Best red dot for the money?

I have a Bushnell TRS 25 on my Ruger PC Carbine and like it. You might look at the Millett red dots, too. I've had an SP-1 for a lot of years and it has worked very well.

I was looking at the Bushnell for my AK, but some of the reviews on the recent models seemed iffy. I got a Sig Romeo5 for around $120 shipped during one of Brownell's sales, and I love it. Manual power switch, but if left powered up, turns off automatically after 2 minutes of no motion, turns back on with the slightest movement.

My TRS holds it’s zero on my AR. I haven’t ever had to mess with it since I mounted it.

Ive got a Trs-25 on my Hipoint 9. I originally bought it for my .458 socom, and it rode around on that for a few months till i realized i didnt like a red dot on a hunting gun.
, its been solid

Ive been pretty impressed with Sigs optics and electronics of late. That Romeo5 BKM suggested would probably be a good choice as well.

I have both a Bushnell TRS-25 and a SIG Romeo 5. Some Holosun models are very similar to the Romeo 5 and some also add a solar-powered feature.

The TRS-25 is really quite good considering its low price. The dot is a little larger than I would like for target shooting. Bushnell claims a dot size of 3 MOA but I think it is closer to 4 MOA if the intensity is turned up. It does have some tendency to starburst at higher intensity as well.

The Romeo 5 is clearly better (at more than twice the price) with a well-defined 2 MOA dot. The MOTAC motion detection, instant-on feature is convenient and works quite well.

Bushnell TRS-25. I haven't checked out any of the sig's yet.

For the money?

Primary Arms and holosun.

50k battery life is pretty cool.

SIG also claims a 50,000+ hour battery life for the Romeo 5.

Hard to beat the TRS-25.

TRS; I have three, all on pistols at present. The "recent reviews" address a quality control issue that was, I think, temporary in a switch of manufacturer's for Bushnell. Mine were purchased relatively recently and all three were free of the problems described on the Internet.

The best red dot for the money for critical work, in my mind, is the Aimpoint Carbine Optic. That means that, to me, the best red dot for the money for range use is the Primary Arms Advanced Red Dot.

Once I settled on Aimpoint for my serious-use rifles, the Primary Arms ARD rose to the top because it not only met/exceeded the specs for other offerings in its range but it also offered an identical manual-of-arms to the Aimpoint. That means that I can train using kit with the same look-and-feel as the kit that I would use to fight, without having to pop for an Aimpoint for every rifle that I might take to the range.

That's no small benefit, to me.

The pricing of the TRS-25 and Romeo are a little too low for my comfort level. I’ll take a Venom or Fastfire III.

cdb1 said:

The pricing of the TRS-25 and Romeo are a little too low for my comfort level. I’ll take a Venom or Fastfire III.

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Ditto on the Fastfire III. Surprised it took so long for somebody to mention it.

TRS-25 if you don't need the 50,000 hour battery life, running about $50 on Amazon right now. If you do need the longer battery life then the Primary Arms Advanced Micro Dot, which runs $170 for the push button and $150 for the rotary knob.

Really cool carbine you have chosen! That 9mm carbine is topping my list ever since playing with one at the NRA convention last month. I plan to use a Vortex Sparc red dot when I save enough to pick up the Scorpion carbine for myself. I see the Vortex Sparc is double the price of some of the other suggestions though.

I have a TRS-25 on my short barreled Mossy 500 turkey gun and love It! No issues despite shooting many 3" magnum turkey loads. Bagged a double with the combo last month. Literally boom...boom. season over.

Also put one on my stubby 17" barreled No4 Mk1 deer rifle. So far so good.

Imo- A great value for the price.

SIG Romeo5 if you consider that "budget"



I believe the SIGs may be made by Holosun, but I've only ever seen that as a rumor. I have been keeping my eye on the Holosun 510c to go on sale. But if you want extreme budget, the FieldSport micro red dot for $20 on Amazon gets good reviews along the same line as the Bushnell TRS-25

Primary or Romeo5

Primary and model with todayr knob is 150 and had 50k battery life and lifetime warranty. Best value it there

They have a basic model for sounda 90 as well that I would trust not than Bushnell. I had the Bushnell and it stopped working after a few options. Just a sample of one, but have never had issues with any PA stuff and I have several

KYamateur said:

I’ve seen a lot of love for the Sig Romeo 5. Do you all think it is worth the extra 40-50 bucks to get the model with the AAA battery, or is the standard model sufficient? Everything else looks similar other than battery type.

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The only problem that I see with the AAA type, would be that you can't get it as low on the rail, if you need that feature.

My favorites are Aimpoint (like the comp 3 the best) or the trijicon reflex (no battery/adjustment).

However, the “for the money” part reminds me of the $25 BSA red dot I have on my 1919. The “dot” isn’t perfectly round and it eats batteries like a kid eats candy but the thing does work and holds zero in harsher conditions than most would see.

KYamateur said:

I’ve seen a lot of love for the Sig Romeo 5. Do you all think it is worth the extra 40-50 bucks to get the model with the AAA battery, or is the standard model sufficient? Everything else looks similar other than battery type.

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Actually, that is not entirely accurate. The SIG Romeo 5 (model SDR52001) has a 2 MOA dot and takes a CR2032 button battery. The SIG Romeo 5X (model SDR 52101) also has a 2 MOA dot but takes an AAA battery that mounts beneath the body of the optic. The Romeo 5XDR (model SDR 52102) has a 2 MOA red dot surrounded by a 65 MOA circle reticle that allows rapid sight acquisition (the DR part of XDR stands for dual reticle) and also takes an AAA battery. The Romeo 5 allows for two different mounting heights and is supplied with a detachable riser. The mounting height of the AAA models is fixed and they cannot be mounted low.

Here is a video that demonstrates the differences between the three models:



Keep in mind, when the demonstrator in the video talks about co-witnessing with iron sights, he is talking about an AR type carbine with a high front sight post.

I agree with badkarmamib. Unless you really feel that you need the concentric circle reticle of the XDR model, I would go with the Romeo 5 which allows more flexibility in mounting height. The advertised battery life of the Romeo 5 is so long that I don't see the ability to run on AAA batteries as any real advantage. If you are afraid that your CR2032 is going to go dead suddenly without warning, just carry an extra button battery. It is not like they are that expensive. I do not own a Scorpion EVO so I can't possibly know, but my guess is that if you want the red dot to co-witness with your open sights, you will probably want the lower mounting option.