AR Optics; no X, just red dot

[SgtSteve]

A friend and I are going on a 2 day Urban Rifle class the end of August. It was necessary to buy a light so I got a Sure Fire and a mount Ezretta. Some say it's a big plus to have an optic...ie...a Red Dot or whatever.

Any of yinz' out there have actual experience with a Dot on an AR? Not talking about any type of X factor scope, just an aiming device like the Red Dot.

Sgt Steve

[nateebobo]

Aimpoint pro or h1 if you wanna spend money once on the last one youll buy or vortex strike fire/spark,bushnell trs-25,one of primary arms offerings if you want a reliable one to try out for not alot of money. any will serve well and the first 2 are war zonw reliable with battery life measured in years with it on all the time.

[Steve in PA]

I had an Eotech 512 on my AR for several years and loved it. Very fast and no need to worry about aligning the sights. Just put the reticule on target, and press the trigger.

This year, I swapped out the Eotech for the Aimpoint PRO. The single red dot takes a little getting used to after having become used to the Eotech reticule, but I love a red dot on my rifle.

I've used a red dot through instructor schools, tactical schools, training seminars, etc. No issues or complaints from me. Just make sure you have a BUIS in place, because optics can fail.

I like the red dots so much, I went ahead and put a Bushnell TRS-25 on my AK-47.

[Splittiebus66]

Aimpoints work well. They are worth every penny.

[scruff]

A red dot lets you quickly acquire a target, and it works great for guys like me whose eyesight is starting to go bad. +1 on the Aimpoint PRO and the Vortex Strikefire. I have them both, and the quality of the dots are similar. The main difference is in the controls. The Aimpoint just has one knob for brighter/dimmer, and it stays on all the time. The Vortex has 4 buttons - on/off, brighter, dimmer, and night mode. Have to hold the on button down to turn it off, it's easy to turn it on accidentally (like in a soft-sided rifle case), it times out after so many hours, and if you accidentally push the night mode button during the day, you lose the dot altogether. So the Vortex has a good dot, sucky controls, a great warranty, but not the proven reliability of the Aimpoint, and costs half as much.

Watch out for the Walmart/Dick's specials. The dots can be so big that they'll obscure a smaller target.

[Pa.Sniper]

I have dots on 2 of mine. One I use with a 3x magnifier, some of us need the magnification for further away, but it can be slid out of the way in a second. The other one is on an ar pistol, absolutely no problems with it.

[bluetrane2028]

Vortex StrikeFire for me. You get used to the controls pretty quickly. It holds its zero very well, and it comes with a mount, which is a nice bonus. Sure, there are nicer optics out there, but it's a fantastic value.

[KPShooting]

I love my Aimpoint Pro. I just wish I didn't have to spend so much money to mount a magnifier behind it.

[625]

It's hard to go wrong with Aimpoint or EOTech. Heck, I've had great luck with my Nikon VSD. I just ordered an Aimpoint T1 because of the features and light weight. I was going to get a Pro until I saw that they weighed 3 times what a T1 does.

[paleojd]

If you are looking for a red dot, Aimpoint is the way to go. Nothing else even comes close in quality, or battery life. Stay away from knock off clones and the Vortex Strikefire mentioned. Doesn't even come close to Aimpoint quality, unless you don't mine looking through green glass and buying batteries in bulk.