Have you ever seen or used one of the modern electronic magnifiers and had trouble tracking the page from side to side as you read, but find the line you’re reading jumps up and down the screen? The reason is that the camera is in a fixed position and you must move the printed material under the camera by hand. This is a common theme for many people using electronic magnifiers that don’t have an XY Tray and results in not being able to read for a longer period or even being able to find where you are on the page.

The XY tray is a movable tray that moves smoothly and directly, both side to side and up and down a page allowing you to easily track a line of print without the line jumping around the screen.

Many desktop electronic magnifiers have an XY tray built into them and have done so for more than four decades! Recent, more portable and lightweight designs have not included the XY tray as it adds weight and or expense to the device, but it is vital if you are planning to read a reasonable amount of material like your mail, documents and magazines. If you wish to do crosswords, sudoku or write a Christmas card using your magnifier, the XY tray can be locked in either or both directions to provide a stable surface.

At Quantum, we offer the ClearView range from Optelec in the Netherlands and the MagniLink Vision and MagniLink ZIP from Low Vision International in Sweden using quality, well designed and manufactured XY Trays.