Reflex sights
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briansmithwins
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Reflex sights reflect a image back at the user of a aiming point.
So red dots are a kind of reflex sight. The 'Reflex' brand sights by Trijicon use ambient light and/or tritium illumination to generate the aiming point. Aimpoint brand sights use a battery powering an LED.
There are advantages and disadvantages to each. BSW
So red dots are a kind of reflex sight. The 'Reflex' brand sights by Trijicon use ambient light and/or tritium illumination to generate the aiming point. Aimpoint brand sights use a battery powering an LED.
There are advantages and disadvantages to each. BSW
briansmithwins
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Yes.
Without knowing a specific brand or design it's hard to make generalizations. Single lens sights range form 'horribly bad' to 'I would take them into combat' quality wise. Generally, the more you spend, the more you get.
BSW
Without knowing a specific brand or design it's hard to make generalizations. Single lens sights range form 'horribly bad' to 'I would take them into combat' quality wise. Generally, the more you spend, the more you get.
BSW
X-Rap
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I have a couple Reflex sights and an EOTech. The Reflex sights have a 3" and triangular sighting dots. The EOTech has a 1" dot with a 6' circle.
Pros and cons?
The Reflex sights need no outside power source and are always on. They are very compact and durable and for up close shooting they probably have the edge.
The EOTech with the 1" dot is much better for accuracy than the larger Reflex dots, the brightness is adjustable, the ring can be used as a scale for longer distances.
Without power it has nothing, it is fairly durable but nothing compared to the Reflex construction, the switches on the newer mods. are more convenient.
I can't say anything about the aimpoints, but of the 2 brands that I have it is a toss up on which I would stake my life on with the Reflex maybe taking a small edge.
To clarify, my Reflex sights are the Trijicon brand. I can't agree more about the variations in quality, you can waste your money on some real crap that may lay down on you when you need it most.
Pros and cons?
The Reflex sights need no outside power source and are always on. They are very compact and durable and for up close shooting they probably have the edge.
The EOTech with the 1" dot is much better for accuracy than the larger Reflex dots, the brightness is adjustable, the ring can be used as a scale for longer distances.
Without power it has nothing, it is fairly durable but nothing compared to the Reflex construction, the switches on the newer mods. are more convenient.
I can't say anything about the aimpoints, but of the 2 brands that I have it is a toss up on which I would stake my life on with the Reflex maybe taking a small edge.
To clarify, my Reflex sights are the Trijicon brand. I can't agree more about the variations in quality, you can waste your money on some real crap that may lay down on you when you need it most.
Z-Michigan
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In general usage, reflex sight is the same as a red dot sight. The presence or absence of a tube is irrelevant to how the sight works. Basically, there are three similar types:
-conventional red dot like Aimpoint - LED provides the dot
-Trijicon's tritium/fiber-optic type reflex sights - tritium or ambient light provides the dot. No batteries to fail, but not as bright and the image is more obscured because of the type of lens used.
-holographic sights - Eotech, Holosight, and ITL Mars ONLY - laser holography provides the aiming image. Totally different technology, but user experience is almost the same as with a red dot sight.
-conventional red dot like Aimpoint - LED provides the dot
-Trijicon's tritium/fiber-optic type reflex sights - tritium or ambient light provides the dot. No batteries to fail, but not as bright and the image is more obscured because of the type of lens used.
-holographic sights - Eotech, Holosight, and ITL Mars ONLY - laser holography provides the aiming image. Totally different technology, but user experience is almost the same as with a red dot sight.
Has anyone used the Trijicon Reflex that uses the amber triangle? It would seem to me you could sight your rifle in so the top corner of the triangle is a pretty precise aiming point for longer shots, and use the body of the triangle as essentially a dot for close shots.
Would that work or not?
Would that work or not?
SharpsDressedMan
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Seems like it would work better for that if it was an upside down triangle...............
If you're comparing brands of equal quality, the main differences are:
Reflex sights are usually square, red dots are always round.
Reflex sights usually mount higher up than a red dot with ultra-low rings, but some of the newer tiny ones don't.
That's about it.
Reflex sights are usually square, red dots are always round.
Reflex sights usually mount higher up than a red dot with ultra-low rings, but some of the newer tiny ones don't.
That's about it.
Yes and no.
Reflex sights are prone to washout in direct sun. That is, there are conditions under which a reflex sight will have lower visility of the target dot/chevron/point/whatever. ALL reflex sights suffer from this, though the degree will vary with quality. AFAIK, even the best reflex sights will be hard to see under certain light conditions. Tube sights, with the dot shadowed by the tube, don't have this problem (though you may have to adjust the brightness up or down).
Reflex sights TEND to be more delicate than tube-type sights, owing to how they are constructed. There is heavy variation in this, though.
Which is best for you really depends on what you're using it for. If you honestly need this thing to behave like a military-grade sight, which can be banged around, dropped, dunked in water, sit in the rack for years left on and still work, there is one option: Aimpoint. If I was intending the gun to be used as a weapon, this is the way I would go.
However, if you are just intending to use this gun as a plinker, sport shooter, fun gun, game gun, hunting gun, whatever (read: everything else besides "weapon"), there is no need to drop that much money on a red dot. There are a lot of really good reflex and tube style sights out there that will work just fine for a fraction of the cost. And, if something goes bump in the night, they'll probably work when you pick up the gun.
Mike
Reflex sights are prone to washout in direct sun. That is, there are conditions under which a reflex sight will have lower visility of the target dot/chevron/point/whatever. ALL reflex sights suffer from this, though the degree will vary with quality. AFAIK, even the best reflex sights will be hard to see under certain light conditions. Tube sights, with the dot shadowed by the tube, don't have this problem (though you may have to adjust the brightness up or down).
Reflex sights TEND to be more delicate than tube-type sights, owing to how they are constructed. There is heavy variation in this, though.
Which is best for you really depends on what you're using it for. If you honestly need this thing to behave like a military-grade sight, which can be banged around, dropped, dunked in water, sit in the rack for years left on and still work, there is one option: Aimpoint. If I was intending the gun to be used as a weapon, this is the way I would go.
However, if you are just intending to use this gun as a plinker, sport shooter, fun gun, game gun, hunting gun, whatever (read: everything else besides "weapon"), there is no need to drop that much money on a red dot. There are a lot of really good reflex and tube style sights out there that will work just fine for a fraction of the cost. And, if something goes bump in the night, they'll probably work when you pick up the gun.
Mike
X-Rap
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I have one but I need a base before I can mount it, I think it is a 12" triangle but am not sure from where that is measured.
I think that I will zero at 100yds to the top of the triangle for fine shots then sould COM shots ever be required I should be good. My biggest enemys at this time are coyotes so thats why I have the 1" preference of the EOTech.
possum
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I have an use an eotech on my personal ar, i have been running it hard, at the range, and in a few training courses over the last 5 years and i couldn't be happier with it. i prefer the eo tech over every red dot optic out there, the only one that i would buy other than an eotech is an aimpoint micro t-1, but they are really expensive.
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