How much magnification you need is personal, I believe more is better.

You want to look for 1. damage, chips and cracks, 2. Is the stria reaching the edge, often heels and toes do not. If the stria is not to the edge, you are not honing a new edge and need to adjust your technique or stroke. 3. Are you removing the previous grit’s deep stria. 4. Are the bevels meeting, look straight down on the edge, any shiny reflections, the bevels are not yet meeting.

Colored Sharpie ink will quickly tell you if you are honing to the edge with minimal magnification or naked eye quickly.

The goal of a progression is to remove the previous grits stria with each progression of grit stone and straighten the edge. Alternating the final strokes from the previous grit will tell you if you have removed the previous grit stria. EG. Straight 1k, angled 4k and on.

I use 30,60 and 100X lighted magnifiers, they are inexpensive 2-15 dollars.