Thank you, had a small break from using red dots and when I popped my vortex sparc I realized that I have a cluster of stars..on to the eye doctor and probably LASIK surgery to avoid glasses.
Hey Tina! Interesting you would talk about astigmatism right now. I was experiencing a blurred red dot for some time on my Romeo V (even worse with the Juliet 4x magnifier) and could not shake it. I tried everything including changing the battery thinking that would help. Finally decided to get my eyes checked and glad I did. Long story short my astigmatism had changed since my last checkup (three years ago) and when I put in the new astigmatism corrected contact lens, it made ALL the difference in the world! I was THRILLED with the clarity and sharpness I saw with the new correction contact lens. If anyone of your readers is having probs with acute image through their scopes, red dots, RMRs, etc., they may want to consider a checkup with their optometrist to ensure they have appropriate optical correction for the best possible outcome. A simple checkup made a HUGE difference for this puppy. Just wanted to share this for the good of the cause. :)
This is my identical situation. Romeo 5 and Juliet 4 magnifier. Thank you for making me realize I need an appointment, my dot looks horrendous under magnification
This video singlehandedly taught me i have astigmatism in my left eye. Im a lefty shooter, and i have a reflex with several retical settings, and they were super blurry. I l was watching this and switched to my right eye, and i could see it perfectly.
If you wear contacts, ask your eye care professional about Toric contact lenses for astigmatism. I now see a single, crisp dot. Well worth the slight premium cost over regular contact lenses. They also improve your night driving sight vision from headlight glare.
Lowering the brightness helps me and sticking with red over green. I have a red eps carry and boughtba green one as well. The green on starbursted more than the red one. Also, if you have an astigmatism, STAY AWAY FROM AUTO ADJUSTING DOT SIGHTS. I bought the holosun glock mos scs. Only comes in green. You only have 2 brightness setting that you can control and neither allow you to dim the brightness enough to mitigate the starbursting effect. So stay away from that one. I also noticed 3 MOA crisper to my eye and offer less starbursting than a 2 moa dot. So a 6 MOA might work better for some.
Thank you! Subscribed after watching this video and another one that started on auto-play. You are now my 2nd favorite content host on UA-cam - detailed facts with real use experience and advice, concise, quick & clear (no one is quicker with facts & results than my fav reviewer on UA-cam - ProjectFarm! 😁). This was the most informative video I watched on this topic, especially the troubleshooting. Less than 2 mins to determine that my Burris red dot issue is “my” issue via the camera test and rotation test. Unfortunately for me, this is a fairly new issue, even after wearing reading glasses for 8+ hrs/day for last 5 years and I just got daily contacts 😢. I’ll definitely give the magnifier recommendation a try. I look forward to watching more of your current and future videos. Thanks again!
I had LASIK surgery on both eyes and because I had astigmatism’s you can’t have regular lenses, you must choose near or far sighted lenses. I chose to see At great distances for hunting but makes it difficult to see close like reading a book.
Very good episode, too bad I didn't know about it before buying the red dot, today I'm more familiar with the topic but this video gave me even more useful knowledge. In short, this video is a great summary of knowledge about red dot sights and astigmatism, for which I thank you very much.
Just found out I have an astigmatism when I bought my first red green dot pistol sight. Thought it was broken! This is the best video and explanation I've seen. THANKS!
Great practical advice and we'll thought out video. I have astigmatism but it has been manageable for the most part with all my red dots. One exception is the Primary arms SLx MD-20 (suffers from dot reflection pretty bad- usually see two dots) but my Sigs Udo and Meprolight optics have all been working well with me. Thanks again Simon and Tina.
Something that I just came here to clarify that I did not see any of the videos when I watched when I was very concerned about this and getting into red dots. If you wear corrective lenses, this one will not be an issue for you. Assuming your prescription is correct. This is specifically for people who have an astigmatism that is mild enough they do not wear glasses.
I had two red dots that came that I thought were defective. These were my 1st and 2nd optics. I returned the 1st one thinking it must have been the red dot. When the 2nd one came, I had my doubts. This video showed me that it was because of my astigmatism.
