jlewis406
Member
I have a Sparc on my 10/22 and a Strike Fire on my wife's Bushmaster. They are pretty much the same scope in my opinion.
Things I like about the Strike Fire
-Cheap
-Robust enough for every day use. Banged it around a bit and still held zero.
-Long battery life.
-Ability to switch between red and green dots. Dots are good size too.
-Control's are decent. On/off/dot color could use some re-design but I don't have any better ideas.
Things I don't like about the Strike Fire
-Objective lens coating makes shooting in low light hard. Even at low power settings the dot can bloom out your optic easily.
-Red and green dots bloom out scope even at low power settings in low light.
-Magnifier doesn't really magnify. It just restricts your vision (like watching a small TV across a large room. After a while you don't even notice it's a tiny TV)
-Magnifier takes about 13,000 turns to get installed. Kind of a long ordeal. Focus adjustment takes about 5 or 6 turns to see any change.
-The mount is meh. I torqued it down tight with some nail polish on the threads.
-It takes a CR2 battery that can be tricky at times to find.
Things I like about the Sparc
-Size. I can shoot both eyes open and the optic all but disappears. Doesn't obstruct my vision very much.
-Very light weight.
-Options on mounts. Low cheek weld on my 10/22 or co-witness on an AR-15.
-Good battery life.
-Tough. It's on my 10/22 that gets banged around in my truck or in my ruck and holds zero.
-Has lanyards on the adjustment caps.
-Price.
Things I don't like about the Sparc
-Lanyards have a tendency to twist and can be hard to get tiny caps off for adjustment.
-Screws in mounts need some nail polish or Loctite to stay put. I pulled it off after a few hundred rounds and found 2 screws missing.
-Objective lens coating is better than Strike Fire, but still not awesome in low light. Even in normal light it adds a blue hue to everything. Odd when shooting both eyes open because one eye sees things normally, the other see's the blue hue.
-O-rings on caps suck. Cracked or broke in a few months.
-Magnifier...same as I said on Strike Fire.
-Controls....same opinion as on Strike Fire.
-Would like option of red or green dot with the push of a button like on Strike Fire
Conclusion.
For the price, they are to beat IN MY OPINION. The optics seem pretty tough and stand up to abuse as long as you put in some forthought to use loctite or nail polish (my personal favorite for screws) to keep things from falling out. Easy to zero and they hold their zero well. Good battery life and decent controls. The magnifier and the objective lens coating are my only real gripes with these dudes. All in all, if you don't wanna drop the money on a high end red dot or holo optic this is a good choice especially for normal use. Would I take them to Afghanistan with me? No. Would I use them for plinking, coyote hunting and as a fairly reliable everyday use optic? Yes.
Things I like about the Strike Fire
-Cheap
-Robust enough for every day use. Banged it around a bit and still held zero.
-Long battery life.
-Ability to switch between red and green dots. Dots are good size too.
-Control's are decent. On/off/dot color could use some re-design but I don't have any better ideas.
Things I don't like about the Strike Fire
-Objective lens coating makes shooting in low light hard. Even at low power settings the dot can bloom out your optic easily.
-Red and green dots bloom out scope even at low power settings in low light.
-Magnifier doesn't really magnify. It just restricts your vision (like watching a small TV across a large room. After a while you don't even notice it's a tiny TV)
-Magnifier takes about 13,000 turns to get installed. Kind of a long ordeal. Focus adjustment takes about 5 or 6 turns to see any change.
-The mount is meh. I torqued it down tight with some nail polish on the threads.
-It takes a CR2 battery that can be tricky at times to find.
Things I like about the Sparc
-Size. I can shoot both eyes open and the optic all but disappears. Doesn't obstruct my vision very much.
-Very light weight.
-Options on mounts. Low cheek weld on my 10/22 or co-witness on an AR-15.
-Good battery life.
-Tough. It's on my 10/22 that gets banged around in my truck or in my ruck and holds zero.
-Has lanyards on the adjustment caps.
-Price.
Things I don't like about the Sparc
-Lanyards have a tendency to twist and can be hard to get tiny caps off for adjustment.
-Screws in mounts need some nail polish or Loctite to stay put. I pulled it off after a few hundred rounds and found 2 screws missing.
-Objective lens coating is better than Strike Fire, but still not awesome in low light. Even in normal light it adds a blue hue to everything. Odd when shooting both eyes open because one eye sees things normally, the other see's the blue hue.
-O-rings on caps suck. Cracked or broke in a few months.
-Magnifier...same as I said on Strike Fire.
-Controls....same opinion as on Strike Fire.
-Would like option of red or green dot with the push of a button like on Strike Fire
Conclusion.
For the price, they are to beat IN MY OPINION. The optics seem pretty tough and stand up to abuse as long as you put in some forthought to use loctite or nail polish (my personal favorite for screws) to keep things from falling out. Easy to zero and they hold their zero well. Good battery life and decent controls. The magnifier and the objective lens coating are my only real gripes with these dudes. All in all, if you don't wanna drop the money on a high end red dot or holo optic this is a good choice especially for normal use. Would I take them to Afghanistan with me? No. Would I use them for plinking, coyote hunting and as a fairly reliable everyday use optic? Yes.
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