Question regarding astigmatism and red dots

thegrandpoohbah

thegrandpoohbah

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So I have astigmatism and red dots generally aren't great for me. I've tried a Bushnell TRS-25, two Burris FastFire 3's, and a Vortex Viper and these were all quite bad. Even on lower power settings I was seeing a starburst. However, I've also had a Holosun 503C that wasn't too bad. So I took a chance and just got an Aimpoint Pro and was pleasantly surprised that the reticle isn't too bad at all. Now, I don't see a crisp 2 MOA circle dot but at least it isn't an oblong, stretched out star. So the question is, what is the exact issue with red dots? Is there a way to predict which ones might work better for me before buying (I have to buy online where I am)?
 
Not sure, astigmatism is basically a misshapen cornea causing a refraction error. I would imagine all visible light would be affected the same, no matter the source. However I'm no expert, so your guess is as good as mine.

Funny though, been to the eye doctor numerous times throughout my life but it took me until a couple years back when I looked through a red dot to find out I have astigmatism. But thankfully it's not as bad as I've heard others describe theirs.
 
Do you where glasses? I had a lot of problem yrs ago shooting bulls eye, I used a clip on thing on my glasses , like a camera shutter, look thou a small hole, you could adjust the size of the hole, I could see both sights great with it, some one here will know the name of it. May not help, you could just make a small hole in a card and look throught it and see how it works for you.
I have not tried it with a red dot, as I don't use it anymore, after having laser on the old eyes
 
Quick solution

Contacts (mine fix it 100%) tell your doc what’s going on.
Magnifier behind also fixes it.
Higher end the optic the tighter the red dot the better it looks.
 
I seem to remember reading something about this. IIRC red dots give you the starburst, but prism sights? wont. Something about they way that the "dot" is projected. Haven't tried it yet myself, but this may be an option to have a "dot" sight without the starburst.
 
KePet said:
I seem to remember reading something about this. IIRC red dots give you the starburst, but prism sights? wont. Something about they way that the "dot" is projected. Haven't tried it yet myself, but this may be an option to have a "dot" sight without the starburst.
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I've tried prism sights but the issue there is they have limited eye relief unlike red dots.
 
thegrandpoohbah said:
I've tried prism sights but the issue there is they have limited eye relief unlike red dots.
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What about something like the Vortex Spitfire. Just googling, haven’t tried it myself, but they claim it’s a “red dot” 1 power prism sight

Edit: went to the Vortex site, and they actually say it’s good for people with astigmatism, but you are right as well, cause they say eye relief is 3.8 inches. So a red dot scope for people with astigmatism, but the downside is that it has limited eye relief. I guess the search continues
 
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I have the same issue and holosun 402 and I found that like you its not as bad as the others, The best I can figure is how the dot is made if its a bunch of really little dots making up one bigger dot those show up to me like a giant blob but I think the holosun is made up of a single dot at least that is what I think from trying to figure it out. I wear glasses and still bad but I think next time I go in ill specifically as the eye doctor about it and see if they can fix it
 
KePet said:
What about something like the Vortex Spitfire. Just googling, haven’t tried it myself, but they claim it’s a “red dot” 1 power prism sight

Edit: went to the Vortex site, and they actually say it’s good for people with astigmatism, but you are right as well, cause they say eye relief is 3.8 inches. So a red dot scope for people with astigmatism, but the downside is that it has limited eye relief. I guess the search continues
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Has limited eye relief yes but also be aware it is not a red dot and doesn’t act like a red dot.

A red dot you can put the dot on the target and the rifle is exactly pointed at the dot itself. Head position does not matter that’s why they were invented for fast target acquisition with eliminating alignment factors.

A prism sight is etched glass that doesn’t move so head position and all other “Scope” factors come into play. Essentially you are running around with a small, lightweight 1x scope on your gun.
 
thegrandpoohbah said:
So I have astigmatism and red dots generally aren't great for me. I've tried a Bushnell TRS-25, two Burris FastFire 3's, and a Vortex Viper and these were all quite bad. Even on lower power settings I was seeing a starburst. However, I've also had a Holosun 503C that wasn't too bad. So I took a chance and just got an Aimpoint Pro and was pleasantly surprised that the reticle isn't too bad at all. Now, I don't see a crisp 2 MOA circle dot but at least it isn't an oblong, stretched out star. So the question is, what is the exact issue with red dots? Is there a way to predict which ones might work better for me before buying (I have to buy online where I am)?
Click to expand...


I've been dealing with this for the last couple of years, so I can tell you first hand what I did and where I'm at. I have a fairly advanced astigmatism and also keratoconus. I had quite a bit to deal with since the latter required "cross linking" which was a form of laser surgery. Glasses weren't working since the further away the lens is from the cornea the less effective they are in correcting your vision.

That said, my doctor recommended Scleral contact lenses. They are expensive, however by design they basically form another cornea with no defects allowing for the correction. They do require some extensive fitting, so it's advantageous to get an optometrist that has experience fitting them.

Depending on how severe your astigmatism is, they may entirely correct it? or like me, almost eliminate it. RDS's are still not 100%, so I moved to a low power scope, the benefit there was that the contacts gave me 20/20 vision, so scopes work great and no glasses. Using a magnifier also works well, and I have that set up on my EOtech.

I still wear 1 power "cheaters" for reading, and they enable me to get a clear front sight when shooting handguns.

Either way, it was the best I could achieve given the condition of my eyes, unfortunately as we get older, seeing the front sight etc becomes more and more difficult.
Hope this helps? at least you have some talking points for your optometrist? Good Luck.
 
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I have the same issue and ultimately pushed me into the magnified options. I tried a Vortex Spitfire AR 1x that was really good as far as the astigmatism but went with a Strike Eagle 1-6x24 due to the larger field of view and magnification.
 
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