I figured I would step up to a high end RDS and got an Aimpoint C3 this weekend.
So far I am very disappointed. The dot looks more like a 4 point star than a dot. It looks even worse when coupled with my magnifier.
I shot it today and it was a blast AT CQB but grouped badly with the magnifier. With the magnifier I see 3 dots that form a canted hash. It makes it hard to pick a fine aiming point.
The thing that throws me is that my SPOT, a cheap, older Burris, a Burris Fastfire and my Millett zoom dot all look round to me. The Aimpoint looks like a star both right and left handed.
For grins, I tried my magnifier behind all of my other RDS’s and the SPOT is the only other one that doesn’t look good with a magnfier.
Did I get a bad Aimpoint or is there something with their technology that I would have trouble seeing a round dot when I don’t with other sights?
My last vision check showed I had 20-10 vision, although it has been several years.
I’ll call Aimpoint tomorrow to see what they say, but was curious to see what others had to say. If I don’t get this figured out, the Aimpoint will likely go up for sale and I’ll go back to the Millett.
You just hit the nail on the head as to why I had to resist every urge in my being to go for an Aimpoint instead of the Trijicon TX30.
I’ve been hesitant to get the T-1, for your above mentioned reasons.
The only thing I could say is it could be the brightness level being cranked up too high in relation to the lighting conditions. I’ve noticed the higher the level of brightness on RDS, the more “reticle bleed” you’ll get.
Best of luck. Hopefully you can get it sorted out.
Are you sure you don’t have astigmatism? I do and all of my aimpoints bloom when I don’t correct for it. When I have my contacts in they all tighten up to a small dot. Also, when I look at the dot through the small aperture in my BUIS, the bloom goes away. I do not use my aimpoints for precision shooting.
Are you focusing on the target, looking past the aimpoint with both eyes, or are you focusing on the dot itself? Remember you want to look past the optic, much like if you hold your index finger a few inches in front of your dominant eye, while focusing on and reading the text on the screen.
I don’t have any experience with the magnifier, though.
I just got back from an eye exam and I have no astigmatism or any other issue. I had another officer look at the sight and he said it was a clean, pin point dot. He was also able to see it at one setting lower than I could.
I guess Aimpoint technology and I don’t agree. I wish it was a problem with the scope so I could get all my money back.
[i]The dot in my Aimpoint sight doesn’t look round. Is it defective?
If your dot does not appear to be perfectly round, the distortion is probably caused by the way that your eye perceives the dot, rather than by some mechanical defect. Due to differences in the lenses in different individuals' eyes, round objects that subtend areas near 3 minutes of angle may appear distorted in a variety of ways depending on the individual and other environmental influences. Inexpensive red dot sights sometimes have manufacturing defects that can cause the dot to be an odd shape.
A simple test that can be easily performed will allow you to determine the cause of the apparent distortion:
[b]*[/b] Turn the sight on and look through as you normally would. (This test is easiest when the sight is not mounted on a firearm, but can be performed with the sight mounted as well. Just make sure that the firearm is unloaded and pointed in a safe direction.)
[b]*[/b] While continuing to look through the sight, roll the sight on its optical axis.
[b]*[/b] If the dot's irregularities seem to revolve around the center of the dot like the spokes of a wheel, there is a mechanical defect causing the distortion.
[b]*[/b] If the dot does not roll with the sight, the distortion is caused in the way your eye perceives the dot. This is not to say that you don't have good vision. You can see clearly and still see a distortion in objects this small.
This effect is less pronounced in sights with larger dots. More people will see the dot in a sight with a 10 minute-of-angle dot as being perfectly round than will be able to see a 3 MOA dot as round.
