What kind of optics do you use to look at coins??

I have a B&L 5X packette. For serious looking, I have a 2-90X stereo microscope with a 5 megapixel USB camera in the trinocular port. It cost far, far more than any coin that I own and I absolutely love it. I'm using it to look through $1000 in pocket change this winter...it is Minnesota ya know. LOL

 

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The most important optics for viewing coins ? Your own eyes, unmagnified.

I took an ANA Grading class this summer, and the #1 thing the instructor "chastized" us on was over-reliance on a loupe ! He kept getting us to start, and spend more time, with the unmagnified eye.

There's a time and a place for everything, including a loupe. I certainly still use a loupe, but I have shifted more emphasis to natural eyesight.

 

Does anyone use a magnifier of any type, that has its own light, that isn't a total piece of you know what?

 

At work it's almost always a 10X loupe but occasionally a 5X B and L.
At home I use 5, 10, 16 and digital blue at 60X if I really want to see something.

We have a 20X at work we use at times as well.

 

I use a 5X Bausch & Lomb... I actually had no idea what the company was, had to look at the little print on it. Although.. I used one while in LA last year, I was much more impressed with quality of that one. There was little distortion around the outside rim, and it made it easier to focus on one spot.
Not sure what brand it was... Should have bought it though.