Red dot optics…..

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  • jsx1043

    Master
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    50   0   0
    Apr 9, 2008
    4,987
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    Napghanistan
    I love me some red dots, but I’ve had this one in the Rolodex so I figured this would be about the best place to use it:

    C5F50AA7-5F8A-4E85-B325-224A797C8A43.jpeg

    May favorite just by simple time on the gun is Eotech. Been using one for 20 years and I guess I’m just used to it. I have a SIG Romeo 5 on a 11.5” rig and it does pretty well, but I do think I might prefer a bigger window.

    I have a Trijicon RMR on a G19 and that setup is absolute hellfire. I would like to try one of the Hueys, they’ve been getting a lot of love. Never even shot a single Aimpoint.
     

    JEBland

    INGO's least subtle Alphabet agency taskforce spy
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    9   0   0
    Oct 24, 2020
    1,976
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    Looking more into this one. Now I’ve shot behind Vortex scopes and they are a decent scope I can’t complain. The chinese thing I’m finding out is not their whole lineup….. and this one is made in the US and has my attention:
    Indiana's own AAoptics has them in stock now: https://aaoptics.com/VORTEX-RAZOR-AMG-UH1-GEN-II-HOLOGRAPHIC-SIGHT-_p_757.html
    I don't know when the next batch of refurb's comes in, but the refurbished UH-1s (if even in the shipment) are usually sold out quickly.
     

    two70

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    19   0   0
    Feb 5, 2016
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    Johnson
    I'd like to try out an Eotech if I ever get some range time with someone who owns one. From what I've read, red dots work for people who don't have astigmatism, holographics work for about 50% of people with astigmatism, and prisms just work irrespective of astigmatism.

    I got a decent deal o the UH-1 to try since it's a new technology for me. The Huey is usable with my stronger, lefthand eye, but the optic is currently on a RH ejecting semi auto that I don't love shooting lefty. I could swap it around onto my LH guns, but I'm curious about prism optics and would like to try them out. Worst case is they end up for plinking fun or sold to someone who wants an affordable optic.
    I have pretty severe astigmatism in both eyes and I rarely have trouble with red dots. The two biggest factors for me are that I always get astigmatism correcting lenses on my eyewear and when I use red dots with adjustable brightness levels, I adjust them down to the lowest setting that is still visible.
     

    JEBland

    INGO's least subtle Alphabet agency taskforce spy
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    9   0   0
    Oct 24, 2020
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    I have pretty severe astigmatism in both eyes and I rarely have trouble with red dots. The two biggest factors for me are that I always get astigmatism correcting lenses on my eyewear and when I use red dots with adjustable brightness levels, I adjust them down to the lowest setting that is still visible.
    I appreciate the insight. Truthfully, I haven't spent a lot of time behind them. With it on my right eye, it's enough to throw me off bullseye. With my dominant eye it's not such an issue at lower intensity.
    - For a rifle I'd like to have something that just works (esp. for hunting). Prisms and LPVOs both provide a reticle without having to purchase and align backup irons (if BUISs are even an option, they aren't for my bolt hunting guns).
    - If I decide to go with a red dot for a pistol, I'll probably try to see what I can work, but I'm not currently motivated to do that (I first need to focus on the other aspects of shooting and also to get my degree and leave WL)

    I'm pretty new to the optics other than traditional irons or 3-9x scopes. So I'm not sure where I'll end up, but seeing the dot on the hologram become a big slash is not the most fun for me.

    That said, I don't want to hijack the OP's thread with my incompetence about red dots. :cool:
     

    JeepHammer

    SHOOTER
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    0   0   0
    Aug 2, 2018
    1,904
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    SW Indiana
    Astigmatism wreaks havoc on my ability to see a clean round dot on anything using LED illumination.

    YUP!
    They should have to print that on every box!

    I was in the Marines when we got our first issues and it drove me nuts, I wasn't seeing what the images said I should...
    Big fuzzy blobs of light, no defined edges, looked like paint splatter around the dot.
    Covered several MOA...

    I could hit *Something* if I cranked the power down, but by the time the dot cleared up, the dot was VERY hard to find.

    Leupold & Burris work pretty well, not much in the way of issues with them.
    Leupold had a magnified tube with etched reticle, so if your light failed you still had the reticle, that saved my butt when the battery died...

    The door kicker bunch liked wider diameter, wider field of view and easier/quicker to aquire targets,
    While the perimeter teams liked a little something extra in magnification a lot of the time,
    Helped them pick out targets in windows, back in the rooms, and let them reach a little farther.

    With astigmatism, I prefer lighted reticles over red dots, no fuzz to deal with, and you can get bullet drop compensation marks built in.
    The draw back there is I have to switch to night vision optics instead of just adding the image intensifier.
    The more crap you carry, the heavier it is, the more crap that can fail...
    And there are sometimes issues with zero shift when you swap optics.

    Minimize that with full length mount rails and full length cleats on the optics.
     

    Tombs

    Grandmaster
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    0   0   0
    Jan 13, 2011
    12,021
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    Martinsville
    One thing to keep in mind, if you have an astigmatism, I highly recommend running a red dot with a magnifier.

