few questions regarding Eotech holo sights

[Brockak47]

Ok, so i have a few questions about these things, they have the real deal 600 dollar ones, I know these have to be great right, but then they have these things http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=249529802
they say they are made by military contractors up to mil spec. for ~100 dollars ( on the military contractor what does that mean exactly anyone know?is it just a gimmic?)

has anyone ever had any experience on them or any advice on to save my money up for one, or buy one like this made to mil specs.

and i would be usuing it on 7.62x39

oh ya and also yes the eotech brand is better of course , but if it's close clone would it be worth saving ~500 dollars

 

[pikid89]

I would bet money that that is really just a cheap LED red dot, not unlike a truglo or other non tube red dots, and NOT a Laser Diode Holographic, PARALLAX FREE sight

have you ever heard of an Eotech that can change colors?...cuz that would take two relatively expensive laser diodes, and instead of 2 cheap LEDs like this thing has

do your self a huge favor and stay away from no name "military contractor" suppliers...

either save up your pennies for an aimpoint/eotech/trijicon/etc...

... or get you a nice pair of TechSights and have the legendary sight picture of a Garand/M1A/AR-15 for less dollars than that questionable sight on gun broker

 

[Brockak47]

thanks a ton, that's info i was looking for, I have never owned a red dot, but I have been looking into them, and Eotech and Aimpoint on the same level or is one lesser or greater?

more replies are welcomed thanks again Pikid89

 

[pikid89]

i don't own either...too expensive on a college budget, but here's what i know

the aim point is shockingly rugged and has a turned on battery life measured in years, but it is an LED red dot and suffers from a few limitations, for instance, if you try to magnify it , the dot will appear proportionally larger...so at 1x, a 3 moa dot will look 3moa...at 3x the dot will look 9moa, thus occluding the target even worse...it also suffers from parallax error inside of 50(?)yards i believe (not much but it is there)

the eotech is pretty tough in its own right, while it has a better life measured in hours (which for me wouldn't be a big deal as I'm not stomin caves in Afghanistan)...it has several advantages over the aimpoint that I like
The biggest to me is that the Eotech is 100% parallax free....if you can see the dot anywhere in the window, and you put it on the target, you will hit it.
another cool thing is that if you magnify an eotech, the circle on the reticle will get proportionally larger, but the center dot stays exactly the same size, which is razor sharp....i don't know the technical terms, but the center dot on an eotech appears as sharp as your eye can see, so generally speaking, to someone with 20/20 vision, the dot would appear about 1moa...for someone with even better vision, it would be even smaller

were it me, id prob get an eotech for the AR that ill get one day

 

[pikid89]

from user TalonArms_R at ar15.com

unmagnified

magnified

 

[Zerodefect]

I have the Eotech XPS2-0 (1 moa dot) and a Aimpoint ML3 (2 moa dot). I have some experience with the new Aimpoint T1/H1.

The dot moa measurements are BS. The T1 dot at a lower brightness setting gets real close to the size of the Eotechs 1moa dot. The ML3's 2moa jelly bean is about the same size. None of these scopes really seems to have an advantage at 300 yards no matter what the dot size is. The ML2, ML3, M2, M3 aren't even dots.....all too often, jelly beans or squids.

Keep in mind that at lower settings the dot is kinda transparent over your target.

I don't like magnifiying these. It works fine, a bit sloppy if you're picky, but it works. I prefere a Trijicon 1-4x (Green Triangle) or Nightforce 1-4x (lit crosshairs) in a Larue mount if you're going to insist on magnification.

The T1 is really impressive in a tall Larue mount. The XPS deos seem alot tougher than previous Eotechs and finally has an acceptable battery life. I think the XPS is a huge step up from previous Eotechs. Both are plenty bright to use at night without glasses/contacts in an emergency. But the Eotech is going to be a 65moa giant dot without my glasses. Still fine, but I prefere the Eotech on more CQB oriented rifles. Aimpoint for all around carbines. 1-4x for larger bits of property, farms, mountains etc or longer range 3 gun events.

