Dot distortion is most likely in your eye. The average, healthy human eye has a resolution no better than about 1 MOA, therefore a 2 MOA dot is near infinitesimal, and any imperfection in your eye sight will be noticeable when trying to resolve the dot in any one of these type of sights. You can prove this to yourself by rotating the sight as you look through it. (Aimpoint talks about this in their litterature) If the "distortion" rotates along with the sight, the problem is in the sight. This won't happen with an Aimpoint-- any "distortion" keeps the same orientation, as you turn the sight, proving that the problem is in your eye. Good, clean corrective lenses will usually eliminate perceived distortion. A smaller pupil, as in when you're in bright conditions, will also reduce any optical error somewhat. See your optomitrist. By The Way--This is also why we keep both eyes open, even when using iron sights or a high-power telescope, even if we have to use cellophane tape to prevent distraction-- it keeps your pupils smaller, hence making your accuity and depth of field better.
Any dot flare is a result of too much dot brightness, but some people with laser-corrected vision have reported seeing more flare.
The Aimpoint 2x sights have fairly little field of view for a 2x sight, and the FOV gets smaller as the sight gets farther from your eye. Mounting one forward of the receiver will mean you have very limited FOV. This isn't a problem if you're using the "Binden Aiming Concept" however (Aiming with both eyes open, focusing on the target). For rapid targeting you use it just like a 1x Aimpoint, and when you settle onto the target, you use the magnified image coming in through your sighting eye.
The weirdness of the 2x Aimpoint comes from the fact that it is not a telescope in the conventional sense-- it's a 1x Aimpoint sight with a magnifier plugged onto the front of it.
I've used them in the past and wasn't impressed, but that was before I fully understood the two-eyes-open-while-using-a-2x-sight concept (BAC). We just got a few more in at UltiMAK and though I have one mounted in the forward position on an M1A and the sight picture is clear and bright, I intend to take it out to the range and actually shoot with it before I come to any further conclusions.
Probably had something to do with the sale, unlimited eye relief and parallax free.
