Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Our expectations of quality in everyday items continues to drift downward. My parents used a magnifying glass like this, available at any dimestore. The handle & frame were Bakelite, the glass was imperfect, but big, clear and curved in both planes. It magnified effortlessly and gave the impression of being indestructible. This toy lens is curved in one plane, made of green glass, substantially reduces both contrast and sharpness in the transmitted image and is chipped in several places on all four edges. Because it's only curved in one plane, the curve extends to the edge on the long sides, which consequently aren't ensconced in the frame (because that would take engineering). It gives the impression of being eminently destructible and no great loss. The frame is injection-molded plastic with a rabbet & bezel to capture the lens on its short sides. The handle is tapered, averaging ~5mm thick. In other words, it's comically thin for holding a blob of glass by one corner, though deep checkering makes it easier to grip with fingertips. Precisely measuring magnification is tricky, but two rulers side by each show that at maximum arm's-length magnification and best focus the transmitted image is almost exactly 5:3, or < 1.7X . In normal use (~half that distance from our eye) the best I measured was 1.5X.