T1 + 3X Magnifier = terrible dot shape!

[TheDarkOne]

I am very skeptical of the astigmatism claim Aimpoint makes on this issue.

I am an Aimpoint fan. I only own Aimpoint red dot sights. I had an Eotech. I sold it and bought Aimpoints. To me, Aimpoint is the only red dot sight worth trusting. That being said, I have perfect vision. I do not have astigmatism. I suspect the "you must have astigmatism" line is MARKETING. Their product is awesome. But, it is not perfect. So, to counter the complaints, they turn it back on the end user. It is YOU and not our product. I would doubt that many of their products were designed to be used with a magnifier. The magnifier is an after thought to minimize the limitations of a conventional RDS. Over all, it works well. But, the magnifier highlights the beam imperfections that you don't normally see.

I am a laser engineer. I have worked in Electro Optics for years. Aimpoint does some pretty remarkable things with some very small diodes to make the batteries last as long as they do. My suspicion is that the small size of the diode creates a compromise on the beam/dot quality. You can't get something for nothing in physics.

In addition, even though they have Many coatings on their optics, my guess is that the diode is getting reflected internally off the lenses. That is why people are seeing strings of dots. The power of a reflected dot will be real small compared to the primary dot and your eye will still see it. However, when you go outside, the very low power reflected dot can not be seen due to ambient light.

Aimpoint makes rugged sights that last forever on one battery. They make the most user friendly product as well. They just are not perfect.

This is just my opinion.

I agreed with you 100%, but have since sided with Aimpoint on this one for a couple reasons. As I rotate the optic, the streaks don't rotate; I get different streaking patterns depending on what eye I look at it with; A buddy of mine see the streaking, but it is a different shape that what I see; I get the same streaking pattern looking through different Aimpoint optics; ....all of this points to the eye not the optic. Just my 2 cents.

[TheDarkOne]

No the astigmatism claim is real I had the same trouble with my Eotechs. The moa dot looked like 3 in a row at a 45 degree angle. They are not hiding anything or trying to cover up a flaw.
Pat

I get a double image with the green horseshoe ACOG reticule too.

[ASH556]

Sorry to dredge up such an old thread, but this is the best result I got in search. Has anyone come up with a successful fix for the comet tail issue? I've got perfect vision, and the dot is perfect without the magnifier, but the magnifier distorts the dot pretty badly. Here's my mount setup, I don't see a way to get them closer:

[nimdabew]

Learn to deal with it? I get a cluster of about 8 dots when I look through an Aimpoint, but I don't get that with an EOTech. Guess what is sitting on top of my rifle? I have 20/15 vision corrected with lasers as well, and I don't have astigmatism according to their computers, but I still see distortion.