I concur with sanchez below, absolutely epic material! Just getting into optics myself. So glad I found this before I made a purchase, as I have astigmatism and my LR accuracy isn't what it used to be with iron sights anymore.
thanks was a bit frustrated till watched this, i tried my old glasses that have polarizing and transitions and it sharpened the dot nicely. they are now my new range/hunting glasses
9:30 What appears to be pixelation on holographic sights are not pixels and it is not constructed of pixels at all. The pixelated, grainy appearance is caused by the speckling diffusion of laser light. Because laser light is spectrally pure (very little shift in wavelength), it is possible for it to undergo destructive interference if the oscillation of the wavefront of two instances meet AND are not only no longer in phase but also at opposite ends of them. The waves are in phase when they are all at the same point of their oscillation. Because it is all from the same original wavelength (and source, just 1 laser diode), and all of the light initially was in phase, if 2 wavefronts meet while one wave at its peak, and the other is at it's peak but in the opposite end of it's oscillation the light wave does not just shift in brightness and amplitude but instead cancels entirely. That's why the grainy appearance is there. The space between what appears to be dots are areas where destructive interference was complete instead of just less bright. This isn't due to imperfection in the recording though. It is that the initially coherent (same wavelength AND in phase) light can begin to interfere with itself in spots after being incident upon the physical hologram. The result is spots where constructive or destructive interference happens before it reaches the eye. _Hell, it actually can happen in the eye too, up until it actually contacts the retina._ It can happen anywhere between those 2 points. This is what causes the speckling, grainy pattern you tend to see when anything is illuminated by laser light, not just holograms even when in focus. It is essentially unavoidable to an extent. You can sort of compensate for it by just having more of the laser light in the first place to just saturate it with so much light areas of constructive interference end up overlapping spots that also had light that was previously canceled by destructive interference. It is an unavoidable phenomenon in holography. The main thing is that there is no pixels about it, during manufacturing the reticle shape is recorded by exposing the photosensitive holographic medium (EOTECH used to use Silver Halide Holographic Plates but I believe they switched a different material now. I do not know what Vortex is using.) to laser light either through a cut out of the desired reticle shape or by illuminating a flat 2D image of the reticle shape. At the same time, a divergent beam is okay this is probably getting too technical. Anyway, the take away is there are no pixels at all or else magnifying a holographic sight would result in even worse pixelation instead of cleaning it up even further. Holograms are actually nearly perfect recordings of the light field they were exposed to, down to a microscopic level. This includes, actually, the spatial information of how far away it was from the recording medium. The EOTECH reticle is recorded at about 35 meters away if I remember right. However, since it is reconstructed in the sight with a collimated beam it gets focused to infinity instead. The blurry, fuzzy (separate from the grainy, pixelated) appearance is only apparent when the eye is focused at _very near distances,_ like 1 foot or so away. Focus the eyeball any distance beyond that focal plane and the reticle should lose the blurriness at all other focal planes as it is focused out to infinity. Hope that helped!
Oh man just got a holosun green dot with the chevron and I did not expect that I might be the issue because my vision has always been so good 😭 great advice. Subbed
Oh wow! Youve just saved me from returning my red dot sight...its my eyes! I put on sunglasses and the dots were perfect. Your video was so informative and really helped me to discover and understand whats going on with my eyes! Thankyou so much
Thanks, Tina! You greatly helped me out, I had cataract surgery a while back and still have an astigmatism. Your information helped a lot, thanks again, JD (Michigan)
This is an excellent video! Great info and well explained. Turning down the brightness helps a lot. Time for some new glasses. Good job Tina! Thank you.
Wondering if you have looked at or tested the Cyelee Wolf 2 for Astigmatism Red Dot Optic? I am hearing good things about the Astigmatism correcting in the Optic.
I found out the picture test by accident. I had bought a used red dot years ago, and was like, what the heck. This thing is broken. Went to take a picture to send to the seller, and was shocked to see a perfect red dot. I was floored. A magnifier screwed on the end of it, made it a perfect dot for my eye condition. Strange, that my eye classes didn't fix it, but the factory magnifier fixed it.
My doctor told me I have an astigmatism which explains the starburst I see on my green dot sight. However, when it becomes distracting I flip up my rear backup sight and the dot becomes small and crisp. I don't understand the optic science behind why but it's a nice solution for now without having to go out and spend money on another optic.
Tina and Simon, thank you so much for all your great videos and web-site-articles. I have rectangular eyes from reading them all, and I'm only half-way. I learned so much ... that I got more confused as well because of all the options and variables :) . It all works like a guide, and it is obvious every shooter should allow him- or herself all the time needed to sort things out. Buy the way, I live in Western-Europe, and guns and RDS's etc are a lot more expensive over here. Thanks to you, I know I have to address one eye for astigmatism, which, by the way, gets half as bad when I shoot with both eyes open! And oh, I envy you so much for the shooting-ranges you are using. Enjoy it all guys, thanks again.
