Review: Sapphire Portable Magnifier

Product Information

Manufacturer: Freedom Scientific BLV Group LLC

Reviewed by: G F Mueden from New York , New York

Why did you purchase the product?
To read newspapers and magazines.

How well did the product meet your needs?
Not even close; inconveniently heavy and the field of view was less than two inches wide.

Are there specific features of the product that you liked?
A clever and attractive device. At lowest magnification it sees a field one sixteenth more than one and three quarters of an inch, wide enough for many newspaper columns but not wide enough for a two inch magazine column. Folded, the screen and lens are concealed, a very neat package. The controls are well located and marked and easy to use. A prop can be extended to lift it to let you see what you are writing.

Are there specific features of the product that you disliked?
Sapphire by Freedom Scientific is classified as a handheld CCTV but its weight demands a desk and two hands to use it. I wanted it for reading newspapers and magazines but have rejected it for those purposes. Ergonomically, it is a bruiser, too heavy to slide on the paper. I had hoped that the electronic image would be of higher contrast than the copy it saw, but gray was still gray, only slightly improved.

Any other comments about the product's performance?
If the battery were on a three foot tether instead of in the device, the weight might be reduced to let it be used with one hand, leaving your other hand free to manipulate what you are reading.