Hey Freedom Gorillas, if you are reading this article then chances are you are looking at your pistol or rifle red dot sight and it’s blurry in some way shape or form. Well in this guide we are going to explain why that is and what you can do about it.
One of the most common questions we get asked is “why is my red dot blurry”. By blurry we mean the dot is not a crisp perfect circle like it appears in images and photos online. Blurry can also mean it looks like a starburst, or that you see double, or a number of other distortions on the dot itself.
To break it down as simply as we can, we are going to categorize it into 3 different reasons and what you can do about it.
- Reason #1: It’s blurry because of astigmatism (most common reason 90%+)
- Reason #2: it’s blurry because of the manufacturing process (rare - happens 5% of the time)
- Reason #3: it’s blurry because it’s defective (rare - happens 5% of the time)
Ok so let's get right into it:
Reason #1 why your red dot is blurry is because of astigmatism with your eyes.
Even if you have perfect eyesight, don’t wear glasses, and have never been to an eye doctor, chances are you still have some form of astigmatism. I didn’t even know what astigmatism was until I got my first red dot sight.
Astigmatism is what causes light to “bloom” and appear to have “rays” coming from the source.
I am not a scientist or an eye expert but my guess is that almost everyone on earth has some form of astigmatism. And what happens, is that for many first time red dot owners, they experience it for the first time when looking at their first red dot sight.
I’ll never forget, when I was young (12 yrs old) I bought a cheap BSA red dot from some magazine, and when I got it, the dot was blurry. I thought it was blurry because I bought a cheap-o red dot and thought it was junk. Fast forward 16 years later and I bought my first “real red dot” and the first thing I noticed was the reticle was just as blurry as my cheap BSA red dot!
It was at this moment I started to investigate and realized this was because of astigmatism, and because of the design of red dot sights. The way a red dot projects the laser beam onto the glass and then reflects it towards your eye, creates a lot of light that is coming to your eye.
Our eyes are not perfect and because of that we see a blurry, startbursty dot and not a perfect crisp circle.
The level of blurriness can depend on the person, some people will have minimal astigmatism, some will have a lot, however I believe that almost no one sees a perfect crisp dot.
How to fix red dot astigmatism
Ok so if you have a red dot sight and are 99% sure it’s blurry due to astigmatism with your eyes what are you supposed to do about it? Is it something that can be fixed? The short answer is no, it can’t be fixed, but there are some things you can do, and some alternative optics you can try.
Astigmatism Solution #1: Keeping your red or green dot sight.
Ok so if you really like your rifle or pistol red dot or green dot and want to keep it, here are some things to be aware of.
Solution #1: The “startbursty-ness” of your red or green dot is a combination of your level of astigmatism, the brightness level of the red or green dot, and the lighting condition of your environment.
So let's assume you have a common level of astigmatism. If you are indoors in a medium light setting, and you have the brightness turned up quite high on your red dot, then the starburst effect will be high, if you turn the brightness down, it should make it a little less blurry.
Solution #2: Another way to fix the starburst is to go outside in the sun or even point the red dot out into bright daylight. Even if the brightness is high on your red dot, and you go outside in the sun, or point outside into the sunlight, it makes the dot appear crisper. I don’t know the exact science behind it, but it must have something to do with light rays and your eye.
Now both of these “solutions” aren’t actually fixing anything, but they are to show you the blurryness or starburst can be managed and adjusted under different lighting settings.
Solution #3: One of the last solutions is to try out a green dot if you have a red dot, or to try out a red dot if you have a green dot. We have heard from some people that a green dot does help with their astigmatism. For us personally we don’t see too much of a difference. We’ve also heard (from fewer people) that when they switched from a green dot to a red dot, the red dot was better for their astigmatism.
The last solution is to try out a different reticle. Some people like the ACSS Vulcan reticle on the Holosun 507C and 509 ACSS Vulcan because the 10 MOA Chevron is thinner lines and they say it helps with their astigmatism. For me personally, I see what they mean but one thing that happens for me is that I usually see two chevrons, it’s still very manageable but goes to show there is no perfect solution.
Solution #4: The last and final solution would be to try a different brand of red dot. Different manufacturers use different emitters and glass. So it could be possible that the blurriness or starburstyness of your current brand of red dot sight may be different then another brand. Personally I’ve looked through MANY different brands and most are very similar. I will say that the Trijicon SRO red dot looked pretty crisp to my eye.
Astigmatism Solution #2: Using alternative optics or sights
Ok so the main reason you're seeing a blurry red dot is because the underlying “projection” technology of red dots causes this to happen with the human eye. It is a fact.