Hi Onno, thanks for the comment. We love hearing feedback like yours and are glad you have found our videos and articles so helpful in your learning process. Sounds like you are learning new things about yourself in the process too! All the best! - Simon
I'm gradually moving to prismatic sights due to my astigmatism. Prism sights are typically more robust than red dot sights simply due to the way they're constructed, plus they will work even if the batteries run out due to their etched reticle. Though prism sights are not parallax free, some of them are very close and given their robustness and the fact that they'll still work without the need for batteries or during an EMP I see prismatic sights as being the best choice if you're looking for something that you can rely on and if you have an astigmatism it's a no brainer to chose a prism sight, that is unless you decide to go with an LPVO...
In my green dot sights I see a small squiggly horizontal line instead of a dot. The camera on my phone sees a dot, so I know it's me and not the sights. I don't use the sights to attempt sub MOA groups, I have scopes for that, so the sights still function for my purposes.
Great video have to be well informed with the wonderful tech we have , my situation cleared up with polarized glasses also actually going outside n putting some distance thru the sight n adjusting brightness your wonderful as instructor
Great video. Helped confirm my suspicions. I found trying an optic that has a few reticles is a good plan too. Question for ya - with my iron sights (no optic in this scenario), I have an immensely difficult time to get rid of the blurry focus with my eyes when trying to focus on a 3 dot iron sight. However, if I’m looking at my target down range and when I go to the iron sights to get precise I found that if I do a quick blink when I’m looking closer at the sights I am able to quickly pick up the iron sights dots clearly and quickly align them. But if I’m looking down range and then back At the sight it seems to take 2+ seconds to get rid of that slow re focus if you will. Does this have anything to do with astigmatism, or is this something else, and if so, what? I noticed on sights that are blacked out in the rear and a bright glow front I do better with this, but still have the same issue. Is this bizarre about the quick blink bandaid solution? Btw this is all on a pistol. Thanks for any tips.
Squinting my eyes also helps me also if I see a double dot. Btw I also have issues with rifle reticles when getting tired and see a double vertical line. Not very helpful at shooting consistently. I have prescription glasses but these don’t help much
Good video. I see a comet with red dot sights (different in my left and right, but a comet in both). It's hard to make out the dot as it is just a streak and not a dot with a red tail. I'm going to find my sight again and try all the things you talked about. I really like a scout mounted optical sight, but overall I want it to be as small as possible. Something that was flat then pops up, use it and then drops flat again like it doesn't exist would be perfect. Put my thumb on a button, clear sights appear, fire, raise thumb. Years ago I used to shoot target, I used an adjustable aperture rear sight with a front doughnut, and I loved it. Of course, I didn't need 3 pairs of reading glasses then either and women appeared smaller.
From my experience, green dot does not make it better. Turning down the brightness makes it a lot better. A bright background would help you see the dot better as well. Red dot sight is not ideal for old eyes with astigmatism but it's still better than seeing a blurry sight picture on iron sights. If any optics manufacturer can make a pistol scope the size of a red dot, that would be ideal for the older shooters. Do you think it's possible to make a reflective pistol scope that small ?
I am trying an Atibal 1x micro prism, only oroblem is I cant magnify it as Atibal says it's not made to magnify. I need to updated my prescription as my glasses are 2 years old
I just got new glasses for my old eyes (77), but they didn't help take the asymmetrical Star Bust out of my green or red RDSs. Got it both eyes. I checked out polarized sunglasses w/o luck. Besides, phone screens blackout with a 90deg rotation. Seems phone screen light is polarized. Anyways, in the "Cross-Hatch Eye Chart", horizonal lines are fuzzy-gray on my left eye and Double lines on my right (master) eye. (the bottom line is lighter) It's the quick and easy way to diagnose Astigmatism. I've been wondering why my asymmetrical Star Bust goes away sometimes and I see a nice round dot. (Not perfectly round, but very close). I got the idea that "Depth of Field", might be a factor. So, to close my iris a little, I could use a light blub, or a flashlight. Inside a slightly darken room, I aimed a RDS (TRS-25) at the base of a light fixture with two 60W LED blubs. Turned the sight up to 3 LED-power and got a Star Bust. Then, I turned the lights ON! I was amazed, I had a tiny Round red-dot! Turned the lights OFF and within about 1 second, Star Bust was back. Lights back ON, and it seemed to take about 1 second for the tiny round red-dot to come back.. Somehow, the light from the LED blubs are just washing-out the star burst spikes, or maybe something in the LED blubs light spectrum is killing the Astigmatism effects from the RDS LED? Or maybe "Depth of Field", is a factor. Right now, with Readers glasses, using the right eye, I see two dots for each "." period on my display. One above the other. However, if I squint my right eye, it's 20:20 clear. I think my eyelid is acting like a closing iris.
