Kantek MAXVIEW LCD Monitor Magnifier for 19-Inch Monitors (Measured Diagonally) (MAG19L), Black/Silver

I'll start this review by saying that no plain sheet of plastic is worth $130. So let's get it out of the way that this is ridiculously overpriced. For the amount you pay for this, you're already a third of the way to what it costs to buy one of the cheaper ultra-wide monitors, which would serve you better if you are desperate for some relief for your eyes. But all of that being said, if you can't afford to drop at least $300 dollars, this works in a pinch. Now as to the reason why I bought this, and how it worked for me: After suffering through one-too-many work meetings where someone was sharing their screen and I could barely make out what was being shown, I bought this item, and it did help. In response to some complaints I have seen in other reviews, I'll say that yes, there are circular grooves in it, but you get this on all magnifying sheets of any size, so I think it may just be something that is necessary for magnification through a flat surface, and it was easy enough for me to just "tune them out." Yes, it does reflect light, and I had to start keeping my window blinds barely cracked open, in order to avoid a glare on the plastic. And yes, it might fall off if you are doing aerobics next to your screen or something and happen to knock it, but if you're just being still while you work, that won't really be a problem. Or at least it wasn't in my experience. The biggest problem I had with this item was that when I would work standing up to avoid sitting stiffly in a chair all day, I would have to tilt my monitor to face up, and the angle of the magnifier made me have to hunch to be able to see through it , and I started getting back pain from this. So this could be a problem for anyone else who likes to stand at intervals during the day, and this was what eventually drove me to just buy an ultra-wide monitor so I could stop having to deal with that pain. So all of those are things to consider for anyone who may have a similar situation to mine. Overall, I would say that this is not an ideal solution, but it will work as a stop-gap if you are desperate to alleviate eyestrain, and are willing to put up with a few inconveniences and an overinflated price tag until you can get something better.

This screen magnifier didn't help me. The issue is that I'm frequently in online sessions in which someone shares their screen. The shared screen is too small for me to read. This screen magnifier didn't make a significant difference in the size, though. In addition, there's some distortion that I found distracting and potentially headache-inducing. The magnifier also doesn't secure to the monitor, so a bump can dislodge it. If you only need slight magnification, this screen might work for you. ETA: I didn't realize I bought and returned this item in the past. My comments this second time around are pretty much the same as the first time. ETA2: I didn't make it to UPS to return this item in time, so I got stuck with it. I've been trying to use it. The arms that the magnifier uses to hang onto the monitor are VERY loose and flimsy. A puff of air moves them, so I find myself constantly fighting to keep the monitor in the best position to help me. Today, I'm trying running a strip of tape between each pair of arms. This is not working well. I am down-grading my rating from 3 stars to 1 star. I'm contemplating whether setting the darn thing on plate stands at each end would keep it from moving so easily,. What a PITA and a waste of hard-earned money.

I want to try to clarify on some things I have read about this product in the reviews. The first thing is the magnifier just sits/hangs on your monitor on metal arms. It is not fastened permanently to the monitor. It is easy to take off and clean that way. If you bump your monitor or desk a lot then I can see where you would have trouble getting it to stay on. The next is it depends on how bad your eyes are as to how helpful this product would be. My Mom quit driving about a year ago and she loves it. She watches a lot of YouTube videos and this helps her see things better. I do not wear glasses and if I had to look through it it would make me crazy, but I do not need it. I think there is a window between good eyes and eyes too bad for anything to really help that this would be useful for a person with failing eyes. My Mom had been getting shots for about four or five years now and as I said earlier she quit driving a year ago if the timeline helps anyone. It is light, it does what it is supposed to do, and the arms are adjustable for height and to a lesser extent how far away from the monitor it hangs. It magnifies 2x and that is a lot more than I thought it would be. If it becomes less effective in time you might be able to make new arms to extend it further from the monitor and maybe magnify more but I have not had to try that. What you see might get soft or out of focus looking if you extend it too far. All in all this is a good product that is designed to work in a certain way and it does what is intended.

