Need advice on a red dot

[rcam1977]

I've been looking at the Vortex optics for a while since I can't afford much and from what I heard they are actually pretty descent, I thought my mind was made up and looking at getting a Sparc or a sparc2 but have become interested in the strikefire, so if you have any experience in either of these or both I would love to hear your thoughts on what you like or don't like about them and why, this optic will be going on an AR , incase that makes a difference, one of the things I noticed and maybe I'm wrong it that the strikefire had a larger field of view and that's one of the things that sparked my interest in them and the price over the sparc,thanks in advance for you opinions, and by all means if you have a better suggestion in the same price range I'm open to ideas

 

[jd4320t]

From my personal experience skip the Vortex and get a Primary Arms red dot. My Sparc will soon be sent back to Vortex for fuzzy dot and broken on/off button. When I get it back it will be sold or traded. Vortex makes some good scopes but they need to hit the drawing board again with their red dots.

 

[wizardfitz]

We have a sparc on a 22 rifle we got from a sponsor here. Aaoptics nno issues

 

[Tactically Fat]

I've been looking at the Vortex optics for a while since I can't afford much and from what I heard they are actually pretty descent, I thought my mind was made up and looking at getting a Sparc or a sparc2 but have become interested in the strikefire, so if you have any experience in either of these or both I would love to hear your thoughts on what you like or don't like about them and why, this optic will be going on an AR , incase that makes a difference, one of the things I noticed and maybe I'm wrong it that the strikefire had a larger field of view and that's one of the things that sparked my interest in them and the price over the sparc,thanks in advance for you opinions, and by all means if you have a better suggestion in the same price range I'm open to ideas

What is your budget?

The PA Micro-Dot may work. Maybe a few others from PA as well.

The Sparc may also work.

Konus has a few.

http://www.konus.com/prodotto/sight-pro-atomic-2-0/597

http://www.konus.com/prodotto/sight-pro-tr/598

http://www.konus.com/prodotto/sight-pro-atomic-qr/721

Lucid also has some decently-priced offerings. LUCID Red Dot Sights

 

[Audie Murphy]

Out of 4 Primary Arms red dots I've owned(different models), I've had to send back 3 within their 1 year warranty. Great customer service but..I would go Vortex. I have 2 red dot only Strikefires and not a problem. They also have good customer service and their warranty is unconditional lifetime vs PA 1 year (on most of their models)

 

[42769vette]

FOV should not be your concern when comparing these 2. The difference breaks down to the unit size between them, and dot size difference. If you like a 2 moa dot get the Sparc, if you like a 4 moa dot get the strikefire.

To say a company needs to "hit the drawing board" after sampling 1 dot out of the millions they made is pretty crazy. Without a doubt percentage wise less of these dots go down than anything else in its price range. Do some go down? ABSOLUTELY. Is 1 unit out of millions produced a large enough sample to make a statement about the entire line? Lets be serious.

 

[Audie Murphy]

OP, Alan ^^ at A&A is the right guy to get you all squared away with any questions on optics.

 

[Hoosierman]

I own a strikefire. I really like it, with one exception. The night vision mode button is right out at the edge, and very exposed. It's easy to hit the button by mistake, and think your dot is broken, because you can't see it. Be aware of that, and it's a great dot. It's crisp, easily bright enough for anything i'll do, and it holds zero. For the price, it's a very good buy in my opinion.

 

[jd4320t]

FOV should not be your concern when comparing these 2. The difference breaks down to the unit size between them, and dot size difference. If you like a 2 moa dot get the Sparc, if you like a 4 moa dot get the strikefire.

To say a company needs to "hit the drawing board" after sampling 1 dot out of the millions they made is pretty crazy. Without a doubt percentage wise less of these dots go down than anything else in its price range. Do some go down? ABSOLUTELY. Is 1 unit out of millions produced a large enough sample to make a statement about the entire line? Lets be serious.

I stand by what I said. My SPARC is complete junk. I won't ever recommend one until serious improvements are made.

 

[jd4320t]

Out of 4 Primary Arms red dots I've owned(different models), I've had to send back 3 within their 1 year warranty. Great customer service but..I would go Vortex. I have 2 red dot only Strikefires and not a problem. They also have good customer service and their warranty is unconditional lifetime vs PA 1 year (on most of their models)

I can only vouch for the micros. My friends and I have had good luck with them.

 

[42769vette]

I stand by what I said. My SPARC is complete junk. I won't ever recommend one until serious improvements are made.

Fair enough, there is a diffrence in saying YOUR sparc was complete junk, and the sparc is complete junk.

I had a USO 3000 dollar scope go down, and have to go back for repair. Does that mean USO is junk? Absolutely not, it means I was the lucky one who got one with a issue, and they made it right.

 

[shootersix]

ive got a strike fire on my ar love it!, my only complaint is the battery, its a cr2, kinda hard to find, and kinda expensive, i've found that target has the best price on the battery, a two pack of energizers was 15.00 when i bought them, batteries plus sold them for about 10 bucks each

BUT in the 4 years i've owned it, im only on my second battery, so that's not a really an issue

my dad has two, one on a 22 ar, and the other on one of his 223 ar's

a guy i work with put one on his wifes ar. it's the first red dot i recomend to anybody.

no questions asked lifetime warranty(ie if you drop it and break it, replaced free!)

call aaoptics and buy one from alan(support ingo)

 

[jd4320t]

Fair enough, there is a diffrence in saying YOUR sparc was complete junk, and the sparc is complete junk.

I had a USO 3000 dollar scope go down, and have to go back for repair. Does that mean USO is junk? Absolutely not, it means I was the lucky one who got one with a issue, and they made it right.

I was unhappy before the on/off button broke. The batteries are hard to find, the night vision button gets hit too easily. I haven't been hard on it at all, never ran a class with it or anything. I expected a lot more out of it. It sucks handing your rifle to someone and the red dot isn't working.

 

[Hammer]

My strike fire is on it's way back for warranty work right now. Done well plinking at the range and sitting in the safe but went 10-0 right in the middle of a training class this past weekend.

I too, do not like the NV button. It is too easy to hit and cause issues. I think it ought to be an option, rather that standard, as I will never run NV.

Now Vortex has great customer service, and not worried about them making it right.

And A&A will hook you up if a vortex is the way you decide to go. Great guy and great service.

 

[llh1956]

 

[42769vette]

The major diffrence between the first generation Strikefire's and Sparc's, and the 2nd generation is the new ones do not have a NV button, and are not NV capable.

 

[nate77]

I thought my sparc's on/off button quit working, because I couldn't turn it off with the button, but a new battery fixed the problem.

I also thought I had a bad irregular dot, but it turns out it is just my eyes, the dot looks great, if I take a picture of it with a camera.

 

[42769vette]

I also thought I had a bad irregular dot, but it turns out it is just my eyes, the dot looks great, if I take a picture of it with a camera.

You should look into a Prism like the Spitfire.

 

[nate77]

You should look into a Prism like the Spitfire.

Man the reticle in that Spitfire looks sweet; wish it was closer to $200 though.

 

[42769vette]

Man the reticle in that Spitfire looks sweet; wish it was closer to $200 though.

There are a lot of scopes, guns, etc I WISH were closer to 200.