Cheap loupes on ebay?

[WhiteAndGreen44]

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Hi everyone,
I am a second year about to hea into clinic and while I would like to buy some loupes, its just not in my budget to spend $900-1000. I spoke with one of my classmates who spent around $150 on a generic pair that he got off ebay that he ordered specific to his working distance and desired magnification. He has not noticed a difference from the brand name loupes and figures to have them just for the last two years of school and invest in a brand name pair once he starts to work. Has anyone else tried these loupes from ebay or has any other information regarding their quality? Thanks in advance.

 

[dl9006]

Hi everyone,
I am a second year about to hea into clinic and while I would like to buy some loupes, its just not in my budget to spend $900-1000. I spoke with one of my classmates who spent around $150 on a generic pair that he got off ebay that he ordered specific to his working distance and desired magnification. He has not noticed a difference from the brand name loupes and figures to have them just for the last two years of school and invest in a brand name pair once he starts to work. Has anyone else tried these loupes from ebay or has any other information regarding their quality? Thanks in advance.

as students we need to live frugally but there are some things that are worth not being cheap on. your eyes are one of them.

do you really want to risk worsening your eyesight for an extra few hundred bucks?
save money on things like eating out and etc. i only buy small items off ebay. don't really trust all the knockoffs that they sell there.

 

[zriceman]

i have a medlite ($200) and a DFV ($1500). In terms of optic quality, its not too far off. I would rate DFV optic as A and medlite would be a B/B+. I havent used any other ebay loupes so can't comment on those.

 

[cresophene]

Hi everyone,
I am a second year about to hea into clinic and while I would like to buy some loupes, its just not in my budget to spend $900-1000. I spoke with one of my classmates who spent around $150 on a generic pair that he got off ebay that he ordered specific to his working distance and desired magnification. He has not noticed a difference from the brand name loupes and figures to have them just for the last two years of school and invest in a brand name pair once he starts to work. Has anyone else tried these loupes from ebay or has any other information regarding their quality? Thanks in advance.

I have a collegue that bought a few off ebay and sold to some staff at my university; they use it from time to time but i'm sure they all have more expensive brands that they use in their PP.

If you're really in a bind with finances; i would suggest working loupeless until you can afford at least something of good optical quality.
You mightn't be able to tell the difference ; but in a couple of years your eyes will start to complain.

 

[dentaldawg32]

I'm only a first year and I can't even imagine working without loupes (I have DFV 3.5 ef, absolutely love them). What it does for your posture and eye sight is more than worth the money, in my opinion. In fact, I'm surprised you're a D2 and you still don't have any. My school required us to buy them at the end of first semester. I don't know any student or dentist who doesn't use them (except for my old man, but he's old school like that. I had him try mine out for a day and he hated them.)

 

[DrReo]

Hi everyone,
I am a second year about to hea into clinic and while I would like to buy some loupes, its just not in my budget to spend $900-1000. I spoke with one of my classmates who spent around $150 on a generic pair that he got off ebay that he ordered specific to his working distance and desired magnification. He has not noticed a difference from the brand name loupes and figures to have them just for the last two years of school and invest in a brand name pair once he starts to work. Has anyone else tried these loupes from ebay or has any other information regarding their quality? Thanks in advance.

There quality is crap. How can you compare these optics? The naive part is, you will be spending $150 more dollars than if you were to buy the correct equipment right away.

 

[DenDDS]

There quality is crap. How can you compare these optics? The naive part is, you will be spending $150 more dollars than if you were to buy the correct equipment right away.

Absolutely agree; you get what you pay for. I've never regretted paying good money for my DFV 3.5 EF's.

 

[eventualOMFS]

There quality is crap. How can you compare these optics? The naive part is, you will be spending $150 more dollars than if you were to buy the correct equipment right away.

I totally understand this point-of-view. I was almost convinced to spend over $1,000 on a pair of Orascoptic 2.5x flip-up loupes when I started school....but I decided to go the EBay route instead. Here is why...

Many classmates spent $1000-1200 within the first 3 months of school. They bought 2.5x loupes, either TTL or flip-up, from either DFV or Orascoptic. But their decision of what to buy was based solely on word-of-mouth recommendations and slick sales talk....no personal experience. Magnification level, TTL vs. flip up, working length - we had not had enough time in sim lab for them to know what they really preferred.

I don't think it's a bad idea to spend $150 on EBay to buy a pair of 2.5x flip-ups for sim lab. During that time, I can guarantee that you'll form an opinion about your loupe needs. You might want more magnification than 2.5x. You might form an opinion between TTL and flip-ups. You might decide that you need EF to keep the field large - or you might find that a smaller field would be ok, and a lighter weight is your preference. And your ability to identify and appreciate well-made optics will increase.

Instead of following the masses who purchased 2.5x Orascoptic flip-ups for over $1000, I purchased a pair of flip-ups for $150 on EBay. I'm using them for sim lab and some introductory pt care. I do plan to buy a pair of DFV 3.5x EF TTL loupes before I leave school to utilize my student discount.

I definitely don't regret my decision to spend the $150 to figure out what I wanted - especially when I look around the room and see what people paid for 2.5x flip-ups! Again, I understand the "don't waste the $150" opinion, but there are definitely two sides to the story.

