Vortex Spitfire prismatic optic

[Noleshooter]

Greetings all: I don't post much here but I read the forum a lot and have learned quite a bit from the knowledge base of the members. I have an odd situation I hope someone here has some insight on.

I'm looking for experience with the vortex spitfire optic, specifically from someone with astigmatisms or who has had corrective surgery to fix their eyesight.

TL : DR- I've had PRK surgery but still get the starburst affect on red dots. Has anyone with astigmatisms or corrective surgery used prismatic sights with success?


Background: A couple years ago I had PRK surgery to fix my eyes (about 20/400 in both with astigmatisms) and I have to say the experience is life changing. With iron sights my shooting instantly improved over contacts. However, I've recently began shooting ARs a bit more and am having trouble with red dot optics.

I first picked up a Lucid HD7 and instantly noticed that I saw a starburst effect in the dots much like this:



It wasn't so bad I couldn't use the optic, but it was certainly distracting at times. If I squint it gets better and in certain lighting conditions I don't notice it. However, in the dark, or a dark background there is no precision in the dots. As it turned out the HD7 I got took a crap in two distinct ways (it would turn off and on with recoil, then fogged completely on the inside after rain) very quickly and I was not satisfied with the response I received from Lucid (they couldn't recreate the problem and sent it back to me despite pictures I sent).

I've recently picked up an Aimpoint PRO and on all but the lowest of settings I get a bad starburst effect on the dot. My eye surgeon has checked my eyes twice now for astigmatisms and he indicates that I have just the slightest amount and if I wasn't specifically asking about it he wouldn't even mention it to a patient at that level. As far as I can tell he's quite competent and I have no reason to doubt him on this. I see no fuzziness or other indications of an astigmatism that I used to have. As I've read more I've learned that astigmatisms are a bit more complicated than a simple number and can be difficult to fix completely.

I've done two of the astigmatism tests (take a picture of the dot / rotate the optic to see if the lines in the starburst move) and in both cases the results are consistent with an astigmatism. If I take a picture the dot looks fine and when I rotate the optic the lines do not move. Vortex is now selling a prismatic sight called the spitfire and from what I've read this does not have the effect on eyes with astigmatism that red dots do. I'd hate to give up on aimpoint for a cheaper Chinese optic, but if it fixes this issue I'll have to consider it.


Questions:

Has anyone else who has had corrective surgery still had problems with red dot sights?

Has anyone had significant experience with the Spitfire and astigmatisms or post-corrective surgery?



Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer.

[ranger]

To counter the effects of age and eyesight changes, I wear contacts setup for where my right eye focuses on front pistol sight and my left eye focuses on distance. I no longer get a crisp red dot anymore of any of my red dots or my EOTECHs. I am also interested in seeing if a prismatic scope will be more defined that a traditional red dot. I read someone state that he finds the new RMR more defined but I looked through one of those recently and it was a starburst for me, also.

[Archimagirus]

I had LASIK over a decade ago. I have not had it out to the range yet, but the Spitfire solved all of the problems I had with red dots up to this point. I figured out an etched reticle was going to be solution when I mounted my first illuminated variable power scope. Those reticles did not provide the blooming or figure 8 effect that an Aimpoint or EOTech caused. My PRO had a 2 MOA reticle, while the Spitfire has a 3 MOA reticle on the 1x version, it was so tiny, I could not find it initially until I turned the illumination on. I think any kind of sight with an etched reticle will at least help, if not eliminate the problem. I could never hit anything with Aimpoint, I am excited to get to test out my Spitfire.

[Noleshooter]

Ranger- My eyesight is better than 20/20 now, but the affects of an astigmatism (what causes the starburst affect) are different than nearsightedness. However, I don't have a significant astigmatism anymore (at least according to my doc) so I don't understand why I still have this affect.

Codisimo- I'm interested to hear your report after shooting it in more environments.

[MikeyC]

I had PRK 16 years ago. My EOTech sight is a little fuzzy, but not enough to cause any real issues.

[LHS]

I've got an astigmatism, and I get aimpoint bloom. It's not bad enough to hinder my shooting at close range, but it can make zeroing at 100 somewhat dicey. Magnifiers make it much worse (the 2MOA dot looks like Mickey Mouse through a 3x mag). I found that viewing the dot through the small aperture rear iron sight helps control bloom quite well. I haven't tried the prismatic sights yet, though.