I just got my red dot sight.... held it a bit far from eye and it looked like a big smudge that took up like half the lens when extended out. I am going to have to give it a go once I get my pistol but I have a feeling that it's going to be a no bueno for me.
Would a Green Dot Optic be an option that might help with this condition?? Romeo5XDR and Holosun 510 have Green Dot options, along with Viridian as they only make Green Dots.
My OPTOMETRIST told me I have an astigmatism in my left eye. So if you need confirmation then just see an eye doctor. For me, the green dot is much cleaner looking.
I just assumed my Vortex was a shitty red dot. I took a picture of it and it’s perfectly clear. It looks slightly fuzzy when I see it. Definitely sucks.
Shit.. TIL My eyes are fucked... I shot a friends hellcat which has a red 407k and it looked perfectly sharp and clear.. so much so that I immediately bought in Green dot.. it looks so damn blurry to me... I'm fooked. Thanks for the info, great video.
That's so disappointing. I wonder why it looks bad versus when you looked through your friend's one? That's the worst. Sorry to hear that, and thanks for the comment - Tina.
As a US Army Marksmanship Master Trainer, this video was phenomenal, and would 100% help teach people.
Wow! Thanks for the nice feedback. - Simon
Thank you, had a small break from using red dots and when I popped my vortex sparc I realized that I have a cluster of stars..on to the eye doctor and probably LASIK surgery to avoid glasses.
Best thing to do about an Astigmatism is to get a Prism Optic... AKA an etched reticle.
Couldn't agree more!
Had a prism red dot and thought the same thing, it didn’t help me.
@@DanLaTour12 Are you sure your vision problem is an astigmatism? Also, did you adjust the diopter?
I've heard from others that get better results by using green dots. I'm going to try my polarized sunglasses! Thanks for your explanations.
Did polarized glasses help?
This was super helpful. I kept seeing double reticles and was able to mitigate it a huge amount
Hey Tina! Interesting you would talk about astigmatism right now. I was experiencing a blurred red dot for some time on my Romeo V (even worse with the Juliet 4x magnifier) and could not shake it. I tried everything including changing the battery thinking that would help. Finally decided to get my eyes checked and glad I did. Long story short my astigmatism had changed since my last checkup (three years ago) and when I put in the new astigmatism corrected contact lens, it made ALL the difference in the world! I was THRILLED with the clarity and sharpness I saw with the new correction contact lens.
If anyone of your readers is having probs with acute image through their scopes, red dots, RMRs, etc., they may want to consider a checkup with their optometrist to ensure they have appropriate optical correction for the best possible outcome. A simple checkup made a HUGE difference for this puppy.
Just wanted to share this for the good of the cause. :)
Thanks for sharing your experience Bob and happy to hear you got such a great result from the corrected lenses! - Simon
This is my identical situation. Romeo 5 and Juliet 4 magnifier. Thank you for making me realize I need an appointment, my dot looks horrendous under magnification
This video singlehandedly taught me i have astigmatism in my left eye. Im a lefty shooter, and i have a reflex with several retical settings, and they were super blurry. I l was watching this and switched to my right eye, and i could see it perfectly.
After reading your comment, I tested and realized I have astigmatism in my right eye!
If you wear contacts, ask your eye care professional about Toric contact lenses for astigmatism. I now see a single, crisp dot. Well worth the slight premium cost over regular contact lenses. They also improve your night driving sight vision from headlight glare.
This Lady knows her stuff. Nice job young lady..
Thanks for commenting! Simon
Great, all rounder explanatory video. Huge thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for commenting! - Simon
Lowering the brightness helps me and sticking with red over green. I have a red eps carry and boughtba green one as well. The green on starbursted more than the red one.
Also, if you have an astigmatism, STAY AWAY FROM AUTO ADJUSTING DOT SIGHTS.
