New-fangled electronic sights?!

[1911 guy]

O.K., confession time. Forgive me, THR, for I have sinned. I have languished long in the darkness of iron sights and traditional riflescopes. But I am ready to mend my ways and get on board with the 21st century. And I'll start by buying one of those battery operated sights for one of my ARs.

So, those of you who have opinions and preferably first-hand experience, guide me in my penance. The rifle is a "beater". Think the proverbial "truck gun". I want to be able to use irons as a back-up, cowitness would be great. Little to no magnification needed. Top of my list right now are the Aimpoint PRO and the Eotech 517. Is there a clear winner between these two, and is there something similar that I need to be considering also?

The rifle is going to see some carbine classes, lots of banging around and target/range use out to 200 yards. I do like shooting small groups, so the Eotech has a certain appeal, being a 1 MOA dot versus the PRO at 2 MOA.

Thoughts?

 

[Outlaw Man]

I think the winner is generally the Aimpoint, due to the extreme battery life and battle-proven ruggedness. That's not to say the EOTech won't hold up to whatever you throw at it (people are successfully using them in war zones right now) or that the batteries will die on you all the time. Both are very good optics - good enough that most any differences come down to personal preference.

But, if you want the best of the best, most people will tell you to go with Aimpoint.

Being a truck gun, the battery life might me the decision maker if it was me. Forgetting to turn it off won't come back to bite you for several years. On the other hand, that gas station just down the block might have AA batteries for sale...

ETA: in fairness, I should tell you I am an EOTech dealer.

 

[taliv]

if you get an eotech, make sure it is a newer one and the style where the battery is perpendicular to the barrel.

neither are going to be fantastic for shooting small groups to 200 though. they're more appropriate for hitting say, an 10" plate at 200 standing.

an alternative would be something like the vortex 1-6x HD which would let you do the tiny groups and on 1x is just as easy to use as the aimpoint/eotech. the downside is that it is a brick an your back muscles will be screaming by mid-day at the carbine class

i have aimpoint micro t1s, USO 1-8x and vortex 1-6x and swaro z6i 1-6x on my ARs. (and an old acog). it would be really hard for me to choose just one.

 

[rcmodel]

You really can't forget and leave an EOtech on.

The EOtech shuts itself off after 4 or 8 hours of non-use.
If you touch a button sometime in that time period, it starts counting down all over again.

Programmable by the user if you want 4 or 8 hours.

rc

 

[Outlaw Man]

You're right. Good catch.