Also, at 2.5x flip-up loupes are glorified magnifying glasses. As magnification increases, optic quality becomes more important. And when you hit the prismatic / EF loupes, I wouldn't go with anyone other than the big players. I would also buy exclusively TTL if I were paying $1000+. No way I want more moving parts on an investment that large.

I'll pair everything with a Lumadent light, of course...

 

[BombayBDS]

I totally understand this point-of-view. I was almost convinced to spend over $1,000 on a pair of Orascoptic 2.5x flip-up loupes when I started school....but I decided to go the EBay route instead. Here is why...

Many classmates spent $1000-1200 within the first 3 months of school. They bought 2.5x loupes, either TTL or flip-up, from either DFV or Orascoptic. But their decision of what to buy was based solely on word-of-mouth recommendations and slick sales talk....no personal experience. Magnification level, TTL vs. flip up, working length - we had not had enough time in sim lab for them to know what they really preferred.

I don't think it's a bad idea to spend $150 on EBay to buy a pair of 2.5x flip-ups for sim lab. During that time, I can guarantee that you'll form an opinion about your loupe needs. You might want more magnification than 2.5x. You might form an opinion between TTL and flip-ups. You might decide that you need EF to keep the field large - or you might find that a smaller field would be ok, and a lighter weight is your preference. And your ability to identify and appreciate well-made optics will increase.

Instead of followed the masses who purchased 2.5x Orascoptic flip-ups for over $1000, I purchased a pair of Med-Lite flip-ups for $150 on EBay. I'm using them for sim lab and some introductory pt care. I do plan to buy a pair of DFV 3.5x EF TTL loupes before I leave school to utilize my student discount.

I definitely don't regret my decision to spend the $150 to figure out what I wanted - especially when I look around the room and see what people paid for 2.5x flip-ups! Again, I understand the "don't waste the $150" opinion, but there are definitely two sides to the story.

Also, at 2.5x flip-up loupes are glorified magnifying glasses. As magnification increases, optic quality becomes more important. And when you hit the prismatic / EF loupes, I wouldn't go with anyone other than the big players. I would also buy exclusively TTL if I were paying $1000+. No way I want more moving parts on an investment that large.

I'll pair everything with a Lumadent light, of course...

Is there any credibility in talk of these cheap loupes hurting our eyes in the long term?

 

[cresophene]

Is there any credibility in talk of these cheap loupes hurting our eyes in the long term?

A wise chinese man once said
"Good ting no cheap; cheap ting no good"

 

[eventualOMFS]

Is there any credibility in talk of these cheap loupes hurting our eyes in the long term?

From a medical/scientific standpoint, I can't really say. But Galilean loupes are basically just magnifying glasses, which are not terribly hard to manufacture. At 2.5x, I personally don't believe that the optics could be poor enough to damage one's eyes - and if they were, I think that person would realize how bad the loupes were pretty quickly.

Personally, I would not go past 3.5x magnification in a non-major brand. And I definitely would not buy a Keplerian/prismatic loupe from a non-major brand, as those require must better optics.

Of course, this is all my opinion. Other people have different opinions on the matter.

 

[BombayBDS]

A wise chinese man once said
"Good ting no cheap; cheap ting no good"

hahahaa..i'll keep that in mind.

From a medical/scientific standpoint, I can't really say. But Galilean loupes are basically just magnifying glasses, which are not terribly hard to manufacture. At 2.5x, I personally don't believe that the optics could be poor enough to damage one's eyes - and if they were, I think that person would realize how bad the loupes were pretty quickly.

Personally, I would not go past 3.5x magnification in a non-major brand. And I definitely would not buy a Keplerian/prismatic loupe from a non-major brand, as those require must better optics.

Of course, this is all my opinion. Other people have different opinions on the matter.

thanks for that info.

 

[scifijock]

Has anyone compared medlite loupes vs. the cheaper ones on ebay?

 

[reklahcs]

A guy in my class bought ebay loupes and hated them. The loupe frame was uncomfortable and kept slipping off his face, the working distance was all wrong and he said that the edge of his field of view was blurry. I bought 3.5X TTL from a reputable company and I love them.

 

[bigbadaboom]

DFV lenses are great. But their Nike frame is cheap made in China junk that feels so flimsy. I compared a pair of DFV and a pair of Orascoptics side by side for a week, and returned back DFV because of its cheap frames. If you go with DFV, stick with the Buddy Holly frames.

I also own a pair of the cheap eBay loupes. It works just as well. The quality is not up to par against the other two brands. But for someone on a tight budget I think it works just fine.

 

[cyperalz]

Hey guys,

I'm attend a dental school in NY and bought the $150 loupes on ebay and LOOOVE them. I tried my friend's loupes and I don't see any notable differences, esp for a 2.5 magnification. And is that worth $1000 savings? HECK YES! Am I doing well in operative? HECK YES (but that's also bc I have good hand-eye coordination 😎).

I agree w the other posts that if you want to go higher in magnification, go w the known companies, but do always keep in mind that these companies are in the field for profit and they will squeeze the financial hell out of dental students too since they know we'll make decent to great salaries in the future.

Good luck and let me repeat again: $150 loupes off Ebay is totally worth it. In fact, it's a better bargin since you save tremendously!