I was wanting to get my father a light and magnifier to help him look at large cents and try to atribute them. I have been thinking of an ottlite but need some help. What type of lights and magnifiers do you guys use if you use one?
I use a Humanscale double arm task light and a 10x loupe. I also have a lighted magnyfier: http://www.ebay.com/itm/30X-2-LED-L...865?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e81f6f99 It says it's 30x, but I would guess it is closer to 15-20x. They have a 40x version as well. I like this because it takes AAA batteries (cheap and easy to find). The downside is, the lens is on the smaller side. On top of that I also have the low-end version of a DinoLite (digital microscope), which is fine about 80% of the time, but it does have a lowish resolution and does show funky shadows which can be deceiving. I also have a fixed 100x microscope, which comes in handy to differentiate between pmd and mint errors. If I had to pic one setup, I'd go with a nice double arm task light that can have the position easily adjusted and decent hand held loupe (15x or so) with a larger lens so you don't have to squint as much.
