.
Explore 8” and Amigo 8 are the larger screen, tablet-size versions of the Explore 5” and Pebble HD. While not quite as slim easy to carry around as their smaller counterparts, both devices are designed for video magnification on-the-go and are about the size of your average tablet. They come with carrying cases to keep them safe during travel.
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