Astigmatism and red dots

[powermad]

I've known that I had astigmatism since I was a kid and it never really bothered me.
That is till I got a decent red dot. I have a couple cheap ones in the drawer that I thought had fuzzy dots due to being cheap.
Nope, the Sig Romeo 5X is funky as well and that was kinda disappointing at first.
After thinking I was sold a defective optic I searched good Google for a fix.
A few quick tests and yep, all red dots I have are fine, it's me that's defective.

At least the Sig isn't a blurry mess but rather a dot in the middle of a bunch of shooting stars.

I have several different prescription glasses that make a big difference.
My regular no frills, no coatings work bifocals don't work so well.
My new Varilux progressives tone it down a lot.
The Oakley polarized prescription sunglasses I have seem to work the best at focusing the light.

By using the low mount and co-witnessing the dot I can flip up the rear sight and get a nice clear and crisp dot if I need to get MoA shots instead of MoM.

The 4x magnifier of course made it even worse until I adjusted the aperture and then it's a clear and sharp dot with no fuzz, which would of killed the whole deal if the magnifier was also a muddy mess.
Then I would have had to sell the package and get a prism scope of some sort because as I found out, I need a bit of help in seeing dept. as I'm getting older.
200 yd milk jug shots with the irons ain't happening anymore for me.

Red dots and astigmatism is workable if you are willing to compromise a bit and willing to train around it.

Read More

 

[Caveman Jim]

I too found that red/green dot sights are a challenge, it sucks to spend $$$ on a used scope & find out it won't work well.
I have tried every pair of glasses I have, even the Verilux lenses and still see 3-5 dots in a cluster...
I'M saving up for a Vortex 1x6 it 1x8.

 

[No_Regerts]

I this is the very reason that there has been an influx of low powered scopes entering the AR market.

 

[etrain16]

Astigmatism here too - I've struggled with red dot sights myself. A scope works great since I can adjust for my vision, and I can do okay with iron sights, but yeah, the red dots are more work, at least at distance. Close up, say for defensive distances, they are fine.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I this is the very reason that there has been an influx of low powered scopes entering the AR market.

Have no idea brother but I guess I'll help the pro-gun buying economy soon.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Astigmatism here too - I've struggled with red dot sights myself. A scope works great since I can adjust for my vision, and I can do okay with iron sights, but yeah, the red dots are more work, at least at distance. Close up, say for defensive distances, they are fine.

I can shred targets out to 50 yds & hit a 6" gong repeatedly at 100 yds but I'm useless beyond that.
HD I just use the 300BLK pistol with iron sights but used to love to get good groups out to 300 yds back in the day.

 

[etrain16]

I can shred targets out to 50 yds & hit a 6" gong repeatedly at 100 yds but I'm useless beyond that.
HD I just use the 300BLK pistol with iron sights but used to love to get good groups out to 300 yds back in the day.

I can do well with glasses on, but trying to get my glasses to line up properly sights can be difficult. I've just come to the realization that anything past 100 yards will require some decent glass. That said, I have shot service rifle out to 600 yards, but that was with targets scaled for the distance - so a 600 yard target looked the same in the iron sights as a 100 yard target. Any small targets at that distance, like a gong, would be a waste of ammo for me without a decent scope.

 

[No_Regerts]

Have any of you tried contacts or corrective surgery?

 

[etrain16]

Have any of you tried contacts or corrective surgery?

Nope. I don't care for contacts and haven't been bothered enough for surgery - really it's only shooting that causes me any grief at this time. Otherwise glasses are an easy fix.

 

[PBinWA]

I gave up on red dots. Prismatic sights work just fine with astigmatism. Worth trying if you haven't done so.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Have any of you tried contacts or corrective surgery?

I had cataract surgery in January & while it cleared up the smudging & fogging on glass lenses issue it has not done anything significant as far as helping my shooting vision.

 

[No_Regerts]

I had cataract surgery in January & while it cleared up the smudging & fogging on glass lenses issue it has not done anything significant as far as helping my shooting vision.

That sucks. My parents always told me to appreciate and take care of my body. Should have listened.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Yep, hindsight is 20-20 & we all should eat more green leafy veggies for eye health.

 

[Superglide]

My mum said I was going to go blind from something else.

 

[WAYNO]

I've commented multiple times about red-blob sights.

And one time, a feller on this forum questioned how I thought all red dot sights were junk, as the red blob in all of them was less than ideal for anything less than 10moa, as his red dots were truly red dots.

Don't know how or when I discovered it was my astigmatism and/or cataracts that turned a red dot into a red paramecium.

And when I did discover what affect my astigmatism has on red dots, it caused me to question if astigmatism also has an effect on open sights and point of aim relative to point of impact. I've done a little research, and it seems astigmatism can also cause parallax error.

And did I mention how difficult it is to use even a very good scope, but still see two different distinct crosshairs at the same time?

I have inquired about contacts and/or lasik. Their best offer was to have both eyes focus far, and continue to wear reading lenses, or focus close, and wear distance correction, or one eye far and the other close. Didn't sound like a good offer to me. I'll stick with my tri-focals.

