Red dot with astigmatism?

[Glock23SD]

Would you mount a red dot optic on your firearm if you have astigmatism? I have astigmatism but my overall vision is not that bad so I don't need to wear glasses all the time. I only put them on at night while driving long distance, but even without my glasses, at night, i'll still be fine. But with astigmatism, I need to wear my glasses in order to see the "dot" but I rarely wear my glasses! And since I don't regularly wear glasses, would mounting a red dot optic be pointless? Without my glasses, the dot is jacked up and is blurred.

[andrewak47]

I have astigmatism but I have Holosun on my ar15 and my Glock 19. I have no problems. I wear contacts and glasses. No problem. Without my contacts or my glasses, I can maybe hit a whale.

[Glock23SD]

I have astigmatism but I have Holosun on my ar15 and my Glock 19. I have no problems. I wear contacts and glasses. No problem. Without my contacts or my glasses, I can maybe hit a whale.

I have the Holosun HE507K X2 on my Glock 23 and before that, I have the HE407K X2 with the 6 MOA dot. Without my glasses, I can still see the dot but it's just a blurry dot and not clear with solid lines. But if I point the dot on my target, I'm pretty sure I'll still hit it even with the blurry dot. Only one way to find out is to go to the range and test it out without my glasses.

[Peahi2]

I have astigmatism and on my optics the dot is a sparkle. Red or green, same thing. I will have to pull them out and take a look. Rmr/SRO/509T.

EDIT: Yeah, brought out all 3 pistol sights. Definitely a sparkle. Damn, my eyes are going downhill fast. So sad, and I love shooting iron sights on my 1911s. Maybe I'll put a TA44 Acog on a pistol, at least those aren't affected by astigmatism lol.

This is how I feel about my eyes

[dousan]

I got astigmatism; it's not that bad. Don't look at the dot. Some are a bit blurry or sharp (like a slash). I zero off a point of that slash, and it's good to go.

t1, 509t, 508, rmr, exps3 holographic

[Munny$hot]

Look through your BUIS and RDS will be round and clear without corrective lenses. Another option is a etched reticle or prism sight.

[Xplosiv3]

To be fair, I haven't met somebody who actually sees a perfectly circular red dot through a red dot sight. Everybody has some level of astigmatism even if you have 20/20 vision. Some just have it bad enough to where they have to wear special glasses and it literally causes streaks of lines that completely go across the entire sight window and outside of it also.

You just have to decide if the star/fuzzy shape you see instead of the dot spreads out bad enough to where it will completely cover a black circle target at 100 yards and wont let you aim at the bullseye. (IE, if the red dot is supposed to be 3moa, but you see a 8moa star shape instead due to your "astigmatism".)

Some red dot optics are crisper than others. My $80 Sig Romeo MSR has a crisper dot than a Trijicon MRO or RMR.

Polymer lens red dots refract less light than a glass lens red dot also.

[xounlistedxox]

I too have astigmatism, in both eyes. All my RDO from different brands appear like a splotch. This includes Aimpoint, US Optics, Leupold, Bushnell, Nikon, Shield & Primary Arms.
That said, I still shoot with them really well. My splotches look fairly similar, so I zero them based on a certain part of that shape. It does help to use the lowest setting you can based on the lighting of your environment.

I have been reading that Prism sights may be a better solution for those of us with astigmatism and may check one out.

[RAMCLAP]

They look like starbursts to me. It's the same sized dot. It just looks like a starburst instead of a dot so no big deal. Interestingly, when I see one on camera it is a regular dot.

[tacticalcity]

Not only do I have it, but I also had Lasik surgery...and star bursting of bright lights is a side effect (though it reduces drastically over time but so does the effectiveness of the surgery as our eyes are always changing). I do fine with red dots. Yes they starburst a little bit. If they do so too much I just dial down the intensity of the dot's brightness and it works just fine. While everyone is different, I always just assumed the people that complained about this were just doing it wrong. I assumed they had the dot dialed up to 3 or 4 times the brightness it should be at. Which even then, it's not intrusive. Certainly not worth complaining about. But maybe they see something I don't. No way to know...I'm not in their head.

[DRoberts12345]

If you need glasses wouldn’t you be wearing them while shooting? I wear mine all the time

[MongooseV8]

Try a green dot there is much less distortion

[Munny$hot]

Astigmatism is caused from the curvature of the eye and regular glasses don't correct it. Certain prescription can be filled with your lever of Astigmatism, also if you're far sighted, you may not need correct lenes for shooting vs regular eye pro.

[Ki6vsm]

If you need glasses wouldn’t you be wearing them while shooting? I wear mine all the time

Should be. And good for you. I can't imagine why someone would take off their prescription lenses to shoot.

Astigmatism is caused from the curvature of the eye and regular glasses don't correct it. Certain prescription can be filled with your lever of Astigmatism, also if you're far sighted, you may not need correct lenes for shooting vs regular eye pro.

^^^ Good words. Get prescription glasses if you have bothersome astigmatism.

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[brassburnz]

I have a Holosun 507c red dot on a Glock 17. Without my glasses, I can see the 32moa circle better than the 2 moa dot. The circle distorts a little less. The dot gets distorted sideways, either by itself or with the circle. I'll have to try the green dot to see if it's any better.

I usually shoot with my glasses and I can see the dot just fine. Usually. I use Ultradot 1" tubes on my other pistols. The dot is much sharper in the enclosed tube. When my eyes get tired, the dot grows a tail like a comet.