Need advice on a red dot

[straight-shooter]

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

heh, ain't that the truth!

 

[singlesix]

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)

Office Depot had single CR2 for $2.00 on clearance, so maybe check out our local office store.

I run a Strikefire on my CX4 Storm Carbine and have no issues. The dot is clear and bright.

 

[seedubs1]

I used to have a strikefire. It was a nice scope. No issues with it at all.

If you have any issues with a strikefire or sparc, Vortex will make it right.

You can also look into the bushnell trs-25. It seems to end up rated very high in every budget red dot comparison I've ever seen.

 

[ryan3030]

I have owned the following

• Vortex Sparc
• Vortex Strikefire
• Primary Arms Microdot
• Burris Fastfire III
• Sightmark...something
• Sun Optics...something
• Aimpoint PRO
• Aimpoint T1 Micro
• EOTech 512
• EOTech XPS2-2
• Probably a few generic options I'm forgetting.

To be completely honest they've all been pretty much the same from my casual use perspective. I prefer the Aimpoints to any others for build quality and of course, reputation for reliability. They also seem to have a sharper dot than the cheaper alternatives but that may just be bias. I am not an expert.

Of the Vortex offerings I prefer the Sparc to the StrikeFire. I felt it was a higher quality optic with a sharper dot.

Of all the above the one I've kept longest has been the Primary Arms Microdot but would not hesitate to buy another Sparc.

 

[micheljns]

Check out the Leatherwood hi-lux, this is a superior red dot for the $$$

 

[rcam1977]

first of all i would like to thank all of you for your input, sorry been absent from the thread i posted the question just befor i went to bewd this morning, i work nights and sleep a good portion of the day, but thanks again for the input so far, this is just what i was looking for, its good to get some feed back from some people that have actually used the products in question, if anybody has anything else to add im still trying to narrow it down so any info or experience with the items in question or other suggestions in the same price range are welcome,
i would like to stay within 150-200 price range.

 

[USMC-Johnson]

I dont know where you are located but i have pretty much all of the afformentioned optics in stock right now. you could even get into a crossfire 1-4 for just a hare over that ready to go.

 

[singlesix]

I dont know where you are located but i have pretty much all of the afformentioned optics in stock right now. you could even get into a crossfire 1-4 for just a hare over that ready to go.

So you're promoting your business here without being a INGO Advertiser?

 

[rcam1977]

thanks but im in Indy, thats a little far of a drive for me.

 

[cwillour]

With all due respect to 'Vette, I find myself agreeing with the prior post that claimed Vortex needed to "hit the drawing board again" -- at least with regards to the original SPARC. I have a few of them (that I need to unload) and I don't consider them to be "bad", but I feel like the controls and brightness settings could have been executed so much better. The on-off button location makes it prone to accidental activation in a bag, case, or even a tightly-packed safe (I have actually started pulling the battery before putting the guns away.) The 2moa red dot is so bright on the lowest non-NV setting that it often appears notably larger than my FastFire III's 3moa dot.

The good news is that Vortex DID "hit the drawing board again" and have released the SPARC2. I have not purchased one yet, so I haven't seen the outside of a store, but it looks like Vortex both improved the controls and added lower brightness settings.

If the new versions do have the brightness adjustment range to allow the dots to actually behave true-to-size, they are likely the best values in their respective price ranges. Given the warranty and Vortex's CS, I cannot think of another dot <$200 that I would rather have.

If your range went to $250, I might also consider an UltraDot or the FastFire III, but I don't know that either would serve your needs better.

 

[rcam1977]

I did look up the FF3 and I actually shot my friends rifle the other day with a sight similar to that , same style sift anyway, and I've shot using those style a few times and it always seems like I have trouble keeping the dots in view as if I'm not looking down the rifle right, I don't know if I'm describing it right but I always get frustrated with them, it seems that the scope style dots are more stable, does this make sense to anybody else?

 

[deanald2pt0]

I've had two Strikefires, I wanted something simliar to my Aimpoint M3 but with out the price tag. Sold one to a friend because he was looking for something cheap and I was thinking about upgrading to a micro dot. They both have held up great. I do prefer the red dot only model becasue the dot can be turn up brighter when compared to the red/green dot. My only compalint was I didn't really like the controls, but as others have stated, those have been redsigned.

I still haven't replaced the strikefire I sold, but I'm considering a Spitfire becuase I have a stigmatism and the dots look like star burst when turned up to high.

 

[JollyMon]

I have no problems recommending the sparc. Granted the only sparc I have lives on a dedicated 22 AR pistol. But I have had no issues. I dont like the on/off button on the side, but supposedly they fixed that with the sparc 2.

 

[echoagain]

Definitely take a look at the Bushnell TRS-25. I just recently bought another from Palmetto State for well under $100. Personally, if I were going to spend much more than that I'd rather save up a bit more and go all the way to an Aimpoint. The bangswitch.com has a review of budget red dots that posted in May of this year that does a nice job of comparing a lot of different sites. Military Arms Channel (INGO member and also related to the bangswitch) also has youtube video talking about low cost rifle optics. Good info.

 

[halfmileharry]

Definitely take a look at the Bushnell TRS-25. I just recently bought another from Palmetto State for well under $100. Personally, if I were going to spend much more than that I'd rather save up a bit more and go all the way to an Aimpoint. The bangswitch.com has a review of budget red dots that posted in May of this year that does a nice job of comparing a lot of different sites. Military Arms Channel (INGO member and also related to the bangswitch) also has youtube video talking about low cost rifle optics. Good info.

I was looking on line last night and saw the Bushnell TRS-25 for less than $67 with free shipping.
I passed on it for a couple of reasons. One: I'd rather do business at a brick and mortar store. 2: The 25mm is smaller than I like.

 

[kml]

After looking at the options a while back I picked up a Strikefire II. Here's my two cents -

Overall I'm happy with it. The glass is pretty darn nice for a red dot. It doesn't have that horrendous blue hue to the optics that some others in this price range have.
The dot is noticeably more fuzzy to my eye than the Aimpoints I've used but nothing that effects actual performance.

It seems to be well made. I'ts only seen range use so far but hasn't given me any trouble.

Most of the complaints from the original seemed to involve the NV button or the on/off button which are gone now leaving only two, an "up" and a "down". They are close enough together to feel both at the same time but big enough so you know which one you're pushing. Even if you do get the wrong one all you're going to do is adjust the brightness, not inadvertently turn the sight off (or to NV) causing you to loose your dot. The new button setup is dead simple to use. I was surprised how quickly I felt comfortable adjusting the sight, even in the dark.

The new button operation :
Press either one to turn the unit on. It will be set at the brightness level it was at when it was turned off.

Press and release the up button to increase dot brightness from the current setting by one step, press and release again to increase one more step and so on until you reach the 10th step (Max brightness).

The down button works the same way to decrease brightness through the 10 brightness setting. The lowest 2 are listed as NV compatible.

Press and hold the up button for ~ 5 sec to turn the unit off. If left on, it will auto shut down after 12 hours.

Press and hold the down button for ~5 sec to change the dot between red/green if you have the two color model.

The bad:
Why the hell they chose the CR2 battery is beyond me. I'ts not that much smaller than the CR123 that is used in ....every damn thing else! Someone at Vortex needs to be slapped for that call.

The battery compartment blocks more forward view than it needs to. If the target market for this sight is ARs and the like, they have plenty of room to put it on the lower corner where your view is already obstructed.



Hope you find a sight that meets your needs.

 

[rcam1977]

A lot of good info everybod, thanks for the advise