Working through Aimpoint and Astigmatism

[ResIpsa]

I recently picked up my first optic, an Aimpoint T-1 Micro. Unfortunately, it looks like I have an astigmatism because sometimes the dot looks like a comet (tail pointing down).

As others have noted, the dot is very crisp when I use it outdoors, and most prevalent when I look through the dot indoors or at night. But I have also noted that it varies for me based on head position relative to the optic. Specifically, the dot is clearer if I keep my head in a very heads-up position.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Would swapping my 1/3 co-witness mount for an absolute co-witness help? I'm new to the AR platform (I'm taking a VSM Basic Carbine class this month), so could it simply be poor form or positioning of the rifle? Thank you in advance for your input.

[SpankMonkey]

I have the same condition. Nothing I have tried has helped outside of getting glasses or contacts.

A quick fix is to look through your rear sight at the dot and target. This of course defeats the purpose of a red dot which is speed. But does force your eye to focus.

I routinely shoot out to 300 yards without issue and my go to rifle has a micro T-1.

Good luck.

[fssmikey]

i have the same issue. i need to make an appointment for the eye doc as even with corrective lenses, the dot looks like a fuzzy comma.

honestly though, even with that, im shooting decent groups @ 50 yards. its more of an annoyance than anything else

[jlw]

I'm in the same boat with you. True co-witnessed with the large aperture rear sight seems to work for me, but anything else involves trying to find the dot. As such, I am faster with plain ole iron sights than such optics.

[jaxman7]

I am a fan of a fixed fsb. Yet I do like the ability to flip up a rear sight and peep through to make the dot appear smaller and more crisp for longer shots. Hard to do that with a fixed front sight.

-Jax

[chungdae]

When I first got the T1 2 MOS I noticed a "tail" after about a minute that tail went away. Maybe it was my eyes adjusting but every time I look at the T1 for the first time I see the tail

[Hmac]

Focus on the target, not on the dot.

[SpankMonkey]

Focus on the target, not on the dot.

That does not help when you have astigmatism in one or both eyes. Shooting 8" plates at 100 or a 12" plates at 300 sucks with astigmatism, you need to focus to place the dot over the plate.

[montrala]

That does not help when you have astigmatism in one or both eyes. Shooting 8" plates at 100 or a 12" plates at 300 sucks with astigmatism, you need to focus to place the dot over the plate.

Actually it does help. I have strong astigmatism in both eyes and focusing on target strongly reduce flare/comet on red dot. Also flare/comet effect seem to be much less in natural light, than it is indoors with artificial light. Getting bigger dot (for eg. 4MOA version instead of 2MOA) helps and setting brightness lower helps a lot as well.

[PatrioticDisorder]

I'm pretty sure PRK/LASIK would eliminate the problem.