(I want one of the new Giant football sized Eotechs that the military has on 50bmg machine guns )

Get the real deal. The good stuff will last a lifetime. The Chinese knock offs will last as long as the General Tso's chicken I ordered last week.

 

[jimbeaux82]

I have an authentic EOtech on my AR, and I bought a cheap copy to try on my AK. While the copy looks good and solid, I was unable to get it properly sighted in as the adjustments would not move as they were supposed to. I ran out of ammo on the attempt I made to sight it in, but may try again in the future if I have the time, ammo and inclination. But even if I am able to dial it in, will it stay dialed in??? This does not give me much confidence in it.

 

[sansone]

at the very least I would write the seller and ask what country the item is made in. Then ask for his return policy. My guess is the item is junk

 

[boricua9mm]

But the Eotech is going to be a 65moa giant dot without my glasses.

This has always been a problem for me with the regular Eotech reticle. I always had a hard time finding that 1MOA dot quickly, and the huge 65MOA reticle never seemed precise enough.

For that reason, I chose the XPS 2-2, with the two 1MOA dots inside the giant circle. When I look at it without my glasses, the two dots read as a single line and it is much faster and easier to resolve.

I am an Aimpoint guy, but the XPS 2-2 really is winning me over. Once my battery testing is complete, I'll have no problem recommending it.

 

[benEzra]

The dot moa measurements are BS. The T1 dot at a lower brightness setting gets real close to the size of the Eotechs 1moa dot. The ML3's 2moa jelly bean is about the same size. None of these scopes really seems to have an advantage at 300 yards no matter what the dot size is. The ML2, ML3, M2, M3 aren't even dots.....all too often, jelly beans or squids.

The actual size of the central Eotech dot is less than 1/4 MOA (point source diffraction limited by the optics); it "blooms" to ~1 MOA regardless of magnification because ~1 MOA is the diffraction limit of the human eye at that wavelength, i.e. the smallest that the human eye can resolve a point source. An imperfect or out of focus magnifier (or imperfect eyes) will bloom it more, but the dot really is that small.

An Aimpoint's dot is the reflection of a very, very small LED, so a 2 MOA dot really *is* a 2 MOA dot and grows when magnified, rather than being an artifact of the diffraction limit.

If you have 1.5 MOA eyes, you won't see much difference between an Eotech and a 2 MOA T1, but you would if you put a 4x magnifier behind both. For unmagnified use, though, they're pretty much equivalent.

 

[BikerRN]

do your self a huge favor and stay away from no name "military contractor" suppliers...

either save up your pennies for an aimpoint/eotech/trijicon/etc...

Very good advice.

 

[benEzra]

FWIW, it is impossible to make a dual-color Eotech. The diffraction grating that creates the hologram works only for one very precisely defined wavelength of light.

The optic described in the OP is definitely a cheap, uncorrected red dot in an Eotech-looking body, sort of like dressing a Trabant or Yugo in Porsche 911 GT3 sheet metal. It might look really good sitting there, but it certainly won't perform like the real thing. The primary market is probably for mounting on Airsoft replicas, where a $400+ optic really doesn't make sense.

A $30-$40 red dot from Walmart would perform as well. In the $100-$150 range, a Primary Arms Micro or a Vortex Strikefire would be far superior, IMO.

 

[bukijin]

buy eotech, aimpoint or trijicon. I'd rather spend $600 well than waste $100.

 

[Kingcreek]

I saw a LNIB EoTech 512 for $350 somewhere recently. I think I spent less than $400 on a new one a couple years ago and I've been very happy with it. I wouldn't mess with cheap knock-offs at any price.

 

[TonyAngel]

If you're on a budget, forget an Eotech clone. Look into something along the lines of an Aimpoint knockoff. The ones from Primary Arms get good reviews as do the Vortex products.

 

[fehhkk]

I have a 512, found it on amazon.com for $379.00 with free shipping.

