New Red Dot: Eyeball Puke

[Father Goose]

Hmm, my TRS-25 arrived today and I turned it on and took a peek...instead of a fairly clear red dot I see a mess of little dots in a blob pattern. I do wear glasses, so I know my eyes are not perfect. Took them off and on and no difference. Time to visit one of the local shops this weekend to see if this is just the way my eyes perceive red dot sights. Either way, I don't think little Bushnell will work for me. I remember using a different one on a friend's gun and didn't seem to have an issue at all (I think it was possibly a Sightmark on the little M&P15-22). Sad days. Thoughts?

 

PS - I took a pic through the scope with my iPhone and the dot is flawless.

Edited January 10, 2014 by Father Goose

[c.a.willard]

Do you by chance have an astigmatism.  It's a pretty common occurrence for people with an astigmatism to experience this when using a red dot.

[Father Goose]

I wouldn't be surprised if I do. I'll be returning this one and seeing if there are any that do play nicely (local shop has Vortex, Eotech, and Aimpoint). Otherwise, it's scope time.

[broox]

I had to click on this just to see what you meant by "eyeball puke"

[Monkeyman2500]

I have an astigmatism and use a millet red dot without issue. Maybe it got tossed around in shipping.

[Father Goose]

Alright, I think I figured it out. Testing without glasses, the dot looks like a bunch of grapes. With glasses it's as it should be, but since I have smaller frames and lenses, if I drop my head to a certain angle, I get a clear dot and an awful distorted pattern right near it (I thought it was flare, a defect, or just my poor eyes). Proper angle with my glasses and all is well... :clap:. That being said, I may look for a red dot with a better FOV, I knew the TRS was going to be tiny, but it's a bit much.

Edited January 10, 2014 by Father Goose

[Smith]

You have and astigmatism. I really like the Bushnell TRS-25. Great little optic for the money.

[Fourtyfive]

Aimpoint

[Oh Shoot]

Get some other folks to look at it, hopefully someone who owns one before you decide for sure; you read my recent little red dot saga?:

 

http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/topic/74087-vortex-strikefire-broken/

 

- OS

[Ted S.]

Are you focusing on reticule "on" your target or are you focusing on your target "through" the reticule?

Sent from somewhere in the cosmos using magic...and bacon.

[Father Goose]

At the proper angle, with my glasses on, the dot is absolutely fine for this optic. However, 22mm is a little too small to look through for me so I'm going to look at other options.

 

@Smith: Yup, I most likely do.

@Threeeighty: Definitely one of the considerations : )

@Oh Shoot: I've had a few other people look through it that I know, I was having issues with having my head/glasses positioned properly.

@Ted: I'm focusing on the target with both eyes open, not on the dot itself.

 

Thanks all!

Edited January 11, 2014 by Father Goose

[BrasilNuts]

As soon as I saw the title I knew what it was about. I have a pretty bad astigmatism and my Aimpoint is more a little red worm than a red dot.

[Father Goose]

Which Aimpoint do you have and how much does the effect bug you?

[R1100R]

I have two Bushnell' s and they both work great  I love the small dot. I have some jacked up eye sight and wear progressives

Have some one check it out to see if it is defective. 

[Father Goose]

The sight is fine, I was just having issues with split vision regarding my glasses (eye on the very edge of the lens). Looking for a larger diameter tube or going to holographic.

Edited January 11, 2014 by Father Goose

[BrasilNuts]

Which Aimpoint do you have and how much does the effect bug you?

I have a H1 with the 4MOA dot. It's mounted on a M&P 15-22 that I use for Steel Challenge. It doesn't really bug me that much, it's just defiantly not a dot. I center it on the target and pull the trigger and move on.

The targets in Steel Challenge range from 6" at 12-15 yards to 18"x24" at 35 yards so it's not like I use it for precision shooting, but at the same time I can easily keep a golf ball hopping at the plinking range.

I'm not sure what brightness settings your sight has, but try turning it down to the lowest visible setting and see if that helps. Edited January 11, 2014 by BrasilNuts

[BrasilNuts]

Got my Aimpoint out and played with it a bit.

Without my glasses I see this: /
With my glasses I see this: ç

If my dot is 4moa then the / I see is a 8moa and the ç would be about a 6moa.

[Father Goose]

Yeah, the dot on the TRS looked best between 1-3 (to me). Anything above and the "ring of fire" would start showing within the tube and the dot would lose it's clarity.

Edited January 11, 2014 by Father Goose

[Guest BallisticArms]

I have astigmatism in both eyes and i use the vortex strikefire with no problems and its a great optic for the price. I have also seen good things about the vortex sparc as well.

[Jonnin]

what about the windowed type?  They are fragile, though....

[Father Goose]

what about the windowed type?  They are fragile, though....

 

The holographic red dots? In consideration. I've now looked through/played with the Vortex Strikefire, Redfield Counterstrike, Aimpoint PRO, and EOTech XPS2. Trying to decide between the Aimpoint and the EOTech; I like them both fairly equally.

 

UPDATE: I'm actually leaning towards the Leupold AR MOD 1 1.5-4x20 with the Firedot reticle. Not running and gunning with the rifle and seems to be easier on my eyes/head regarding angle. I can always add an RDS down the road.

Edited January 15, 2014 by Father Goose

[Guest carter]

had the same thing happen to me and have slight astigmatism...the only one that looked ok was the eotech and a trijicon all the other aimpoint and what not had about 5-6 small dots i saw

[Emperor_Po]

Same here with the blurry red dot. Have a TRS-25 and it's not bad. Then I got a aim point pro that did better. Sold it and moved to an eotech EXPS2-0 with the 65 moa circle and dot. Much better.

[Reservoir Dog]

I have astigmatism, and have the same issue with holographic sights.  I was unaware that holo sights had that issue when I purchased my first Eotech.  I thought something was wrong with the sight, until I read up on them.  I still run a holo sight, but switched to Aimpoint Micro sights on my rifles........better to have one fuzzy dot, than a fuzzy dot and big fuzzy circle.

[Guest carter]

i had a trijicon rx-30 i believe with an amber dot... and my eyes did perfect with it... having astigmatism your actual eye ball curvature is not normal and perfectly rounded... i think this is why some see a blob of dots like i do and some don't... astigmatism can be corrected to an extent with glasses... i had an old cheapo red dot on my gsg5sd and it was awful... it maybe be also how the dot is transferred to the rectal also... wither it be  an LED or Lazer... but the trijicon was always a lil round single dot... the eotech looked correct too but those always have a always moving look to them from the lazers they use... aimpoint looked like a blob of small dots and did a sight mark...