 

[Kruel J]

Have any of you tried contacts or corrective surgery?

Yes, I wear contacts and my left eye (dominant eye) has an astigmatism so I wear a special contact lens in that eye. It's not perfect, but it keeps red dots clear and usable.

 

[Ura-Ki]

Years ago, I was a part of a Military experiment using Laser surgery to allow fighter pilot vision for those of us with out such gifts! Fast forward and I now have to wear glasses or contact lenses, I chose the cotact lenses with special corrections for astigmatism, and they work amazingly well, especially for low light, full dark vision! There are some tricks to getting a proper lenses, ask your optometrist to screen you speciffically to FAA pilots requirements, speciffically long range vision and depth perception, and bring up the astigmatism topic and get properly screened for it for your prescription. There are only two comercial brands of contact lenses that live up to the requirements of the FAA corrective protocols, the brand "Soft-med" gas permeable daily wear ( the most comfortable,and expensive) and "Breathable XW" for the most accurate and precise correction possable, also much cheaper. There is a serious catch though, the soft-med can be had as single, bi-focal, and tri-focal which covers most needs, the XW are a single correction only, cannot be offset from eye to eye, and require the use of cheater glasses in place of a bi or tri focal correction! This is the very best correction available period, far better then glasses, and super easy to use and care for. Knowing all this, the next time I get fitted out, I'm gonna break the rules and get a prescription for left eye Soft-meds at the proper bi-focal correction, and stick with my XW for right eye single correction for ultra long distances and depth perception!
The added bonus is you no longer require special shooting glasses, or multi pairs of regular glasses! Take the time and get used to wearing contact lenses, it's the only way to fully correct any issues and have awesome day and night vision!

 

[powermad]

I've had contacts a few times and don't really like them.
They never sit well and end up irritating the crap out of me.
Wearing them at work is not a good idea either for me. Way to much crap in the air, chemical and small particulates.
That's why I insist that my work glasses have no coatings on them at all.

I just spent a ton on glasses for this year.
I may look into getting one box of contacts just for shooting next year.
It would be nice to have the dot crisp and clear all the time and I do like the dot and magnifier combo.

I haven't shot it yet or zeroed it but did take it to work and was able to goof around with 3 inch targets out to 50 yds
Up to 50 yds with the fuzzy dot is doable.
75 - 100 yds with a 6" target is all luck unless I flip up the rear sight.
To see the 6" target past 100 yds I had to use the 4x, was able to get out to 150 yds with a target and could see it pretty clear.
Was looking all the way across the Willamette and was able to see cars on German town road pretty well.

 

[Lars]

I've had contacts a few times and don't really like them.
They never sit well and end up irritating the crap out of me.
Wearing them at work is not a good idea either for me. Way to much crap in the air, chemical and small particulates.
That's why I insist that my work glasses have no coatings on them at all.

I just spent a ton on glasses for this year.
I may look into getting one box of contacts just for shooting next year.
It would be nice to have the dot crisp and clear all the time and I do like the dot and magnifier combo.

I haven't shot it yet or zeroed it but did take it to work and was able to goof around with 3 inch targets out to 50 yds
Up to 50 yds with the fuzzy dot is doable.
75 - 100 yds with a 6" target is all luck unless I flip up the rear sight.
To see the 6" target past 100 yds I had to use the 4x, was able to get out to 150 yds with a target and could see it pretty clear.
Was looking all the way across the Willamette and was able to see cars on German town road pretty well.

Make sense about using the peep to improve the dot crispness. Like a camera it changes your field of view.

 

[USMC1911]

Years ago, I was a part of a Military experiment using Laser surgery to allow fighter pilot vision for those of us with out such gifts! Fast forward and I now have to wear glasses or contact lenses, I chose the cotact lenses with special corrections for astigmatism, and they work amazingly well, especially for low light, full dark vision! There are some tricks to getting a proper lenses, ask your optometrist to screen you speciffically to FAA pilots requirements, speciffically long range vision and depth perception, and bring up the astigmatism topic and get properly screened for it for your prescription. There are only two comercial brands of contact lenses that live up to the requirements of the FAA corrective protocols, the brand "Soft-med" gas permeable daily wear ( the most comfortable,and expensive) and "Breathable XW" for the most accurate and precise correction possable, also much cheaper. There is a serious catch though, the soft-med can be had as single, bi-focal, and tri-focal which covers most needs, the XW are a single correction only, cannot be offset from eye to eye, and require the use of cheater glasses in place of a bi or tri focal correction! This is the very best correction available period, far better then glasses, and super easy to use and care for. Knowing all this, the next time I get fitted out, I'm gonna break the rules and get a prescription for left eye Soft-meds at the proper bi-focal correction, and stick with my XW for right eye single correction for ultra long distances and depth perception!
The added bonus is you no longer require special shooting glasses, or multi pairs of regular glasses! Take the time and get used to wearing contact lenses, it's the only way to fully correct any issues and have awesome day and night vision!

Gas permeable has to be the most uncomfortable and easy to loose solution available. Just can't stand the dang things and the possibility of it popping out is just unacceptable. I have been looking into lasik and for me is a viable option.