I bought the holosun glock mos scs. Only comes in green. You only have 2 brightness setting that you can control and neither allow you to dim the brightness enough to mitigate the starbursting effect.
So stay away from that one.
I also noticed 3 MOA crisper to my eye and offer less starbursting than a 2 moa dot. So a 6 MOA might work better for some.
Thank you! Subscribed after watching this video and another one that started on auto-play. You are now my 2nd favorite content host on UA-cam - detailed facts with real use experience and advice, concise, quick & clear (no one is quicker with facts & results than my fav reviewer on UA-cam - ProjectFarm! 😁). This was the most informative video I watched on this topic, especially the troubleshooting. Less than 2 mins to determine that my Burris red dot issue is “my” issue via the camera test and rotation test. Unfortunately
for me, this is a fairly new issue, even after wearing reading glasses for 8+ hrs/day for last 5 years and I just got daily contacts 😢. I’ll definitely give the magnifier recommendation a try. I look forward to watching more of your current and future videos. Thanks again!
Thanks for the great feedback! Tina sure is quick with a fact! I hope the magnifier worked out for you! - Simon
I had LASIK surgery on both eyes and because I had astigmatism’s you can’t have regular lenses, you must choose near or far sighted lenses. I chose to see At great distances for hunting but makes it difficult to see close like reading a book.
Very good episode, too bad I didn't know about it before buying the red dot, today I'm more familiar with the topic but this video gave me even more useful knowledge. In short, this video is a great summary of knowledge about red dot sights and astigmatism, for which I thank you very much.
Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for commenting. - Simon
Just found out I have an astigmatism when I bought my first red green dot pistol sight. Thought it was broken! This is the best video and explanation I've seen. THANKS!
Great practical advice and we'll thought out video. I have astigmatism but it has been manageable for the most part with all my red dots. One exception is the Primary arms SLx MD-20 (suffers from dot reflection pretty bad- usually see two dots) but my Sigs Udo and Meprolight optics have all been working well with me. Thanks again Simon and Tina.
Thanks for sharing your experience with astigmatism and the red dots you have used. And thanks for commenting! - Simon
Something that I just came here to clarify that I did not see any of the videos when I watched when I was very concerned about this and getting into red dots. If you wear corrective lenses, this one will not be an issue for you. Assuming your prescription is correct. This is specifically for people who have an astigmatism that is mild enough they do not wear glasses.
What a way to find out I need to make an eye appointment 😅
😅
I had two red dots that came that I thought were defective. These were my 1st and 2nd optics. I returned the 1st one thinking it must have been the red dot. When the 2nd one came, I had my doubts. This video showed me that it was because of my astigmatism.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I hope you can find one that works for you! - Simon
I concur with sanchez below, absolutely epic material! Just getting into optics myself. So glad I found this before I made a purchase, as I have astigmatism and my LR accuracy isn't what it used to be with iron sights anymore.
thanks was a bit frustrated till watched this, i tried my old glasses that have polarizing and transitions and it sharpened the dot nicely. they are now my new range/hunting glasses
Great to hear! - Simon
I bought and returned three different red dots before I figured this out!!!
The red dot often gets the blame! Glad you figured it out in the end! - Simon
Can you be more specific? And give me a brand or model? Thanks
9:30 What appears to be pixelation on holographic sights are not pixels and it is not constructed of pixels at all. The pixelated, grainy appearance is caused by the speckling diffusion of laser light. Because laser light is spectrally pure (very little shift in wavelength), it is possible for it to undergo destructive interference if the oscillation of the wavefront of two instances meet AND are not only no longer in phase but also at opposite ends of them. The waves are in phase when they are all at the same point of their oscillation. Because it is all from the same original wavelength (and source, just 1 laser diode), and all of the light initially was in phase, if 2 wavefronts meet while one wave at its peak, and the other is at it's peak but in the opposite end of it's oscillation the light wave does not just shift in brightness and amplitude but instead cancels entirely. That's why the grainy appearance is there. The space between what appears to be dots are areas where destructive interference was complete instead of just less bright.
This isn't due to imperfection in the recording though. It is that the initially coherent (same wavelength AND in phase) light can begin to interfere with itself in spots after being incident upon the physical hologram. The result is spots where constructive or destructive interference happens before it reaches the eye. _Hell, it actually can happen in the eye too, up until it actually contacts the retina._ It can happen anywhere between those 2 points. This is what causes the speckling, grainy pattern you tend to see when anything is illuminated by laser light, not just holograms even when in focus. It is essentially unavoidable to an extent. You can sort of compensate for it by just having more of the laser light in the first place to just saturate it with so much light areas of constructive interference end up overlapping spots that also had light that was previously canceled by destructive interference.
