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Greybull River Rat

Does a magnifying glass/lamp help or get in the way?

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I have this Carson Magniflex.

 

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I tie mostly larger flies for panfish and bass and i rarely use this magnifier but it's pretty neat and works great when i do use it.It has three built in led's that do a great job lighting the flies and it plugs in or takes 3 batteries.Mounts to the table like a vise would and is easy to move out of the way.The glass is large enough that i have no problem looking through it with both eyes.I have had some that i had to look through with one eye.

I have this unit but mine does not plug in that I am aware of , it only uses batteries, I think in 4-6 years of owning it I have changed batteries twice and one of those was because I left the light on over a portion of winter when I wasn't tying ( like a couple of months). So anyway, I took this magnifier, I added a plastic zip strip to the stem and that is my cradle for my bobbin. I tie comfortably with this rig, by now it does not feel in the way and it's clamped to my table to the right of my vise pretty much full time. I nearly always use the magnifier and most often also with glasses. I wanted the magnification but really wanted the light, it seems I am for ever tying in darker corners of cabins and such on trips away. Even at home it seems the light is never just right, this thing levels that playing field a bit. There are better/clearer magnifiers out there though, also more expensive..

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Maybe it's just me, but I figure flies are imitations...at least for fishing. I don't know how flsh see flies and I don't tie for exhibiton, but if I ever catch a fish wearing magnifying glasses, I'll take to wearing powerful magnifying assistance over 1 1/2 mag, which I now wear...reading glasses. If I were tying for a contest or something, maybe, but I'm a minmalist and think trout are the same. They have a second or two vision and have to make a decison IF the fly floats in their field of vision.

Gene, it sounds like your eyes aren't too bad yet. Wait till you can't see any detail of where the thread is going. At that point you will want something clearer than your own vision. In my case not only is the thread fuzzy looking to me but I can see two fuzzy strands at times instead of one. On small flies with my natural eyes I have no idea except by feel if I even got the thread on the hook. But ya know what ? I've gotten some flies tied that way. It's a wicked strain on eyes and creates a head ache. And really my eyes aren't so bad, it's just that way when I zero in on a small hook, the astigmatisms in the eyes kicks in in close work like that and then again when looking way out at details. I could see two trees on a hill top where there is one for instance. It's when the eyes have to pin point something like that be it in close or far away.. Lettering on road signs too, all fuzzy and double outlines. So that is why the magnifier and glasses helps in fly tying.. Not to mention the light, because this problem is accentuated in low light.. On larger flies I can back away and see them clear enough to tie one or two. I can also tie with just prescription glasses but like the magnification of detail better, plus the light. Why not ? When a size 20 hook looks like a 10 it becomes easier to tie !! At 65 years old why fight it, life is too short to strain over much of anything anymore ?

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Zoomies-Hands-Free-400-Magnification-Bin

 

I have a pair of these "mini binoculars"...I was having trouble seeing my toe nails when I tried to clip them. They work great. I can also read the bath scale :-)). If I recall correctly they were less than $4 bucks from ebay.

 

Don't know about tying a fly with them though....

 

Caution, they are funky looking and best worn when not in the presence of others ;->. Where they worth the $4 bucks? To me they were.

 

FWIW...I do wear corrective lenses w/bifocal.

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Yeah, my eyes are pretty good for an old man. I use drug store reading glasses, but not the kind of large magnifier I see some are using. I tried it once and found it messed up my coordination.

 

I have a set of those magnifiers you wear for working on gun parts, but they're kinda heavy and the reading glasses work just fine.

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Yeah, my eyes are pretty good for an old man. I use drug store reading glasses, but not the kind of large magnifier I see some are using. I tried it once and found it messed up my coordination.

 

I have a set of those magnifiers you wear for working on gun parts, but they're kinda heavy and the reading glasses work just fine.

Typing it all out makes mine sound worse than it is living with it LOL !! I use drug store glasses or scripts , in fact I have a pair in the tying case so I don't get to Maine or someplace and find I left my real glasses at home like I did once years ago. My Drug store glasses are a power or two up from the script..

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Hey guys, these are all good points. One thing that is clear from this thread is the variability from one person to another...magnification needs are very individual. Aging has alot to do with it. This is like arthritis. People with low grade arthritis [and good pain tolerance] can't understand why others are severely limited, and young folks really don't understand. Loss of vision and need for eye help are like this...it's really quite variable. What one 60 year old needs may be vastly different from what another needs, even though both may have had great vision when they were younger. As Dave pointed out, all these problems are magnified [?] by lower light. Folks need to use what they need, and the differences in need are gonna be vast. Cheers, Ed

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I use reading glasses for most general purpose tasks and tying big woollies, but I have a head-mounted magnifier with dual lenses (3X and 5X) for tying little stuff. If I ever get crazy enough to get into midges, I have a jeweler's loupe that mounts to my reading glasses and provides up to 16X. Only one eye, though, so it's only for inspection, not tying.

 

Agreed, the fly doesn't have to be perfect to catch fish, and wearing magnification will make every flaw stand out, but I can't get better unless I can see what I did wrong with this one. Unless I completely missed a tie-in so the fly is coming apart, it goes in the fly box. Then out comes my tying journal and I write down what I tied, what I did right, and what I did wrong.

 

If you get all depressed and mopey after seeing your flies at 5X, dig out a few commercial ties and look at them. I guarantee you won't feel nearly as bad about your own efforts after you have examined a few commercial $3 Prince nymphs or BWOs under a magnifier.

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I'll have to take your word for it, I haven't bought a commercially tied fly in over 20 years now LOL !

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as-seen-on-tv-big-vision-magnifying-glas

 

Oh, that commercial !! The guy's got a soldering stand for a vice, using a pair of pliers to hold the thread and trying to tie feathers on that he's not holding, while holding a magnifying glass with the other hand. It's so pathetically incorrect that I had to re-run it to show it to Wife.

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I find it interesting that the guy that originally posted this thread has been offline since the day after he posted it. Couldn't have been very interested.

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I use the Pro-Lite FTL100. It's indispensable to me. I found that 2x magnification is perfect for seeing well, but also allows an OK depth of focus. I tried a craft lamp that was 4x figuring more was better, but if I moved a micro bit the fly would go out of focus. I also need the added light. Past 60 years, my eyes are ok but I'm more sensitive and not very functional in low light.

I had to get used to using magnification; it seemed very unnatural at first - now it's supernatural.

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Something that doesn't seem to have been mentioned, but might help is the background you are tying against. A few sheets of card are far cheaper to experiment with than buying magnifiers. Usually an off white mat background is recommended, but you may find something that is better for you. If you can increase the contrast between your fly and its background you may find you don't need magnification as much.

Cheers,

C.

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Something that doesn't seem to have been mentioned, but might help is the background you are tying against. A few sheets of card are far cheaper to experiment with than buying magnifiers. Usually an off white mat background is recommended, but you may find something that is better for you. If you can increase the contrast between your fly and its background you may find you don't need magnification as much.

 

Great suggestion and I did this as a beginner last winter. I found that the black computer monitors and the dark wood grain desktop laminate was sucking in all the light and it was very hard to see what I was doing. You need "contrast" between the fly you're working on and the background - period. It makes a major difference in ease of seeing what you're doing. Also make sure you have "plenty" of light at your tying area.

 

Regarding magnification, I tried both ways, with and without the magnifying lamp and each way has its merits. At 54, I do wear low magnification "cheaters" regularly and maybe slightly stronger ones is all I need to avoid having to use the magnifying lamp at times but I won't know until I try them out.

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