Visionstar FA-6100B

Operator Facing Front Panel

The display sits on the front of the instrument with function keys arranged around it, facing the person operating rather than mounted on the top surface.

One Handed Control Stick

All operations including up and down, right and left, forward and backward, and start are controlled through one control stick using only a single hand.

Two Millimetre Minimum Pupil

Minimum pupil size is 2.0mm, which the manufacturer relates to a broader measurement range than an instrument of this kind would ordinarily manage.

Automatic PD Measurement

Pupillary distance is calculated automatically after measurement, so the figure comes from the instrument and is not taken separately with a rule.

Auto and Manual Focus

Both automatic and manual focusing are described, so an operator can let the instrument focus or take over where a particular patient makes that easier to do.

Spherical and Cylinder Ranges

Spherical runs from minus 20 to plus 20 at a vertex distance of 12, and cylinder from minus 8 to plus 8, each selectable at 0.12 or 0.25 resolution steps.

Keratometry on the BK Variant

Radius of curvature covers 5.0 to 10mm in 0.01mm increments, corneal power 33.75 to 67.50D at an index of 1.337, and corneal diameter 2.0 to 14.0mm in 0.1mm increments.

Chart, Memory and Printer

A follow-up colourful fogging chart system is provided, ten measured values are stored for each eye, and a thermal printer is fitted to the instrument itself.

Operators Working Beside the Patient

A front mounted display can be read without moving position, which matters where an operator stands beside the patient rather than standing directly behind the instrument. It also lets a second person see the reading during training or supervision. Whether that suits any particular consulting room is best judged by standing where the instrument would actually have to stand.

Patients With Small Pupils

A 2.0mm minimum pupil is the figure worth noticing here. Older patients, those on certain medications, and anyone measured within a bright room may all present pupils too small for a less capable instrument to read. Getting a result where another machine returns nothing is not a marginal gain, since the alternative is no objective starting point available at all for them.

Contact Lens Fitting

The BK variant is quite clearly the one to choose here. Radius of curvature from 5.0 to 10mm in 0.01mm increments and corneal diameter from 2.0 to 14.0mm give the corneal figures a fitting depends upon, alongside corneal astigmatism to 8.00D. A practice fitting contact lenses regularly needs all of those, and the plain variant would leave them without any of those corneal figures at all.

Single Operator Working

One handed control of every movement matters where one person runs the whole appointment. With the other hand free for the patient, the chin rest knob or the notes, an operator is not obliged to keep releasing and regripping controls. In a practice where the same person seats the patient and takes the reading, that is felt on every single measurement that is taken.

A Layout You Can Choose

Where three separate bodies share one measurement specification, the layout becomes the whole decision, and that is not a trivial one at all. An operator reads that display dozens of times in a day, and whether it faces them or sits on top of the instrument determines how they stand and how quickly they can work. Choosing on layout is sensible precisely because nothing else about the actual measuring differs at all.

Readings Where Others Fail

Minimum pupil size decides which patients an autorefractor can actually measure at all, and 2.0mm is a genuinely useful figure indeed to have available. For an older caseload, or any practice that cannot dim its consulting room properly, the difference between an instrument which reads a small pupil and one that cannot is the difference between having a starting point and nothing whatever to work from.

Honest About What Differs

This instrument shares its published specification with the other models on that same sheet, and the difference between them is the body itself rather than any measuring capability. Saying so plainly is more useful to a purchaser than implying some distinction the published data does not support, because it directs the decision toward seeing the instruments and then choosing whichever layout suits.

The Visionstar FA-6100B is offered in two variants: the B as an auto refractometer, the BK as an auto refractometer with keratometer. Spherical runs from minus 20 to plus 20 at a vertex distance of 12, cylinder from minus 8 to plus 8, both selectable at 0.12 or 0.25 resolution, with axis across 0 to 180 degrees, pupil distance from 45 to 88mm and a minimum pupil size of 2.0mm. The BK variant adds radius of curvature from 5.0 to 10mm, corneal power from 33.75 to 67.50D and corneal diameter from 2.0 to 14.0mm. A front mounted display with function keys, one handed control stick, automatic PD calculation, fogging chart and thermal printer are fitted. The instrument measures 483 by 268 by 452mm and weighs 16kg.

Two things should be understood before ordering. This model shares its published technical data with the other model numbers on the same sheet, so the difference between them is the body rather than the measuring capability. Separately, the card carries three printing faults: a keratometry heading naming a model not offered, a CRT monitor bullet contradicting the TFT LCD specification, and two garbled rows.

If your operators work beside the patient, your caseload includes small pupils, or you fit contact lenses, speak to Medigear.uk. As a verified medical equipment supplier working across medical, dental, rehabilitation and aquatic therapy settings, the team will confirm which body and which variant suit your consulting room best.