7 Best Red Dot For Astigmatism | Top Rated Choice 2024

If you’ve ever wondered why the red dots you buy have a blurry reticle, or the dot is irregularly shaped or has a double dot, it may be because you have an astigmatism. Now chances are this is not a surprise to you, and you did, in fact, come to this great article because you either know or think you have an astigmatism and still want to use a red dot. Welcome!

We’re going to go through in this article our recommendations to what red dot sight may work best for your vision. The tricky thing is that not all astigmatisms are the same, so we can’t say that there is one single go-to red dot for astigmatism. Luckily, there are plenty of choices of red dots for astigmatism, and you have good reticle choices, low light options

At the risk of doing too much preamble, I’m first going to go into how I wanted to go about this article and the different routes that people can take to address their astigmatism. 

My Approach To This Article

I’ve read a lot of the articles that are already online about this topic, and I noticed that all of them seem to quickly dive into reviews on LPVOs and other things that are definitely not red dots. I get it, because there are only so many red dot sights out there that are good for astigmatism and you can get a lot more great options if you broaden your circle a little bit.

For the purposes of this article I’m going to assume that you are looking for a red dot sight because you want a red dot sight (crazy, right?), and while I will recommend a couple options that aren’t technically red dots, they provide a virtually identical shooting experience and are similar in size, weight, and profile.

I’m also going to assume that you already know what astigmatism is. If you’re not sure whether you have it then there are already plenty of better resources online for you to find out than I could write, so I’m going to focus on the different optics available to you.

Ways To Address Astigmatism

As I mentioned above, not all astigmatisms behave the same way, and the ways that shooters with astigmatism experience it are different. A mild astigmatism may require no action whatsoever, while a severe one may be extremely difficult to address. 

Sometimes, the only way to go is with different types of rifle scopes, but something as simple as green illumination may solve the problem as well.

Holographic Sights

While it’s certainly not universal, a lot of people claim holographic sights show up nice and clear in their vision even when the center dot in a reflex sight is a double dot or it seems like you have blurred vision when you look at it.

I consider a holographic sight a red dot sight, though some people might dispute that definition. There are two types of red dots: reflex sights and holographic sights, and the reason holographic optics work better is because of the way the reticle is displayed. Not sure it’s worth getting into the technical details here, but the science behind the two types is different.

Prism Scopes

Prism sights are another good option, as you can get them at 1x magnification just like a reflex sight would be or you can get prism optics with a low amount of magnification like 3x or 4x. These can deviate a lot from a reflex sight so I’ve made sure to only include options in this list that are at 1x magnification and largely mimic the functionality of a red dot.

Prismatic sights can be noticeably heavier and bulkier than a red dot, so I’ve made sure to only recommend ones that are fairly close in size and weight to what you’d get from a red dot. A prism sight will not have the same unlimited eye relief as a red dot, but since your head should be positioned in the same place every time you shoot, this isn’t that big of a deal.

With a 1x prism optic, you aren’t as locked into a single focal point (the exact distance your eye needs to be from the lens) as you are with other types of scopes with higher magnification. The lack of a single focal point means that you can enjoy some flexibility in eye positioning in relation to the sight.

Parallax performance should be the same as you’d enjoy with a red dot, and image quality should actually be a step-up in most cases.

Green Illumination

A fairly simple way that a lot of people have addressed their astigmatism is by simply using a green dot instead of a red dot. A lot of different red dot sights have a green option, so you have a lot to choose from if this is all you need for a fix. 

Now, green does require more battery power to maintain brightness, so you won’t get the same battery life as you would with a red dot, but for most people that’s only a problem if you aren’t able to keep a spare handy or you use it for an extended period of time.

Bigger Dot

The simplest solution that works for some folks is just to get a reflex sight with a bigger dot. A 2 MOA red dot can be a lot more smudged or disfigured than a 6 MOA red dot in some situations. I’m not going to claim to understand why, but that is a solution that enough people have mentioned that it seems to have some veracity to it.

Unfortunately, the size of the dot is pretty well baked into the cake once you’ve bought your red dot. Some red dot sights will give you multiple reticle options but even in those cases the middle dot usually doesn’t get bigger or smaller. So to make this solution work you may still need to purchase a new red dot sight.

Alrighty, enough jabbering, let’s get into our recommendations.

1. Holosun HS510C

At first glance, there’s not a lot about the HS510C that make it seem like it would be especially good for astigmatism, but when you look closer there are a few things that can make a big difference.

First, it has some phenomenal anti reflective coatings that work both behind and in front of the red dot image, and that can help a lot. Second, it has a rapid target acquisition reticle that includes a 2 MOA red dot aiming point but also a 65 MOA circle, and you can toggle off the dot or the circle if it works better. 

Not only that, but in addition to the manual brightness settings, it also has an automatic adjustment setting so you’re less likely to get those bright light rays from the sight being too bright. Between the reticle options, the automatic brightness, and the coatings, this is an option that a lot of astigmatism shooters have had success with.

2. Best Pistol Red Dot Version: HS507C

The HS507C is just a miniature version of the HS510C that is designed for handguns, and it’s almost hands down the best pistol red dot for astigmatism. It has the same automatic brightness adjustment, reticle design (though the circle is 32 MOA instead of 65 MOA), and the same coatings. 

3. EOTECH 512 Holographic Weapon Sight

The EOTECH 512 is a holographic red dot. The different technology solves the blurry vision problem for a lot of people with astigmatism. It may not solve the problem for someone with severe astigmatism, but it seems to help a lot of different folks. 

