Visionstar FA-8000

Nine Inch Monitor

A 9 inch TFT LCD is fitted, which the manufacturer relates to a bigger and better monitor with icon display and menus for easier operation and setting.

Two Variants Offered

The A variant is an auto refractometer only and the K variant adds a keratometer, with the rest of the specification common to both of them.

Newly Designed Bracket

The manufacturer describes a newly designed bracket as attractive and durable, which is the second point of difference from the smaller screened instrument.

Motorised Auto Tracing Joystick

A motorised joystick with auto-tracing mode is fitted, so alignment is assisted by the instrument rather than carried out entirely by the operator's own hand.

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.

Axis, Form and Pupil Distance

Axis covers 0 to 180 degrees in 1 degree steps, cylinder form is presentable as minus, plus or plus and minus, and pupil distance runs 45 to 88mm in 1mm steps.

Keratometry on the K 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.

Rooms Where the Screen Is Read at Distance

A 9 inch monitor is the whole reason to choose this particular version. Where an operator reads the display from beside rather than directly behind the instrument, or where a second person is checking the reading, the screen size stops being merely cosmetic. It is worth judging in person, because the measurement capability is identical either way and the monitor is genuinely the one deciding factor between them.

Contact Lens Fitting

The K variant is 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 A variant would leave them without any of those figures at all on the instrument.

Busy Optical Practice

A motorised auto-tracing joystick with auto focus changes how many patients an instrument can work through. Where alignment is done entirely by hand, each measurement takes as long as the operator takes to find the eye. Assisted alignment shortens that, and makes results rather less dependent on which member of staff happens to be operating the instrument on any given day.

Patients Who Over Accommodate

A follow-up colourful fogging chart system addresses the ordinary difficulty of objective refraction, which is a patient accommodating on a near target and returning a more minus reading than their eye truly needs. A fogging arrangement relaxes that accommodation, and its inclusion signals an instrument designed around how eyes actually behave during an objective measurement.

A Screen You Can Actually Read

Where two instruments differ only in their monitor size and mounting, the larger screen is a straightforward choice rather than a compromise of any sort. Every measurement figure is identical, so a practice taking this version gets the same capability with a display that is rather easier to read across a consulting room. That is worth stating plainly, because buyers reasonably assume a bigger model must somehow differ in its measurement too.

Alignment the Instrument Assists With

Motorised joystick, auto-tracing and the auto focus function together mean the instrument finds and focuses the eye rather than leaving both of those things to the operator alone. The practical effect is a faster measurement and less variation between the operators, which determines whether readings taken by a trainee and by a senior optometrist can be compared with any real confidence at all afterwards.

One Model, Two Levels of Capability

Offering the same instrument with and without keratometry lets a practice buy only the capability it actually uses. A dispensing practice doing no contact lens work pays for the refraction alone; a contact lens clinic gets corneal curvature, power, astigmatism and the diameter on that same unit. The choice is clear because nothing else differs between the two versions of this instrument at all.

The Visionstar FA-8000 is offered in two variants: the A as an auto refractometer, the K 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 and pupil distance from 45 to 88mm. The K variant adds radius of curvature from 5.0 to 10mm, corneal power from 33.75 to 67.50D at an index of 1.337, corneal astigmatism to 8.00D and corneal diameter from 2.0 to 14.0mm. A 9 inch tilting TFT LCD, motorised auto-tracing joystick, auto focus, fogging chart and a thermal printer are all fitted.

Two points are worth stating plainly. The measurement specification is identical to the smaller screened instrument in this same range, so the difference is the 9 inch monitor and a newly designed bracket rather than any measuring capability. Separately, the card abbreviates the dioptre unit inconsistently across the spherical and cylinder rows, and that notation should be corrected at source. Electrical supply, dimensions and weight do not appear on the material held, and nothing here is a claim about testing or approval.

If your practice refracts through a busy list, fits contact lenses, or simply wants a display that is easier to read across the room, speak to Medigear.uk. As a verified medical equipment supplier working across medical, dental, rehabilitation and aquatic therapy settings, the team will confirm which variant suits your work.