This morning I reluctantly accompanied my wife on a shopping expedition, with a call to Aldi on the agenda. My morose foot shuffling soon turned to a happy dance when I spotted this Maggy Lamp for $70! The build quality is very good for the price, the illumination excellent and the lens appears to be distortion free. The diameter of the lens is 120mm - a bit smaller than professional quality Maggy Lamps I have used in the past but the magnification is the same. It comes with a heavy base that sits on the desk and with a clamp - both are sufficiently sturdy. In all, I think it's a bargain.
Thanks David, remarkably I was thinking about one of these recentry. I find I am constantly taking off and putting on my specs when doing fine work. I will check it out. Is the illumination LEDs?
This morning I reluctantly accompanied my wife on a shopping expedition, with a call to Aldi on the agenda. My morose foot shuffling soon turned to a happy dance when I spotted this Maggy Lamp for $70! The build quality is very good for the price, the illumination excellent and the lens appears to be distortion free. The diameter of the lens is 120mm - a bit smaller than professional quality Maggy Lamps I have used in the past but the magnification is the same. It comes with a heavy base that sits on the desk and with a clamp - both are sufficiently sturdy. In all, I think it's a bargain.
73 David VK3KR
Not enough magnification, around 1.5x as I recall from my last Aldi visit.. IPC recommended mag for smt work and general inspection of today's smallparts is 4x.
Mike
Ive got a Jaycar one Dave and Id be lost without it.
1.5X works for me except the depth of field can be a pain at times as its quite shallow. Going to 4x would make the much worst if its the same lens dia.
What I found was that my one kicked up quite a din on 6m and 2m but a small clip on ferrite stopped that. I put one on the mains feed up by the lamp and inside the cover on the leads that go to the LED PCB as well.
A couple of times, mainly when working on 50v high current stuff , the lid that comes over the lens has flopped down with a resulting loud crack sound. Scared the crap out of me
G'day All,
I do board repair and I use a loupe with X2.5 for thru hole and gives a focal length of 4 to 6 inches with my eyesight.The stronger the magnification the closer the focal length and that soldering iron can end up very close.
For SMD boards I have to use a dissecting microscope with a X10 optic. This microscope gives a focal length of 8 inches. Plenty of room for soldering irons and suckers and the SMD components look big.!! Chris
Aldi has them again and the xyl VK2XPH picked up one for me. Very good thing !
And only $60.
The illumination is bright and the lens is good. I do pcb work and have always used a fluoro tube type of maggy lamp, but this I would recommend.
It draws only 5 watts too
73 Dave
Last edited by VK2JDS on Sun May 01, 2016 1:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
, the lid that comes over the lens has flopped down with a resulting loud crack sound. Scared the crap out of me 
Chris