An alternative solution to fix this problem is to get rid of the “red dot” and get either a prism scope, a holographic sight, or just use iron sights.
Solution #1: Prism Scopes. This applies to rifle optics only, but there are optics out there called “prism” scopes which use glass and illuminated reticles. They usually come in varying powers, such as 1x, 2.5x, 3x, or 5x. The technology of these prism scopes is close to that of a rifle scope where it uses scope glass and an etched reticle that gets illuminated.
The benefits of a prism scope are that you will not have the blurriness or starburstyness like a red dot, and you will see a crisp clear reticle. The other benefit is that even if the reticle isn’t illuminated you will still be able to use the reticle - just like you would on a rifle scope.
The downsides to prism scopes are that they have eye relief, like a scope. This means you will need to make sure your head is oriented in the correct position to get a perfectly clear picture.
With prism scopes, the lower the magnification, the better the eye relief will be. So a 1x prism scope will have better (more forgiving) eye relief than a 5x. We have recently looked at the new Primary Arms GLX 1X prism scope, and the eye relief on that was amazing, it was almost non-existent.
Solution #2: Holographic Sights: This also applies to rifle optics only, but a Holographic Sight is very similar to a red dot sight except is uses a different technology to create the “red dot”.
The only two Holographic Sights on the market are made by EOtech and the Vortex UH-1 Huey. Holographic sights, don’t “bounce” the light from the emitter to a piece of glass and then reflect it into your eye. Instead they bounce the beam up and down a bunch of times in front of your eye and this creates a “hologram” that you can see.
The benefit of Holographic sights are that you will see a crisp clear dot and reticle. The other benefit is that the Holographic sights on the market are very durable. They have pieces of glass in the front and rear, and the optic will still function correctly even if those pieces of glass are broken, this is because they are not used to generate the reticle. Another benefit is that Holographic sights usually have a 1 MOA center dot whereas a red dot sight usually has a 2 MOA red dot.
The downsides of the Holographic sights are that they are more expensive than red dots, they are heavier than red dots, and their battery life is significantly shorter. A holographic sight’s battery will last 1,000-1,500 hours on medium settings, whereas a red dots battery life is 25,000 to 50,000 hours. Most Holographic sights take a AA or CR123A battery and the majority of red dot sights take a CR2032 battery.
Solution #3: Use iron sights, for rifles and pistols. So if you really can’t stand the blurryness of your red dot sight and don’t want a prism scope, and don’t want a holographic sight, or if you have a pistol, an alternative solution is to just use iron sights.
There are many versions of irons sights out there, but some have designs that can make aiming a little easier. For example there are Truglo IDOT sights which have a big orange circle on the front sight, and there are hex sights which have diamond like rear and front sights.
We can’t guarantee that these will be as fast as using a red dot, but these are all an upgrade over most standard issue iron sights on pistols.
Reason #2 Your red dot is blurry because of the manufacturing process
Ok so if you want to troubleshoot your blurry red dot, one of the methods you can use is to turn your windage and elevation all the way up and down and all the way right and left.
We have seen with some Holosun pistol red dots that some customers will say the reticle looks all distorted and weird and they’ve identified that it wasn’t related to their astigmatism.
Our genius and customer service Guru Steve figured out that sometimes if you take the windage and elevation dial and turn it all the way to the left and then the right, and all the way up and then down that this sometimes fixes the problem.
We aren’t 100% sure why this happens, but our best guess is that there may be some kind of metal shaving or burr where the emitter lives, and by moving it around in it’s housing that it “cleans” it out.
Reason #3: It’s blurry because it’s defective
The last and final reason why your red dot may be blurry is because it is in fact defective. For the record, we have had many people tell us their reticle was blurry, and we troubleshooted it with them, and they returned it saying it’s defective. When we received it back, it was perfectly normal.
If you’ve tried all the methods above, lowering brightness, using it outdoors, adjusting windage and elevation, and even comparing it to other red dots - either that you own, that your friend owns, or at a local shop or store, and are 100% the blurriness or starburstyness is not due to your astigmatism, or if it is a completely abnormal type of blurriness then it could be possible the optic is defective.
Here at Freedom Gorilla, I would say maybe 1 out of 5 “defective reticle” returns we get are actually defective. Most of the time it is the person's eyes.
Conclusion
I realize there was a lot of information to take in here so we appreciate you reading and hope you found this article helpful.
Our goal here is to help educate and to help you make the right decision for your situation.
If you have any further questions please reach out to us.
Thank you for reading!
