Eye problems and RDS

[austinN4]

The gun shop idea is the one that makes the most sense, ..........................

And finding a M4C member who is willing to let you try their's at the range makes even more sense. You could post a query and see what happens. Your location doesn't show in your profile, but, for example, if you were in central Texas I could let let you try my H-1 at the range.

[SomeOtherGuy]

Finding a way to try one out is the best advice. I seem to have an astigmatism because any RDS, including several different Aimpoints, looks like an amoeba to me in most lighting conditions. I'm keeping an H1 and a Strikefire for certain applications but moving away from RDS on most of my guns, either to conventional optics (including an ACOG and a 1-4x) or to just irons, which work well for me. YMMV and this is not universal advice, but I think there are some people for whom the RDS just does not work well, including me.

[uwe1]

I have a slight uncorrected astigmatism in my dominant eye and I have found that I prefer the 2 MOA size dots (Comp ML3) for more precise shooting, but the 4 MOA H1s work just fine.

If you care, you can get some very precise shooting in if you put the focused part of the dot at the same place every time. For example, my astig. causes me to have a decently focused dot with a tail trailing upwards to the right. If I consistently align the focused part of the dot to whatever target I'm looking at, I can manage some good sized groups.

[uwe1]

The Micros are great for size and weight, but I find that the larger tube models have a "cleaner" dot to my repeatedly scratched and scarred eyes.

Have you found any difference between the 2 MOA dots versus the 4 MOA dots in the longer tubes?

Any experience shooting with the Aimpoint Killflash? I received one when I purchased my CompML3 from the EE and found that it cleans up the dot a bit when I tried it indoors. However, I never tried shooting with it because I thought that shooting through the honeycomb pattern would drive me nuts.

In theory, the Killflash should reduce the effects of astigmatism because of the pinhole effect.

EDIT: Disregard the info on the Killflash, it's flat out wrong.

[Striker]

Great responses. Thank you everyone. Exactly why I came here to ask the question. The Killflash looks interesting.

[militarymoron]

the killflash doesn't do anything as it's not between the eye and the dot. for the pinhole effect to work, the pinhole has to be between the eye and what you're looking at.
flipping up the rear sight and looking through the small aperture at the dot is the best way to get a nice, defined dot if you have bad eyesight or astigmatism (i have both). i zero/sight in my RDS while looking through the rear sight, then flip it down under normal use. for what i use it for, i have not detected any difference in POI.
as F2S said, even a bad dot will 'work' depending on the distance you're using it at. just place the dot/star/amoeba on the target.

[uwe1]

the killflash doesn't do anything as it's not between the eye and the dot. for the pinhole effect to work, the pinhole has to be between the eye and what you're looking at.
flipping up the rear sight and looking through the small aperture at the dot is the best way to get a nice, defined dot if you have bad eyesight or astigmatism (i have both). i zero/sight in my RDS while looking through the rear sight, then flip it down under normal use. for what i use it for, i have not detected any difference in POI.
as F2S said, even a bad dot will 'work' depending on the distance you're using it at. just place the dot/star/amoeba on the target.

My mistake! Brain fart on the dot being behind the Killflash.

I only tried the Killflash briefly indoors (6 months ago), and I thought it cleaned up the dot a bit. However my astig. isn't very bad so it could have been a minor artifactual difference not attributable to the pinhole effect at all. I need to go dig my Killflash out and reverify what the heck I saw.

[TOMTOM]

Yes it does. Thank you. If I can ask, what if you shoot it indoors under low light conditions? Does it bother you then? Also, did you end up buying an Aimpoint or Eotech as well?

I have limited range time shooting indoors, so i can't help very much, sorry.

To answer your second question, I ended up buying Aimpoints: an H1 and an M4.

[uwe1]

Ok, my apologies for posting f'ed up info in this thread. The Killflash does nothing to clean up the dot. I must not have been paying much attention when I was messing around with it. Was too excited to play with the CompML3.

In fact, I tried playing with the Killflash as a pinhole, between the RDS and the eye, and it does a pretty lousy job of it.

[esskay]

Folks have pretty much covered all the ground here.

I would just add one more observation -- depending on your eyesight, you can't necessary draw conclusions from one red dot sight to another, even from the same manufacturer. For example, my eyes perceive my trusty old Aimpoint Comp M2 OK, but the T-1 is a smeared comet. My Eotechs sometimes streak. With a magnifier behind them, they get worse.

So IME, the best bet is to get behind the specific models that you're considering to see how they look to you.