Cordless Loupe Light Pros & Cons
DECIDING ON CORDLESS VS. CORDED LOUPE LIGHTS
You may have noticed the natural progression of technology such as telephones goes like this: When a new device gets introduced to the user it comes with a power cord. In ten years the same device becomes cordless. In another ten years the cordless version becomes miniaturized. Up until now, loupe lights have always had a long dangling cord that connects to a battery pack on your hip. In 2016 cordless loupe lights became popular among clinicians. Clinicians often ask me about switching to cordless loupe lights. Here are the pros and cons I’ve discovered so far from using cordless loupe lights chairside.
No Cord Snagging
It’s great knowing that my loupes and light is completely self-contained. I love the freedom of being able to stand up after an hour long bridge prep and be able to stretch without getting snagged on a chair or tray. It’s also ready nice not to be snagged on door knobs and draw handles when I walk through the clinic. I also like the idea of not having to carefully clip the cord to my scrubs every morning to keep the cord in the right place between my scrubs and white coat. With all the air hoses and waterlines in the operatory, it’s just a terrific feeling to eliminate the loupe light cord. This is my number one reason for recommending cordless loupes lights.
Brightness Levels
When you run a busy clinic, you want a loupe light with consistent brightness. If you’ve had a regular corded loupe light before you definitely want a cordless light that has at least the same brightness levels as your corded loupe light. For this very reason, I gave all Snap On Optics cordless loupe lights the ability to produce that same brightness levels as Snap On Lights(corded).
Weight Consideration
Cordless loupe lights will always weigh more than it’s corded counterpart. With a cordless light, the battery goes on your glasses. The battery accounts for more than ½ the overall weight of your light. With corded loupe lights the battery goes on the side of your scrubs so battery weight goes almost un-noticed.
When you picked your loupes, did you choose the lightest frame you could find or did you choose the highest magnification knowing you could handle the extra weight. If you chose the higher magnification like 3.5X-6X, you won’t notice the extra weight of a cordless loupe light because you’ve already acclimated to the weight of the large binocular telescopes. Most clinicians who have cordless loupe lights tell me they don’t notice the weight of their loupes anymore and they love their light.
Battery Life
Cordless loupe lights have shorter battery life than corded loupe lights. This is because cordless loupe lights have smaller sized batteries. The upside is that cordless loupe light batteries are inexpensive. The cordless loupe light we make have batteries that only cost $15 compared to over $99 for batteries for corded lights. You could easily have a set of cordless battery and charger in each operatory while staying under $100 budget. Yes, you will have to replace the batteries more often. On the other hand, I really like the idea of never being caught on a door knob again.
Durability
With cordless loupe lights you can be confident every time you enter the operatory you have a working loupe light because there are no more cords to break. Have you ever had a loupe light begin to flicker when you move? In a few days, the flickering becomes more frequent. Finally, the light stops working all together. The most fragile part of your loupe light is the cord. Every time you move the cord on your loupe light flexes. It’s a lot like bending a paperclip back and forth. Over time, the metal inside the cord break and becomes weak and separates. This is the number one reason my colleges buy new loupe lights. With cordless loupe lights, you have light when you need it.