    If you need to shoot precisely, most magnifiers have a diopter you can adjust to your vision and they will correct for astigmatism. Up close, the dot distorting doesn't really matter much.
     

    Kneedeep87

    Plinker
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    0   0   0
    Sep 6, 2021
    55
    8
    Fort wayne
    If your thinking of an eotech, understand , it is not a red dot. It is a holographic sight. On a red dot you need to center the dot in the glass to hit your zero. This is not true for an eotech. I have two and I love them. Don't get the aa battery version. They have the batteries in line with recoil and have a problem with losing power under recoil once they are older. Red dot sights will have a massive battery life. That's the main pro of a red dot. Hope this helps.
     

    Tombs

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    Jan 13, 2011
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    If your thinking of an eotech, understand , it is not a red dot. It is a holographic sight. On a red dot you need to center the dot in the glass to hit your zero. This is not true for an eotech. I have two and I love them. Don't get the aa battery version. They have the batteries in line with recoil and have a problem with losing power under recoil once they are older. Red dot sights will have a massive battery life. That's the main pro of a red dot. Hope this helps.
    Most red dots don't suffer that bad of parallax error unless you're trying to shoot to the limits of your rifle and ammo combination. The MRO is the only modern highend red dot I'm aware of that exhibits significant enough parallax error to potentially present a problem.

    As long as you're like 50% near the center, most quality red dots should not have any parallax error at all. If you are trying to make shots at the very extreme edge of the window, then yes you will see a couple MOA.
     

    ECS686

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    Dec 9, 2017
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    Brazil
    I run an Aimpoint Patrol Rifle Optic on my oetsonak AR Because I had great experience with M68 in the Mikitary and other olaces. Had bad experience with EO Tech and Trijicon on my civilian agency stuff.

    For my handgun if I usenone I run for nor LepuoldDPP. It was great in a Handgun Combatives course Bushnell also introduced the Rrx 250 that seems to be about the best for the money right now (no offence to Holosun fans)
     

    Tombs

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    Boy howdy, would a Kobra look awesome on it. Or hell - go big and find an OKP-7 or 1P87.

    While they're cool, they aren't in the same ballpark of quality as even a holosun.

    Russian electro-optics are very dodgy to say the least... There's a reason all the russian special forces buy american optics, eotechs are their favorite.

    Now a PK-AS or a Rakurs... That's a different discussion.
     

    DadSmith

    Grandmaster
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    1   0   0
    Oct 21, 2018
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    Ripley County
    Looking more into this one. Now I’ve shot behind Vortex scopes and they are a decent scope I can’t complain. The chinese thing I’m finding out is not their whole lineup….. and this one is made in the US and has my attention:
    Does AAOPTICS carry these?

    NM found it and a great price too.

     

    IUKalash429

    Bullet Hose
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    Apr 6, 2019
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    Rum Ham
    While they're cool, they aren't in the same ballpark of quality as even a holosun.

    Russian electro-optics are very dodgy to say the least... There's a reason all the russian special forces buy american optics, eotechs are their favorite.

    Now a PK-AS or a Rakurs... That's a different discussion.

    If buying from a reputable seller and not beating the absolute dog snot out of it, any of these Russian optics will more than suffice, especially for OP's Vityaz clone. I say that as the owner of more than a dozen variants, none of which have so much as depleted a battery, let alone fully crapped out. The worst I've had to do was remove gunky U.S. customs fingerprints from the glass of one optic, after it was shipped from Moscow, seized at JFK and held for about two months.

    Plenty of Spetsnaz operators still rocking Russian optics today. Obviously there's nothing wrong with an EOTech either.
     

    Tombs

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    Jan 13, 2011
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    If buying from a reputable seller and not beating the absolute dog snot out of it, any of these Russian optics will more than suffice, especially for OP's Vityaz clone. I say that as the owner of more than a dozen variants, none of which have so much as depleted a battery, let alone fully crapped out. The worst I've had to do was remove gunky U.S. customs fingerprints from the glass of one optic, after it was shipped from Moscow, seized at JFK and held for about two months.

    Plenty of Spetsnaz operators still rocking Russian optics today. Obviously there's nothing wrong with an EOTech either.

    If they've gotten better over the years, I may have to look into a kobra.

    But about 15 years ago I remember seeing a lot of failure reports for them.
     

    IUKalash429

    Bullet Hose
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    If they've gotten better over the years, I may have to look into a kobra.

    But about 15 years ago I remember seeing a lot of failure reports for them.

    Not saying this was the case for you, but there are a LOT of fakes and semi-fakes (fully commercial-grade clone stuff) floating around out there. It's borderline impossible to spot the non-milspec stuff from photos alone, and tough at times even in person if you don't know exactly what you're looking for. Your memory is also spot on about somewhat isolated failures - there were a few bad batches of Russian Kobra imports about a decade or so ago that soured a lot of folks to the optic.

    I think they are on gen-3 Kobras now, and they are far more reliable. I believe mine is a gen-2 and I'm the third owner, and it's still bombproof after probably 10,000+ total rounds.

    Give it another look - if you still hate it (and it's a legit Kobra), remember my signature line below ;)

    Sorry to derail your thread, OP. Hope you're able to narrow down what you're looking for after two pages!
     
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