This does work to magnify the monitor screen, but is not worth the $114 that paid in January 2024 and definitely not worth $134 they are charging now. Limits viewing of screen to direct. supports are a little too loose so if screen is accidentally tapped the can fold in. The opaque edges can limit viewing edge of screen.

I ordered this for my husband who was having trouble reading "shared screens" as he is working from home like many these days. Bottom line is his company monitors are 24" but his home monitor is 27"; and this fits much better on his 27" then his 24" from work! Why? They didn't take into consideration the outer casings/edges of the monitors and this sits on those casings/edges, not the actual screen. Otherwise it is great and will be useful on his home monitor when sharing w/screens w/family but is not helpful on his work monitors. I will order one for his work but it will be a size down. That will provide the "stability" that people have complained about as it will sit on the "screen" vs. the casing/edge which can vary from flat to curved resulting instability. Great product, just not well thought out... they should have gone w/the actual "screen size", and not the outer casing so this rests on the screen. Most people are reading in the middle of the screen, not on the sides, and IF they do, they could easily slide it over to what they need to see. No need for taping it in place... just slide it over... 99.99% of the time it will work for most people.

I bought this screen for my laptop. I use a wireless keyboard and mouse. I have the laptop on a desk and when I sit back in my chair to work, I find the screen too distant and difficult to read. This magnifier covers the keyboard and basically brings the screen closer to make it easier to read. It doesn't seem to really magnify the screen that much. Although everything is closer and a bit bigger, it is not quite as clear. The dimensions are not correct on this. It is closer to 14 by 11. The screen needs be be a bit wider to see the sides clearly. The top and bottom are fine. It depends on how close you set to the screen. I'm a little over 2 feet from the screen and loose close to an inch on either side. I have to shift my head to get a clear view of the side. If I sat closer to the screen it would be easier to read, but I would not be as comfortable. I would have to say this is not worth it. It would be better to simply get an external monitor. The external monitor I had did not work well with my new computer so I decided to go this route. This is cheaper than an external monitor, but not that much cheaper. If you work all day on a computer, you are much better off getting a larger external monitor.

I use a program that has very small type that does not get larger if the program is enlarged or if the computer settings are changed. I use this magnifier on a laptop that is elevated to eye level with an external keyboard attached. It works perfectly with this setup! (It doesn't work as well if you're looking through it at an angle.) The magnifier sits about 5 inches in front of the screen when the swing arms are fully extended. This will block the keyboard on a laptop. The swing arms can be turned so that the magnifier moves closer to the screen, but this will lessen the amount of magnification. I ended up using the bottom arms to support the screen on the front edge of my laptop so that it sits about 9 inches from the screen for more magnification. I work in an extremely dry environment so the magnifier does attract a lot of lint and dust, but I'll increase the humidity and find some anti-static spray so I won't have to clean the screen as often. Reflections from light sources can also be a problem, but I just rearranged a bit and this problem was solved.

I bought a similar, much smaller, less expensive magnifier at Half-Price Books for my mother to use around the house. It is flexible, 8-1/2" x 11" and must be held parallel to whatever it is you are reading. The nice thing about that is that you can adjust the distance of the magnifier from the reading material and increase or decrease the level of magnification--not significantly, but enough to make a difference. The problem with that, though, is that it requires using one hand to hold it as well as the fact that, although it is much larger than a hand-held magnifying glass, it's still smaller than the computer LCD screen so you must move it around to read the whole screen. I figured that this Kantek LCD Monitor Magnifier Filter would be much better. Not so. It's fixed distance magnifies only slightly. The box it came in claims it magnifies computer font size by more than double. I totally disagree. I'm returning this item tomorrow to get a full refund. The price of the magnifier from Half-Price books was, get this, $3.99. My mom likes it much better. I like the price much better.