After having used Magnifier lamps for close work over the years, they helped but were often awkward to position.
I believe it was a member here that recommended this particular headband magnifier.
Picked one up off Amazon and find it really a great asset.
https://www.amazon.ca/Carson-MagniVisor-Head-Worn-Magnifier-Different/dp/B007CDJKM2
Thanks whoever it was.
Max.

 

That looks pretty nice. Can you adjust the spacing between the lenses?

If I were still doing electronics I would still be dreaming of owning a telescopic binocular "headset" of the sort used by surgeons. Their very big advantage is greatly increased working distance. They are far from cheap.

 

Can you adjust the spacing between the lenses?

If I were still doing electronics I would still be dreaming of owning a telescopic binocular "headset" of the sort used by surgeons. .

No spacing adjust, but so far have not really found it necessary.
Also the four sets of lenses are handy.
Normally all the work is fairly close up over the bench/desk so not found the telescopic need so far, also the lens flips up which makes reverting to normal view very quick and easy.
Max.

 

Where I've found the limited working distance of simple magnifiers a problem is re-work involving small surface mount components where adequate magnification would get the working distance down into the 20 cm range. Typically I'd pull the component with an iron or two, then paste the pads with a syringe and reflow with a hot air tool. It is the reflow where greater working distance would have been nice because my the hot air tool and my face needed to be in the same place at the same time.

I now have absolutely fixed-focus vision, which makes all of this stuff incredibly frustrating - which is a large part of the reason why I just don't to it anymore.

 

…I believe it was a member here that recommended this particular headband magnifier.
Picked one up off Amazon and find it really a great asset.
https://www.amazon.ca/Carson-MagniVisor-Head-Worn-Magnifier-Different/dp/B007CDJKM2
Thanks whoever it was.
Max.

That was probably me on your thread:
https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/work-lights-and-head-bands.149179/#post-1274153

That looks pretty nice. Can you adjust the spacing between the lenses?

If I were still doing electronics I would still be dreaming of owning a telescopic binocular "headset" of the sort used by surgeons. Their very big advantage is greatly increased working distance. They are far from cheap.

I was told those long depth of field models cost into the thousands of dollars.

Where I've found the limited working distance of simple magnifiers a problem is re-work involving small surface mount components where adequate magnification would get the working distance down into the 20 cm range. Typically I'd pull the component with an iron or two, then paste the pads with a syringe and reflow with a hot air tool. It is the reflow where greater working distance would have been nice because my the hot air tool and my face needed to be in the same place at the same time.

I now have absolutely fixed-focus vision, which makes all of this stuff incredibly frustrating - which is a large part of the reason why I just don't to it anymore.

Would an ordinary binocular microscope not work? The Amscope branded ones can be had for as little as a few hundred dollars.

 

"Would an ordinary binocular microscope not work?"

I have a very nice Leica stereo scope on a post-and-boom type mount that I got used, thanks to a friend who found them, for a thousand dollars. Not as flashy as the one my ophthalmologist used when he chopped up, ultrasonically semi-liquefied and sucked out my meat lenses, still a fine instrument. It is great for SMD solder pasting with a syringe, component placement and inspection, but the working distance is too short for something like a hot air tool where you need to approach from the top. I could make angle nozzles for my larger hot air tool, but I typically used my hot air "pencil" for single small component reflow and it is much like a soldering iron with a hollow tip.

There are some binocular telescopic headsets available for somewhat less than a thousand dollars. I don't know how good they are. If I had been able to find something in that price range locally where I could have tried it out before purchase, I probably would have bought one. The sort used in a typical OR probably runs to many thousand, but they are also burdened with the need to withstand sanitization suitable for OR use.