Swiss champ magnifying glass?

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

Hey guys. Years back I bought a swiss champ and the magnifying glass tool was plastic as was the lens (I believe) but magnified more. So I gifted that one to my brother and bought an older NIB model. It has the gray tool with glass lens. Have they made any changes to it again? How about other tool changes?

[gerleatherberman]

Check out Max's awesome comparison of two different era Champs.

https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,81813.msg1948150.html#msg1948150

[Buzzbait]

Hey guys. Years back I bought a swiss champ and the magnifying glass tool was plastic as was the lens (I believe) but magnified more. So I gifted that one to my brother and bought an older NIB model. It has the gray tool with glass lens. Have they made any changes to it again? How about other tool changes?

The magnifier changed again. It looks pretty much the same as the plastic lens version, but is now glass in a clear plastic housing. Check out the link:

https://www.sakwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page=Magnifying+Glass

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

I may have to pick myself up yet another!

[Buzzbait]

I may have to pick myself up yet another!

The new magnifier is interesting. It's very strong. Stronger than the old plastic magnifier, but has a nice large viewing area, like the plastic magnifier. Kind of the best of both worlds. It works really, really well.

The only problem is that some people have reported the glass lens popping out of the clear plastic housing. It hasn't happened to me yet, but does give me pause.

You can actually tell the glass lens is separate from the clear housing now, as you can rotate the lens within the housing.

I'm not sure how you attempt to guarantee that you're getting the new glass lens and not the plastic one. I got lucky on my SwissChamp. But the Explorer I just ordered, brand new from Amazon, has the old plastic magnifier. 

[MiniChamp]

For a lot of information about the magnifying glass, check the following thread:
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,74378.0.html

[MiniChamp]

But the Explorer I just ordered, brand new from Amazon, has the old plastic magnifier. 

You can comfort yourself by the fact that the plastic lenses have the best optical quality. They provide a distortion-free image, presumably due to being aspheric (a design that is easily done with a plastic lens, but would be very expensive to do with a glass lens). The problem with the plastic lenses is their vulnerability to scratches and fogging, but as long as you you can keep them out of harm's way, they're great. Also, since they were made for only a few years, SAKs that contain them may actually become quite valuable in the future.

[Sawl Goodman]

The latest magnifier is actually not as powerful as the original, having a magnification of 6x as opposed to 8x. The field of view is wider and the optical quality is much better. I prefer the lower magnification.

The lens on my Explorer's magnifier pops out readily. It has even come out from merely opening and closing the magnifier with almost no snap and I've nearly lost it a couple of times. In my experience, the more it pops out, the more it pops out. I haven't done it yet, but a couple of tiny drops of epoxy would cure the problem.

Since the old grey magnifier's lens neither scratches easily nor pops out, it's the most reliable type. If you have no other lens, it works just fine.

[TonySal]

The latest magnifier is actually not as powerful as the original, having a magnification of 6x as opposed to 8x. The field of view is wider and the optical quality is much better. I prefer the lower magnification.

The lens on my Explorer's magnifier pops out readily. It has even come out from merely opening and closing the magnifier with almost no snap and I've nearly lost it a couple of times. In my experience, the more it pops out, the more it pops out. I haven't done it yet, but a couple of tiny drops of epoxy would cure the problem.

Since the old grey magnifier's lens neither scratches easily nor pops out, it's the most reliable type. If you have no other lens, it works just fine.

 

[Sawl Goodman]

I tried the epoxy and it doesn't fall out any more. 

There's a newer post somewhere round here saying that Victorinox has now sorted the issue.