Meprolight Insight

[juk]

Hey guys, I have been passively looking for a good red dot/holo sight for my AR for a while now. On a recent trip to the local gun store, the guy behind the counter showed me a Trijicon Dual Illuminated reflex sight. I didn't buy it, but was interested enough to do a little research.

The optic I was shown was a "military" version. It retails for around 525$ and is powered by tritium and fiber optics. No batteries. There is a similar sight made by Meprolight that is essentially the same thing just with different reticles. The Meprolight M21 comes with a pretty decent QD mount, and has gotten great reviews from the very few reviews that I can find.

So, before I decide to pull the trigger, I was wanting to know if anyone here had first hand experience with either the Meprolight M21 or the Trijicon. Worst case scenario is that I can't find enough info on them to be comfortable with purchasing one and decide to pick up an Aimpoint PRO instead.

 

[briansmithwins]

Sounds like a Trijicon Reflex II.

I've had one for a couple years and it's pretty solid. I suspect it's not as robust as a Aimpoint, but what is?

There are a couple problems that the Reflex II has:

1) If you're in a room looking out to bright sunshine the optic may not collect enough light and the reticle will wash out.

2) If you're in really bright light the optic may collect too much light and the reticle will 'bloom'. This is easily solved by taping over part of the front where the optic collects light.

The Reflex is a very nice sight and has some reticle options the Aimpoints don't. OTOH, I'll have to send the Reflex back to the factory for a tritium refill. The Aimpoint will have burned thru 2-3 batteries by then.

BSW

 

[juk]

That is a good point. I haven't put much thought into the fact that tritium will decay and eventually become useless as an illumination source. I wonder how much it would cost to have it replaced or recharged?

 

[Gordon]

Almost as much as the sight and there lies the rub! Bounced my 17 year old one off the cement wall when Trigicon gave me the wonderful news from their "customer service", 'buy a new planned obsolescent!'

 

[juk]

That's what I needed to hear! I suppose an Aimpoint is in my future. Really, a PRO would probably just be a better bet for my purposes. I love the idea of not needing batteries, but I couldn't stomach having to pay that kind of money to replace the tritium every 10 years. I want whatever sight I buy to last a long time with a minimum amount of extra expenditure.