It is an unavoidable phenomenon in holography. The main thing is that there is no pixels about it, during manufacturing the reticle shape is recorded by exposing the photosensitive holographic medium (EOTECH used to use Silver Halide Holographic Plates but I believe they switched a different material now. I do not know what Vortex is using.) to laser light either through a cut out of the desired reticle shape or by illuminating a flat 2D image of the reticle shape. At the same time, a divergent beam is okay this is probably getting too technical. Anyway, the take away is there are no pixels at all or else magnifying a holographic sight would result in even worse pixelation instead of cleaning it up even further.
Holograms are actually nearly perfect recordings of the light field they were exposed to, down to a microscopic level. This includes, actually, the spatial information of how far away it was from the recording medium. The EOTECH reticle is recorded at about 35 meters away if I remember right. However, since it is reconstructed in the sight with a collimated beam it gets focused to infinity instead. The blurry, fuzzy (separate from the grainy, pixelated) appearance is only apparent when the eye is focused at _very near distances,_ like 1 foot or so away. Focus the eyeball any distance beyond that focal plane and the reticle should lose the blurriness at all other focal planes as it is focused out to infinity. Hope that helped!
Oh man just got a holosun green dot with the chevron and I did not expect that I might be the issue because my vision has always been so good 😭 great advice. Subbed
Oh wow! Youve just saved me from returning my red dot sight...its my eyes! I put on sunglasses and the dots were perfect.
Your video was so informative and really helped me to discover and understand whats going on with my eyes! Thankyou so much
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. You are a very smart person ❤
You are so welcome! Thanks for commenting! - Simon
This video was really helpful and informing. Thank you!
Thank you! This is the best video I have found on this topic, by far.
Thanks, Tina! You greatly helped me out, I had cataract surgery a while back and still have an astigmatism. Your information helped a lot, thanks again, JD (Michigan)
Thanks, you explained astigmatism to me better than any eye doctor bothered to.
Wow! Thanks for the kind feedback. - Simon
Great video. The polarized glasses really worked well for me.
This is an excellent video! Great info and well explained. Turning down the brightness helps a lot. Time for some new glasses. Good job Tina! Thank you.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for commenting!
Thanks for Very Informative video!
I found this video incredibly helpful. Especially the multiple suggestions on how to improve the situation. Thank you!
Why not put polarized film on your sight lense
Wondering if you have looked at or tested the Cyelee Wolf 2 for Astigmatism Red Dot Optic? I am hearing good things about the Astigmatism correcting in the Optic.
I just get an old fashion glass crosshair sight for my pistol! Cost alot now, but worth it! No batteries to change.😊
Thanks for sharing! Simon
I found out the picture test by accident. I had bought a used red dot years ago, and was like, what the heck. This thing is broken. Went to take a picture to send to the seller, and was shocked to see a perfect red dot. I was floored.
A magnifier screwed on the end of it, made it a perfect dot for my eye condition. Strange, that my eye classes didn't fix it, but the factory magnifier fixed it.
That is certainly an interesting way to find out you have an eye condition! Glad the magnifier did the trick for you. Thanks for commenting! - Simon
My doctor told me I have an astigmatism which explains the starburst I see on my green dot sight. However, when it becomes distracting I flip up my rear backup sight and the dot becomes small and crisp. I don't understand the optic science behind why but it's a nice solution for now without having to go out and spend money on another optic.
Nice! Thanks for sharing what works for you. - Simon
Excellent review! You are an excellent presenter in this video is so concise and well put together. Would look forward to more content from you.
Using polarized sunglasses did the trick! Thanks for sharing that!
Awesome videos I have an astigmatism in one eye and cannot wear polarized sunglasses. They make me dizzy and give me headaches.
Sorry to hear that! Thanks for your feedback on the video. - Simon
This was super helpful! Thanks
Glad it was helpful!
Excellent video. Thank you.
