A stand magnifier is a magnifier that is designed to stand on the page being read, and not held up in the air.

Around the lens there will be some sort of casing that will keep the lens at the optimum focus point from the page.  To get the best out of one of these low vision aids, you should ware your reading glasses.

These magnifiers, often have their own light built in to give good lighting on the page.  This is to improve vision and make up for the shade the casing around the lens gives.

These magnifiers, often have their own light built in to give good lighting on the page.  This is to improve vision and make up for the shade the casing around the lens gives.

These magnifiers can be used flat on a table or if needed the reading material can be raised on a reading stand.  Alternatively, if you want to use one of these magnifiers sat on the sofa or in an armchair, then a clipboard could be used to keep the page you are reading flat and still.

These magnifiers are available in a range of strengths. As a general rule, the stronger they are the smaller the lens gets, the closer to the page the lens is and the closer to the lens your eyes are.

Here at South Wales Low Vision Clinic, we predominantly use Schweizer stand magnifiers.  These have a single handle that their range of lenses all fit to.  The handle houses three AA batteries and a single LED to light the page.  We have a video on our YouTube channel showing how to change the batteries when this is needed.