I picked up a digital microscope with a small 4" screen off Amazon for $49 and found it works excellent to visually check those tiny, tiny little solder pads on some 20x20 and all 16x16 boards.  If you have a really steady hand you can use the screen to actually solder the parts without ever looking directly at them.  But fair warning even a steady hand looks shaky under the scope.  So if you're not super steady you can solder them as you normally do and then check them under the microscope afterwards to confirm you haven't bridged two pads or otherwise shorted something.  Just be sure to also check with your DMM to confirm no shorts.  For me the scope is super helpful.

No link to the product? Or a Manufacturer and model?

Thanks for the heads up. I did a search and found several for as little as $22.00. Why did you choose the one you purchased? What are the advantages of the one you bought?

One thing to keep in mind for "live" soldering work under a scope with a screen is that a lot of the cheaper ones seem to have quite high latency.

Image latency and quality is why I was hoping for a tried and tested or suggested brand/model without putting a hole in my pocket.

I still have a version I bought a couple of years ago that plugs into a laptop or an Android phone/tablet that I never use because it is just garbage.

The Andonstar AD407 digital microscope with a 7" LCD screen gets some good reviews and has low enough latency to use for live soldering, but at $220 it's more than 4x the price of the one that the OP is posting about.

http://www.andonstar.com/e_products/digi...07-10.html

If I had the space I would get one of the stereoscopic rigs that you can also fit a camera to the top of for live viewing on a computer screen.

Sorry guys my internet access is down for a couple days and this tablet stinks. I'll link the one I got tonight when I get home and my internet is back up.

(20-Mar-2021, 01:16 PM)SnowLeopardFPV Wrote: The Andonstar AD407 digital microscope with a 7" LCD screen gets some good reviews and has low enough latency to use for live soldering, but at $220 it's more than 4x the price of the one that the OP is posting about.

http://www.andonstar.com/e_products/digi...07-10.html

If I had the space I would get one of the stereoscopic rigs that you can also fit a camera to the top of for live viewing on a computer screen.

I have this scope. This is still some lag. But usable.

At that price, I will shy away for now

This is the one I bought. I got it for $49 just a few weeks ago but it's now $63. So might be worth watching or finding similar. There are a LOT of very similar ones. As far as latency goes I can't speak on it in terms of solder individual wires. I notice no latency when I am using it to heat a SMD on a PCB or flow solder on a PCB.

Most of the tiniest wires/FC pads I can still solder then pretty well with my readers, but then I use the scope to visually check and a DMM to verify no bridges.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08L...UTF8&psc=1

Thanks for the link. In true Amazon fashion the price continues to rise as it gets more popular. It is now $66.00.