Really informative and helpful.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for commenting. - Simon
Tina and Simon, thank you so much for all your great videos and web-site-articles. I have rectangular eyes from reading them all, and I'm only half-way. I learned so much ... that I got more confused as well because of all the options and variables :) . It all works like a guide, and it is obvious every shooter should allow him- or herself all the time needed to sort things out. Buy the way, I live in Western-Europe, and guns and RDS's etc are a lot more expensive over here. Thanks to you, I know I have to address one eye for astigmatism, which, by the way, gets half as bad when I shoot with both eyes open! And oh, I envy you so much for the shooting-ranges you are using. Enjoy it all guys, thanks again.
Hi Onno, thanks for the comment. We love hearing feedback like yours and are glad you have found our videos and articles so helpful in your learning process. Sounds like you are learning new things about yourself in the process too! All the best! - Simon
Great video awesome advice
Glad you liked it! - Simon
I'm gradually moving to prismatic sights due to my astigmatism. Prism sights are typically more robust than red dot sights simply due to the way they're constructed, plus they will work even if the batteries run out due to their etched reticle. Though prism sights are not parallax free, some of them are very close and given their robustness and the fact that they'll still work without the need for batteries or during an EMP I see prismatic sights as being the best choice if you're looking for something that you can rely on and if you have an astigmatism it's a no brainer to chose a prism sight, that is unless you decide to go with an LPVO...
In my green dot sights I see a small squiggly horizontal line instead of a dot. The camera on my phone sees a dot, so I know it's me and not the sights. I don't use the sights to attempt sub MOA groups, I have scopes for that, so the sights still function for my purposes.
Top quality post.
Great video have to be well informed with the wonderful tech we have , my situation cleared up with polarized glasses also actually going outside n putting some distance thru the sight n adjusting brightness your wonderful as instructor
Thank you very much. Very helpful!!!
I thought red dots were supposed to be blurry until i took a video of it to my friend.
Great video!
Great video. Helped confirm my suspicions. I found trying an optic that has a few reticles is a good plan too. Question for ya - with my iron sights (no optic in this scenario), I have an immensely difficult time to get rid of the blurry focus with my eyes when trying to focus on a 3 dot iron sight. However, if I’m looking at my target down range and when I go to the iron sights to get precise I found that if I do a quick blink when I’m looking closer at the sights I am able to quickly pick up the iron sights dots clearly and quickly align them. But if I’m looking down range and then back At the sight it seems to take 2+ seconds to get rid of that slow re focus if you will. Does this have anything to do with astigmatism, or is this something else, and if so, what? I noticed on sights that are blacked out in the rear and a bright glow front I do better with this, but still have the same issue. Is this bizarre about the quick blink bandaid solution? Btw this is all on a pistol. Thanks for any tips.
Probably the first item to do is get an eye exam from an eye Dr. Either an M.D. OR O.D.
Thank you for sharing👍👍
No problem 👍
Great video, thanks!
Squinting my eyes also helps me also if I see a double dot. Btw I also have issues with rifle reticles when getting tired and see a double vertical line. Not very helpful at shooting consistently. I have prescription glasses but these don’t help much
Good video. I see a comet with red dot sights (different in my left and right, but a comet in both). It's hard to make out the dot as it is just a streak and not a dot with a red tail. I'm going to find my sight again and try all the things you talked about. I really like a scout mounted optical sight, but overall I want it to be as small as possible. Something that was flat then pops up, use it and then drops flat again like it doesn't exist would be perfect. Put my thumb on a button, clear sights appear, fire, raise thumb. Years ago I used to shoot target, I used an adjustable aperture rear sight with a front doughnut, and I loved it. Of course, I didn't need 3 pairs of reading glasses then either and women appeared smaller.
Glad you liked it and thanks for commenting! Hopefully some of Tina's suggestions help you out. - Simon
very informative, thanks.
Awesome, thanks!👍
Our pleasure! Thanks for commenting. - Simon
From my experience, green dot does not make it better. Turning down the brightness makes it a lot better. A bright background would help you see the dot better as well. Red dot sight is not ideal for old eyes with astigmatism but it's still better than seeing a blurry sight picture on iron sights. If any optics manufacturer can make a pistol scope the size of a red dot, that would be ideal for the older shooters. Do you think it's possible to make a reflective pistol scope that small ?
Why not make a focusable reticle like regular scopes ? Older folks are being left out. I can adjust the scopes on my rifles and see great.
I love the sound of this lady's voice. I know that might be a weird comment on such a video, but I just had to say it.
Thank you !!
Good job well put many ideas thank you
I am trying an Atibal 1x micro prism, only oroblem is I cant magnify it as Atibal says it's not made to magnify.
