Nine normally-sighted subjects read aloud text using two hand magnifiers of different power at two different eye-to-lens distances for each magnifier, in an attempt to assess the limitations that magnifiers impose on the reader. The reading speed of the subjects was measured and their reading eye movements were recorded on paper by means of Infra-Red Oculography. The data showed that reading speed declined significantly with increasing magnification, while the effect of a shorter eye-to-lens distance was not statistically significant. It is argued that increasing magnification reduces the number of letters conceived by the reader in each fixation during reading. In contrast to the “staircase” eye movement pattern observed in normal reading, a “saw-tooth” pattern was observed when the magnifiers were used, featuring smooth leftward eye movements in the place of fixation pauses. The results imply that despite being essential for the visually-impaired, magnification will limit their reading speed, while the adoption of a “saw-tooth” eye movement pattern may not be beneficial for aged low vision patients, as its components (saccades and smooth eye movements) are adversely affected by age.