Poor eyesight is a big problem for shooters, particularly for rifle shooters who peer through scopes. Wearers of bifocals or trifocals especially know the challenge of coming up easily and quickly into their scopes to target an animal that might be visible for only brief moments.
Jay Eller, 67, knows the problem firsthand. Like a lot of hunters and competitive shooters who are getting older, his eyesight has changed over the years.
Result: When he shouldered a rifle, he often had to move his head up or down, or closer to the scope, or farther from it, to get his eyes seeing through the correct part of his eyeglasses as he attempted to look through the scope and keep both the crosshairs and target in focus.
The challenge grew more acute about six years ago when he started to shoot rifles competitively.
"I figured there had to be an answer,'' said Eller, a former Twin Cities resident who now lives in Wisconsin.
Consulting an expert in the eyeglass lens business, Eller came up with a product he calls ScopeAid, which he markets through his company, Clemit (www.clemit.com).
A spokesperson for the company contacted me earlier this fall to inquire whether I would like to test a ScopeAid. They asked the right person: I wear blended trifocals, and have long suffered from the same scope-adjustment problems that plagued Eller.
I began by sending my eyeglass prescription to Clemit via e-mail. I also measured my preference for "eye relief,'' or the distance that I'm comfortable keeping my eye from my scope (about 3 inches in my case).