I need to updated my prescription as my glasses are 2 years old
I just got new glasses for my old eyes (77), but they didn't help take the asymmetrical Star Bust out of my green or red RDSs. Got it both eyes. I checked out polarized sunglasses w/o luck.
Besides, phone screens blackout with a 90deg rotation. Seems phone screen light is polarized.
Anyways, in the "Cross-Hatch Eye Chart", horizonal lines are fuzzy-gray on my left eye and Double lines on my right (master) eye. (the bottom line is lighter) It's the quick and easy way to diagnose Astigmatism.
I've been wondering why my asymmetrical Star Bust goes away sometimes and I see a nice round dot. (Not perfectly round, but very close).
I got the idea that "Depth of Field", might be a factor. So, to close my iris a little, I could use a light blub, or a flashlight.
Inside a slightly darken room, I aimed a RDS (TRS-25) at the base of a light fixture with two 60W LED blubs. Turned the sight up to 3 LED-power and got a Star Bust.
Then, I turned the lights ON! I was amazed, I had a tiny Round red-dot!
Turned the lights OFF and within about 1 second, Star Bust was back.
Lights back ON, and it seemed to take about 1 second for the tiny round red-dot to come back..
Somehow, the light from the LED blubs are just washing-out the star burst spikes, or maybe something in the LED blubs light spectrum is killing the Astigmatism effects from the RDS LED?
Or maybe "Depth of Field", is a factor.
Right now, with Readers glasses, using the right eye, I see two dots for each "." period on my display. One above the other. However, if I squint my right eye, it's 20:20 clear. I think my eyelid is acting like a closing iris.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing! - Simon
mine switches from a decent dot to a diagonal-ish line on 1-moa rmr. star bursts at higher brightness
Thank you. This was extremely helpful. Now I know it’s not the dot
Glad it helped!
I just got my red dot sight.... held it a bit far from eye and it looked like a big smudge that took up like half the lens when extended out. I am going to have to give it a go once I get my pistol but I have a feeling that it's going to be a no bueno for me.
That is a shame! I hope if proves otherwise once you start using it! - Simon
My astigmatism is so bad even my EOtech is blurry. My Holosuns aren't too blurry and starburst
My eps carry green still starbursts with glasses on.
Would a Green Dot Optic be an option that might help with this condition??
Romeo5XDR and Holosun 510 have Green Dot options, along with Viridian as they only make Green Dots.
It sure could! Tina discusses using a green dot for astigmatism at 5:53.
Thank you in helping diagnose my astigmatism lol
When looking through my Bushnell TRS-25 Pro, I see two targets instead of one.
I had to get green because im red green color blind. Its hard to see red on objects like grass.
My OPTOMETRIST told me I have an astigmatism in my left eye. So if you need confirmation then just see an eye doctor. For me, the green dot is much cleaner looking.
Thanks for sharing what works for you! - Simon
I just wear my prescription glasses and solved the issue 😂🤣
Nice!
There is only one solution, keep your glasses RX updated.
100%
But it only happens with one of my red dots. I absolutely have astigmatism tho
Wanna hear something crazy. Im 30 n just realized i have an astigmatism lol i thought everybody saw it
Lol, at least you know now! Thanks for commenting. - Simon
Only problem I have is red dots for handguns. I can’t find a video for handguns…
One for us to do in the future! Thanks for commenting. - Simon
In the meantime, this resource Tina created might help - www.targettamers.com/best-pistol-red-dot-sights/
Funny I can see red dot no problem but I had to return a green dot sight it was like a melted glob
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I just assumed my Vortex was a shitty red dot. I took a picture of it and it’s perfectly clear. It looks slightly fuzzy when I see it.
Definitely sucks.
Shit.. TIL My eyes are fucked...
I shot a friends hellcat which has a red 407k and it looked perfectly sharp and clear.. so much so that I immediately bought in Green dot.. it looks so damn blurry to me... I'm fooked.
Thanks for the info, great video.
That's so disappointing. I wonder why it looks bad versus when you looked through your friend's one? That's the worst. Sorry to hear that, and thanks for the comment - Tina.
Does green make it better? Then you said it lol
Eotechs look like a mess and red dots look like a huge line of Christmas lights. 😂 as much as i hate my glasses i gotta use them
Buy an ACOG for $6K!😊
No Sig, Holosun all the way 💯
🫡
My solution to this is not buy a red dot
Whatever works for you! - Simon
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