I use this magnifying glass to do nail art, mainly with gel polish. My initial reservation about this magnifying glass was the LED lights curing the gel in the bottle/brush. After some research I found out I did not need to worry about that. And in fact, I tested it by placing a layer of gel polish under the light for a couple of hours. The gel was still sticky and did not cure at all.

I simply love the look and feel of this magnifying glass, however, I wish the LED lights were not as dim as they are as they strain my eyes very much.
I may not return it as I'm trying to find small-enough LED lights I can glue to the rim of the magnifying glass, but I'm still not entirely happy about this purchase. For the price I expected better lighting, better everything.

I am a fly tyer and found this to be a great light for the money. It seems well made. For about $72.00 it comes with the light, the steel plate, a bracket for attaching to the edge of a tabletop and an AC power cord. The unit takes four AA batteries (not included) which seem to last for a VERY long time. I gave it four stars because (1) I believe the manufacturer could make it brighter for the same money and (2) the battery door is cheaply made. Regarding the door, take care, be gentle and line things up without forcing when changing batteries and it should last. As for brightness, as an experiment, I have been able to tye with the room darkened, using just this light. Extended tying with in a dark room with just this light would be taxing on the old eyeballs. With other room lights on it is just fine. At the same time, its brightness pales in comparison to Harbor Freight's magnified fluorescent desk lamp, which is my primary home tying light. I use this as my portable light. It has seen weekly use since purchasing it February 5th, running about 2-3 hours per week and I am still on the same set of batteries. The optical lens is quite clear and swivels easily into place when needed. I have used lights on necks similar to this one which required constant adjusting because they would droop. So far there is no drooping/settling with this light - the light head stays at the height and position I place it in until I move it again.

I have had this unit for a year now and have used it for a lot of different things for automotive, in my woodshop and even for some medical procedures ;). This really is a quality unit from the strengh of the magnet to the clarity of the lens. i have several similar setups but this one is my go to and by far my favorite and i noticed my wife and son have found many uses for it as well. What really makes this one special too is that you can use the base or you can use the clamp set up it comes with or just use the magnet on whatever surface is handy. i really cant say enough about it and if you are looking for a tool like this, i highly doubt you will be disappointed. UPDATE 9/2017 I have used this unit extensively with everything i mentioned above as well as sticking it under vehicle hoods and working on other mechanical items. With that being said, i believe i had abused the item and needed a replacement part and contacted Carson. Even though i am just one customer out of i am sure many, several people went out of thier way to help me replace what i had broken due to extensive use. i have said before and i will say again, i generally do not review the many many products i get from amazon unless they stand out one way or the other. i will always check with Carson before i buy any magnification products. i was not given anything for this review but being allowed to purchase a great product and experience superb customer service. Thanks Carson

These are dimmer than you would think, and the goose necks are very stiff, but they otherwise work well. I got them for a product test bench and they are fine, although I was hoping for a little brighter. The magnetic bases are extremely strong, I like the on/off switches - positive action switches rather than push on/off like a flashlight. I haven't used these with battery power, but they should be fine. They are sturdy, attractive and fine for my use, other than the brightness/stiffness issue.

Magnet concept is great. The metal plate is very heavy and provides sufficient stability. 2x magnification works just about perfect for seeing small components on a circuit board; the 4x zone of the magnifier is very small and has a narrow range of focus, so I find it nearly useless.

The main problem I see is not really functional, but aesthetic. The rubber feet on the bottom of the metal plate are simple adhesive stick-on things, and they don't actually fit properly in some places. You can see in the photo that the plate has an indentation (why? not clear to me); the rubber feet are apparently supposed to go next to that, but there is insufficient room. I had to pull one off and re-stick it in place, so that the plate sat flat on the table. Then the rubber foot sticks out the side, which doesn't really look good. See the photo. Not a huge deal, but SO easy for Carson to do it correctly.