The 512 runs on AA batteries, so the scope's housing is longer. If you have an AR-15 with limited rail space, you might want to go with the more compact XPS2 (which runs on CR123A batteries instead). Your pick.

Don't spend more money on the 552/553 models, the only difference is night vision compatibility.

Like others said, don't waste your money and do it right.

 

[Brockak47]

thanks everyone, I will not buy a knock off i just didn't know anything about these needed some clarifcation. thanks everyone


and @Fehhkk that is really cheap! I would be mounting it on my Ak for now

Piekid, those pictures were really helpful thanks as well

 

[fehhkk]

here you go: http://www.amazon.com/EOTech-512-A6...FVRC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316024269&sr=8-1

it's gone down in price a bit!

Good luck.

 

[Skribs]

A while back I bought an RDS for my shotgun. I originally looked at the 3 reputable brands and thought "why would I put a $600 sight on a $500 gun?" I then saw a laser/RDS combo for $90 at Cabellas.

Guess which I went with?
Now guess how many rounds I fired before the lens spiderwebbed?
If you guessed a 2-digit number for the first question, and a 1-digit number for the second, you were right.

(The sight said it was rated up to .50 caliber)

 

[Brockak47]

thanks guys I think i will go with the EOtech 512, relatively cheap and it takes AA batteries who doesn't have those thanks guys plus i love the sight picture

Thank you all, Thread closed on my end, other users feel free to bump/talk about discuss if helps out other people

 

[Sin City Shootist]

I saw a LNIB EoTech 512 for $350 somewhere recently. I think I spent less than $400 on a new one a couple years ago and I've been very happy with it. I wouldn't mess with cheap knock-offs at any price.

I bought my 512 from quantico tactical for $362. shipped. Use discount code ar15com. And yes buy the real deal or you will kick yourself in the butt for weeks afterwards.

 

[coloradokevin]

Well, I don't know where you're paying $600 for an Eotech, or which one you are looking at, but you can find one a heck of a lot cheaper than that! Here's what I run on my duty weapon, and you can see based on the Google prices that they can be had for less than $400:

Eotech 512

Here's why I went with that one:

1) Eotech is a trusted name. I need it to work, and it does.
2) AA batteries are easy to find when you need them in a pinch.
3) I don't need their ballistic ranging reticle that may or may not match the ballistics of the round I'm carrying.
4) I don't need night vision compatibility on this rifle.

I paid somewhere in the $350-375 range for mine, but can't recall the exact price off hand. The Eotech has been on my rifle for probably better than 4 years now, and that rifle is used professionally in the field. It has been hit into things, rained on, snowed on, frozen, and heated in the trunk of a patrol car. The battery life is very good, even if it isn't as long as that of an Aimpoint (really, if 600-1,000 hours of operating time on an Eotech battery won't get you by, I suppose you're in Zombie Land and you better start looking for ammo, too).

It's just me talking here, but I wouldn't go with a knock-off design unless it was a proven design by a reputable manufacturer. The Eotech does what it does very well, and I'm happy with mine.

 

[45shooter]

In past 10+ years I have and used EOTech, Aimpoint, ACOG along with couple of traditional scopes and if I had to choose just one it would be the Aimpoint.

EOTech is nice and I like them a lot and with their open design for high speed close range work they can't be beat. ACOG is nice too buy as they are magnified they work better for longer range but not so good for close in. For 100+ yards ACOG can't be beat. Aimpoint with traditional tube design is almost as good as EOTech for close range and is pretty good out to about 200 yards... but it is not a target scope. Finally, Aimpoint and ACOG are more durable than EOTech due to the open design of EOTech.

Just my $0.00002 worth based on my experience.

 

[wgp]

Tried the cheap knockoff of an EOTech holo sight, it was pretty worthless and would not hold zero. Pondered the Aimpoint PRO vs the EOTech and went with the EOTech 517. Only shot it once so far but happy with it. It popped right on the rail, adjusted quickly to zero and I like the 65 MOA ring around the small dot. Paid just over $400. I really like the holo sight concept.