You’ve got a similar sight picture to the Holosun when it comes to the reticle, only here you’ve got a 1 MOA red dot and a 68 MOA circle. 20 brightness settings and a weaver mounting system make it compatible and flexible. It’s fairly easy with the 512 to do a lower 1/3 co-witness with iron sights, but you should also be able to do absolute if you want.

The real disadvantage with the 512 is how large and heavy it is. It’s powered by two AA batteries, which, compared to a single CR2032 battery, is a lot of space and weight to take up. The reticle on this makes it best for close range shots, and not so much for medium range shooting applications, though it certainly could be used in those cases.

4. Vortex Optics Spitfire

Here is our first prism option in the list. You can get the Vortex SpitFire with more than 1x magnification, but since you can also get it in 1x, that’s what I’m considering for inclusion in this list. There are a couple of great advantages that a prism has over a red dot sight. Number one is that you can have a glass etched reticle on a prism optic.

An etched glass reticle means that in good lighting you don’t need to rely on illumination at all, which completely defeats the problem of astigmatism in a lot of situations. When you do need illumination, you get the choice of either red or green illumination, whichever is better for your vision. 

You make surprisingly few sacrifices by going with a prism scope like the Vortex Spitfire. One of them is that you no longer have unlimited eye relief, so you can’t mount it 10 inches up the handguard if that’s where you want it for some reason. You’ll need to mount it far enough back that you can get in the relief range, which is 3.8 inches.

Field of view is competitive with other options, and it can absolutely accommodate both-eyes-open shooting.

5. Trijicon MRO Green Dot Reflex Sight

The Trijicon MRO is a fantastic red dot sight overall, but to be honest the only real reason it’s on this list is as a stand-in for all the green dot sights out there. The price on the MRO is a little hard to justify for what it is, but if you go with it I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

Since some shooters have reported that their astigmatism issues go away with a green dot instead of a red dot, I wanted to make sure we had at least one option on here and the MRO is a premium choice. You’ve got the brightness settings you need, a 2 MOA dot that is green, you can use well in low light, with right or left eye, and it has unlimited relief.

No fiber optics for illumination here, nor any tools for range estimation, but you get a nice, crisp dot for precision shots and good battery life considering that green takes more juice than red. You also get elevation adjustments and it’s fairly light weight, which is good for a sight but at the same time it won’t help as much with recoil as a heavier sight.

6. Vortex Optics Venom Red Dot

The Vortex Venom is a fairly basic red dot, but i t’s also tiny, which makes it good for either a handgun or a rifle. I’m including it on this list because you can get it with a 6 MOA red dot that is much easier to see and can give you fast target acquisition compared to a smaller dot, especially if you have astigmatism.

Again, having a larger dot may not make a big difference, but it gives you the same windage and elevation adjustments you get everywhere else, an extremely clear sight window, the ability to co-witness with iron sights or a peep sight, and a large red dot image projected onto fully multi-coated lenses that is easy to see and effective.

If you want a super light sight that has a nice big, bright reticle, then the Venom is a good choice. It’s so much smaller than almost any of the other sights on this list besides the HS507C that it’s hard to believe they do essentially the same thing. Just something about red dots that they are so flexible.

7. Primary Arms SLx 1x MicroPrism

In keeping with my hope to give you options that look and feel like a red dot, I present to you the Primary Arms SLx 1x MicroPrism. I have to admit, this little guy is amazing. It gives you night vision compatibility, an incredibly generous range of usable eye relief between 2” and 6”, wide field of view, and you get the Primary Arms ACSS Cyclops G2 Reticle.

The Cyclops reticle starts with a chevron & horseshoe combo at the center, then gives you four horizontal lines below that you can use for ranging. The Cyclops reticle is a pretty awesome feature, but it honestly takes a long time to master using it, so it is not for the faint of heart. 

Granted, if you don’t want to learn how to use all the features of the reticle, you can just use the center like any other red dot. 

Buying Guide 

Reticle Design

You’d be forgiven for thinking that a red dot sight would have a simple...red dot sight as a reticle, and that’s true of even some of the best red dot sights, but not all of them. The best red dot sight that I’ve ever used is the HS510C, which has a circle around the dot. I found that helped me with fast target acquisition without disrupting my focal point.

When you’re looking at a red dot, astigmatism can make the reticle even more important. You need it to be light enough that you can see it, but with enough brightness settings that you’ll be fine in low light as well.

Battery Life

This is probably not a shock, but red dot sights with good battery life are better than red dots with poor battery life. It can be hard to compare apples to apples between different red dot sights, but the best red dot sights will give you thousands of hours of battery life at the lower brightness settings and at least a few hundred hours at the higher brightness settings.

Final Thoughts

A lot of corrective lenses can take care of astigmatisms and make it a non-issue. Even something besides prescription lenses or contact lenses can help like polarized glasses. If you’re not liking the red dot sight options available to you or none of them are working with your astigmatism, you can look at either glasses or contacts that can help.

Polarized glasses are free to try on at most stores so you can always give them a shot and see how they work. If you don’t want to go that route, I’d encourage you to try out some of the options that we have listed above. As always, make sure to do plenty of research to make sure that the red dot sight you’re looking at does what you want it to do.

When you’re looking at red dots for astigmatism, other important things like low light performance, reticle design, and form factor are just a few things that also matter with a red dot sight. Also consider whether you want a reflex red dot sight, holographic sight, prism optic, or even a low power variable optic. Any of them might meet your needs.