Aimpoint: a question for the over 50 y.o.a. crowd...

[Buncheong]

Background: visited the optometrist and made sure to ask, “do I have astigmatism?” He looked at last year’s numbers, said, “in the left eye, very slightly, yeah.” Checked with the instruments this visit, and says “I’m not seeing any astigmatism now, though, in either eye. So no.”

Fast forward: managed to score the last CompM4s at Brownell’s. Just opened it up and installed the battery.

Red dot with both eyes open looks like a dot. Not like a period (.) perfect dot, but a dot. Gets a red halo effect around the dot as I turn up the brightness.

Red dot with right eye open looks like a dot. Lower the brightness the more of a perfect dot it looks.

Red dot with left eye open looks more like a tiny triangle. I need to look through it again and see what changing the brightness, does. Edit: I have had a condition called “lazy eye” in the left eye from birth.

Seeking advice: in my mid-50s now and in good shape overall but wondering about the future. Question: would I be better off switching to non-red dot sights? Asking since the CompM4s is minty new and I could probably get my money out of it and buy an EOTech with it.

Thanks for any input. I am a crossroads with my Aimpoint...

[hi-wayman]

I have had to deal with astigmatism basically forever. It hasn't been an age issue for me. I'm 60 and had lasik years ago. I get a starburst out of all red dots and EOTech's look fuzzy to me. But I still love the idea of a reddot. I can still use one to 50-75 yds. I have gotten good groups at 100 by controlling the brightness. I run a PRO on my SBR 556, and a Vortex UH1 on the 300 upper. I use LPVOs for the longer guns.
I would love to have it appear as clear as you describe, if I were you, I'd use it.
just my 2 cents

[hi-wayman]

I forgot to mention, they look worst when looking AT the dot. When you look through the dot at the target, it's not as noticeable.

[Buncheong]

A noob mistake I definitely made - I was looking at the dot.

I appreciate your posts on this subject, and the benefit of your perspective. I will stick with my Aimpoint.

Thanks much!

[RHINOWSO]

And the real key is both eyes open, don't stare at the dot is the way to use and shoot with them.

Also tweak the brightness - you want it bright enough to be easily seen, but if you have it a tad too bright, that can make the issue worse.

[Pappabear]

With even a little starburst, no problem. It isnt a precision optic, so a little burst is no problem, IMHO. Its quick acquisition Minute of Badguy optic.

Love me some Aimpoint.

PB

[The_War_Wagon]

Keep the dot as low as possible. I find halfway up is MORE than enough for me - even in bright sunlight at the range.

And Aimpoint is the ONLY red dot my eyes like!

[mrbieler]

Over 50 with glasses for nearsightedness. No astigmatism (knock on wood). The newer (over 90K serial number) MRO's have given me the best dot clarity. With my glasses off, it's not the smear the Aimpoint dots became. With my glasses on, I find it even cleaner than my H2 and M4S dots.

[mebiuspower]

And the real key is both eyes open, don't stare at the dot is the way to use and shoot with them.

That's correct. Shoot with both eyes open and always focus on your target and bring your dot to the target and squeeze.

At 4:30...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWlQHNoGzeg

[AndyLate]

I am in my 50s and have Aimpoint Pro, MRO, Ultradot 25, and Nikon Superdot red dot sights. I have some astigmatism and the dots all look distorted to some degree. In my opinion, my nearsightedness has a much larger effect than dots that are not round.

The Ultradot is 4 MOA and mounted on a 10-22 the others are all 2 MOA.

Andy

[Circle_10]

I’m 39 currently so not part of the over-50 crowd but I’ve had Aimpoints since I was in my early 30s and the dots have always looked jagged and/or “bloomy” to me. I have pretty substantial nearsightedness and some level of astigmatism. The dot distortion is much less pronounced outdoors in daylight but it is still uneven enough that it often limits how precise I can be with an Aimpoint at, say, 100yds (I can usually shoot irons *more accurately* at that distance, but also more slowly). Indoors, particularly in lower light, even with the brightness turned down the dots are often frazzled spidery messes unless I have a weapon light activated, of course if the brightness is down low enough that the starburst effect is minimized that generally means the dot won’t be visible at all once the light is on, but I have a fixed FSB to fall back on as well.

[Arik]

All depends on how bad your astigmatism is. Mine is bad enough that I can stare at the dot, through the dot, away from the dot, from peripheral vision angle.... whatever. As long as the dot is on it looks like a bright red smudged fingerprint. Take your finger, dip it in red paint, roll it on glass. That's what it looks like for me. Glasses fix that

[Buncheong]

Seems like the emerging consensus is, “see the target - work through the imperfect dot-blob.” Well, something along those lines.

I very much appreciate the helpful replies and the time taken to post them up - many thanks, Gentlemen.