What is your preferred inexpensive red dot, and why?

I have two TRS-25s and no real negatives from me as they're much better than I expected. I like a bottom 1/3 cowitness with my AR irons and the following mount is the lowest price solution. I bought one as a temporary fix but it's a tough mount that holds zero so I bought two more. The RDS and the mount both are bargains.

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Thanks, I saw those and was wondering if I should go low, mid, or high profile, probably just need to find what works for me.

Thanks again!

Are the Primary Arms red dots back in stock?

Walther P-22

Walther P-22, because it came with my Umarex Beretta CX4 Storm .177 clone, and now does short range work on my 6920. It just looks cool.

Vortex SPARC. But, before you get a red dot, get checked for astigmatism, or else that 2 moa dot will look like a 10 moa fireball.

Instead of going with cheap red dots, I like quality "affordable" fixed power, low magnification scopes.

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While not cheap my Night Force 1-4x illuminated scope will do everything a red dot will and more.

I've got somewhere around 350 rounds, maybe more, of high brass 12ga rounds (buck and slugs) thru a Mossberg 500 sitting under a TRS-25 that's still going strong. I have also never adjusted the zero since day one.

I've got another TRS-25 on an AR with about 1500rds under that optic.

While not cheap my Night Force 1-4x illuminated scope will do everything a red dot will and more.

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IIRC correctly, the $1250 price tag is out of most reasonable budgets. (Even most unreasonable budgets, really.)
I had a hard time justifying the Burris XTR, and I could have bought 2 for that price.

I bought a centerpoint tactical red dot scope from walmart on a whim for $50. I am using it on a Sig M400 5.56 and have put 500+ rounds through with it and it still holds zero. It has 4 diffrrent recticles, red and green, 5 diffrrent intensity settings, windage and elevation knobs, mounts, and lens covers. I am shooting 1 1/2 " groups at 50 yards all day with it and the visibilty is more than enough even in bright daylight.

I was weary of this when I bought it, but I am glad I took the chance with it. Would reccomend it to anyone who is looking for a good red dot sight that is on a budget.


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While not cheap my Night Force 1-4x illuminated scope will do everything a red dot will and more.

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Cowitness with iron sights? It also won't match the field of view. I'm not knocking the Night Force, they are definitely awesome, however there are advantages a red dot has that a magnified will never duplicate.

Yeah, the main advantage of a red dot over a magnified optic is that it has no eye relief and parallax.

I have a TRS-25 with the UTG medium (0.83") mount on my AR and like it just fine. They have a pretty good battery life for a cheaper optic (3,000 hours constant on). As for the UTG mounts, the medium one is for an absolute co-witness. This puts the dot in the same plane as your iron sights, and is good for if you have a flip-up rear sight. The high (1") one gives you a lower 1/3 co-witness, and is good for if you have a fixed rear sight. I'm not sure what the Low ones are for... probably non-AR applications like Sig, HK, etc.

Depends on what you consider "inexpensive". Compared to a $1000+ ACOG sight, I'm quite happy with my $200 Ultradot and Lucid red-dots.

+1 for the Bushnell TRS-25

I had an aimpoint micro T-1 on my M4A1 in Afghanistan, and that sight was awesome. I pulled my TRS-25 out of the box and it was like meeting an old friend again. Size, controls and functionality are very similar to the aimpoint. If a 2moa vs 3moa dot is worth the extra $300 bucks, well, who am I to tell you how to spend your money?

Bottom line is yeah, I'll bet the aimpoint will hold up to abuse better I guess (never did a side by side test, can't say for sure), but I can tell you that even in Afghanistan I was able to take care of my stuff, that's common sense practice no matter how tough your optics are. I don't know who's going around banging their optics on rocks, but as we can see from this thread, perhaps the cheaper red dot alternatives are not as fragile and crappy as many people seem to believe they are.

If only my budget would allow an EOtech...

Perhaps one day

If only my budget would allow an EOtech...

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I have one and an Aimpoint and several other Red Dots but to be honest if a red dot works it works regardless of how much you paid for it or who put their name on it. Dot size and parallax is more important to me than name brand. The older I get the more I like cheap that works. For me I would not purchase another Aimpoint or Eotech when many others at 15% to 25% the cost will do just fine for me...but I am not at war unless pigs count?

I am ok with cheap, but i want to know it will work when i need it.

Another vote for the Busnhell TRS-25. Have one on a HK USC and it works great!

Hey Guys, I didn't think this would necessarily merit a new thread, so I'll just bump this one....but if anyone is still looking for an inexpensive red dot, Palmetto State Armory has a $50 off coupon code for the Vortex Strikefire. That makes it $130 which I think is a good deal. Not "whoa!" but a good deal nonetheless. I have been very happy with mine.

What are your favorites? What did you get? Would you do it again, if you had the chance?

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For me the budget RDS is an aimpoint PRO. Anything below that and there is too much lost in quality. I've seen the PRO for as little as $380 with a mount. That makes it a good budget choice versus some other aimpoints. I would definitely buy one again, although for somethings I'll still just pay more and get a T1/H1.

I do think I will try a primary arms on a .22LR but wouldn't put it on anything more serious than that.

I know that this is an older thread but I missed it first time around.

For me? That would be the $25 "no name" one inch size tube style red dots I got for the lofty price of $25 each a few years back to put on my paintball pump markers. When I got into firearms I mounted one on a TC Encore chambered in .500 S&W Magnum. It withstood the crazy recoil of that gun for some time until I needed the sight back to go to a pump action paintball weekend again. I must have put a good 40 rounds past that sight and it took it well. On the other hand a cheap asian RIFLE scope didn't make it to a dozen shots before turning into a cheezy kalidescope.

That asian red dot held accurate for the whole time it was on the gun too. Other than when the screws that joined it to the Picatinny rail shot loose. Tightened them up and the very next shot was dead on.

None of this is to say that the cheap stuff isn't weak. Just that often we can be surprised.

Bushnell TRS-25.

Inexpensive and works well.

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Depends on your use. I really like the TR-25 from Bushnell. I like them so much I have 3 of them. I have one on my sons cricket .22 that he learned to shoot with. I have one on my Ruger Blackhawk .357 magnum. I have one as a back up for my AR15. I do not think they are a quick acquisition sight. If you want a quick sight picture then I would use an open type sight like the Burris fast fire. I think the best sight out there for this is the Eotech but they are not as affordable.

Just for fun I mounted one of the UTG 38mm red dot sights I bought for my 10/22, onto a 417 we were testing at work, it survived several hundred rounds of 7.62 on semi abd full auto. slapped it back onto my 10/22, re-zeroed it and it seems to be holding just fine. Also have to give a thumbs up to the TruGlo red dots I've seen them hold very well to some pretty good abuse.

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Ultradot. Perfect price / performance point.

Another vote for the Tru-glo 2X...makes a great red dot for 22LR or 223....nice small 2 mil dot, and a little magnification.