I have always had trouble with red dots flaring without my glasses. Aimpoint was the worst.

I looked through one with a killflash and the flare went away. I can also use the aperture on a rear sight and it does the same.

Does it work for you?

In my experience, it does help a little on my Comp M4s. On AR15.com, this was discussed and it seems that it helps some, while it does nothing for others. Looking through a small aperture (on the rear sight) is the most effective method of reducing/eliminating the effects of astigmatism on a Red Dot sight.

Issues with astigmatism is one area where the EoTech was better than Aimpoint. I looked through my buddies EoTech and the presentation was very clear and sharp.

quote:

Originally posted by mo4040:
Issues with astigmatism is one area where the EoTech was better than Aimpoint. I looked through my buddies EoTech and the presentation was very clear and sharp.

I'm the opposite, the EOTech is a giant fuzzy caterpillar for me.

The other thing that helps is shifting your focus to the target. Harder to do when staring at a wall 20ft away at home or in the gun store, but for me the dots tighten up and regain their round shape a lot more when actually focusing on the target and not looking at the dot to see what shape it is.

I looked through a Sig dot a few years back that had the EOTech reticle and it was nice and sharp. It wasn't a holograph sight, still the same Aimpoint Micro style, just with the 65MOA circle and 1MOA dot.

quote:

Originally posted by Rustpot:
The other thing that helps is shifting your focus to the target.

Interesting you mention that. I have been using Aimpoint sights on average of a couple of times a month for extensive drills for many years now, and whenever I read about the effects of astigmatism that many people complain about, I thought, “Man, I’m glad I don’t have that.”

After reading about how common it is, however, a short time ago I decided to really focus on my Aimpoint dots and surprise, surprise: They’re not perfectly sharp for me either. My astigmatism is obviously not nearly as bad as for many people, but I would have never noticed it if I hadn’t made the effort to see it. When shooting at speed normally or even when taking a long distance precision shot, it’s not something I expect to see and therefore don’t. I always advise my students who have Aimpoints or similar sights on their rifles to focus on the target rather than the reticle just as they would in a gunfight, and this seems to be another reason to do so.

Exactly.

Target focus. Not dot focus. Both eyes open, both focusing on the target, with the red dot floating in between your eye and the target.

You should be doing that with your red dots anyway, but because most shooters are used to focusing on the front sight with iron sights, this may take some practice to get the hang of. However, most folks take to it easily, once they concentrate on it.

I have astigmatism in my right (dominant) eye, but it doesn't matter one bit when shooting with a red dot and properly focusing on the target.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Exactly.

Target focus. Not dot focus. Both eyes open, both focusing on the target, with the red dot floating in between your eye and the target.

You should be doing that with your red dots anyway, but because most shooters are used to focusing on the front sight with iron sights, this may take some practice to get the hang of. However, most folks take to it easily, once they concentrate on it.

I have astigmatism in my right (dominant) eye, but it doesn't matter one bit when shooting with a red dot and properly focusing on the target.

My right eye, which thankfully is not my dominant eye, has a terrible astigmatism where an Aimpoint is the cluster of grapes/starburst. Nothing makes it great, and front sight posts look bent when using iron sights, the rear usually looks more oblong/oval.

But yes, target focus 100%. I think it's a bigger problem with pistol red dots and why people don't like them. All of the complaints with the RMR go away for me as soon as I realized what I was doing and shifted to a target-focus - the dot becomes so much faster and easier to use, it's just a bit trippy for me; to be shooting a pistol and not having your eyes focus at your hands.

But like I mentioned, it's difficult at shorter distances, so when you look at/through a dot at the gun store or at home you're generally not focusing more than 20ft out, or worse you're using a blank wall and your eyes just want to focus on the dot and all of the imperfections become apparent.

Greater eye relief may be your friend.

The outer ring on my Eotech looks, to me, like red-tailed fireflies, swarming in a tight circle.
I moved it out over the barrel nut area so the 'fireflies' are out of focus and blend together into a more stable ring.

Cataract surgery cured my previous issues with red dots.