Erik, I saw you mentioned that you refrain from using products from china, but I must say that both the Amscope and the small head mounted loupe are excellent products that help me immensely.
The Amscope took me a bit of time adapting to it, but I had to properly adjust its oculars: first, close the right eye and put the object in focus with the normal focus control, then close the left eye and adjust the small ocular to rule out any eye differences. It has seen most use for inspections and large soldering jobs on boards. The model is SM-1TS-V203 and I show it in
this video (in portuguese only, sorry).
The loupe has been seeing more action lately due to my work on radio chassis and in the attic. Although it is not as light as my dad's old loupe, it has great cushion, us adjustable and allows combining two lenses for extra magnification. The kit comes with a wide selection of very thick acrylic lenses (glass would have been even heavier). This loupe also has three LEDs powered by three AAA batteries. Although I thought it could have been a gimmicky feature at first, it has helped me immensely in illuminating the work I am doing at a given time, especially because the light focus can be positioned independently from the head position. The model itself is unknown but the description to
this video has the store that I bought it.
Good luck in your search!