Rolson 60335 Helping Hand with 60 mm Magnifying Glass

Good gadget

I wasn't sure what to expect when I ordered one of these after reading other reviews saying they were essentially rubbish but it seems fine to me. I ordered a second one and would have no problem ordering more. I use them for commercial photography where sometimes things need to be held in certain positions often for long periods of time while shots are taken. How I use them is by taking them to bits and then reassembling them so work more like an articulating arm with one clip at the end rather than the clip at each end of a horizontal bar—I don't use the magnifying glass. If I need a longer arm I just remove the clip from the end of one and attach the longer arm from another one in it's place. I agree they can be a bit fiddly sometimes but once they are assembled they're fine. I have no problem with stability or movement or tightening of screws and for the price they're great and do the job of holding things just fine. The most annoying thing for me is that they come in that horrible hard plastic wrapping that's almost impossible to open!

Basic no frills helping hand that does exactly what I need for small craft and soldering jobs.

Satisfactory but not quite as sturdy as I would have liked.

I bought this item after spending a few days struggling to tin the connections of a chip to be added to a motherboard. Numerous attempts to complete the tinning prior to this purchase ended in frustration and I have to admit, some swear words!!! This item comes in plastic packaging and was easy to remove with a good sharp pair of scissors. The base has a really good weight to it and the joints appear strong enough to hold some weight steady. Due to the base size, I don't think this would be very good if you were trying to solder onto large flat items as I think the base would topple over due to the small footprint. However, I've now used it for a few projects and the jaws have held the pieces together perfectly without movement. There is a wide range of movement in the arms to get the placement right and the magnifying glass is really strong and out of the box, really clear and mine was scratch free. It is well made and I can see this lasting for a very long time. I would definitely recommend it over some of the more costly versions as this seems to work perfectly. If I had to criticise it for anything, I would say that it could do with some kind of rest for the soldering iron. If you found this review helpful, can you please help me by clicking on the helpful button, thanks. Any questions, please feel free to ask and I will try to answer as best as I can.

Definitely beats some of the others on here- it'll do for soldering smaller PCBs and the magnifier is top notch. Great value for money and good materials- you get a glass magnifier, and a solid metal construction. That being said, the arms are not sturdy and will come off easily- you need to be careful. They're also not that stiff. You have to constantly retighten the setup for it to be good, and I doubt it's longevity.

The older one gets the less we worry about what people think of us and the more we want to be able to do what we want in a way of working that suits us. This product is an invaluable third hand, and with the addition of a magnifying glass even the smallest detail of ones work can be seen easily. Brilliant for modeling and electronics assembly. My primary use is with 'N' gauge railways and for the small detailed work that requires, this is invaluable. Very stable and well worth the price. If there is a down-side the magnifying glass could be larger by 2cm.

This offers a valuable contribution to any DIY tool kit, it is inexpensive and is most essential for small jobs where you need helping hands, needs time and practice to set up for requirements but well worth the time and effort in my own case I have used it for fine soldering work where I could not have got the results without this product. Value for money, excellent and just to add; a good heavy solid base which is needed to hold it steady on the bench.