What is your preferred inexpensive red dot, and why?

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Vortex strikefire, bought one and it quit working part way into the first mag, called them and had a new one 2 days latter no charge or shipping, the new one has been flawless. If this was on a duty gun I would stick with aimpoint, or eo tec.
 
Primary Arms or Bushnell TRS-25. Generally I prefer the PA as it sits a bit lower -- its an imitator of the Aimpoint T-1. I like the PA setup so much I'll spring for the Aimpoint if it dies, but so far none of my six have given any trouble.

I like the Vortex Stike-fire very much, but its a lot larger, great on an AR, not so much on other rifles, and about 2X the price of the PA or TRS.
 
Vortex Sparc.

I installed this on my SIG 556 Classic. With the low mount, and spacer, the little red dot just hovers at the tip of the front sight post. It comes with a 2x magnifier, something I have not used yet, and may never use, but the completeness of the package is pretty cool, 2 or 3 mounting solutions and the magnifier, all at $1 less than $200.

The little buttons on the left of the optic for on/off, dot brightness and "night vision" mode are easy to access.

I really like mine.
 
TRS-25!!! Lifetime warranty, 3 m.o.a. dot, same size as Aimpoint Micro at 1/5 the price. $83 @ Amazon, no taxes, free shipping. I have two mounted on ARs and one on a Glock. Great little sights.
 
Vortex Strikefire. Purchased one over a year ago and it has been excellent on my FAL. The only flaw, (besides the useless 2x magnifier), was when a buddy wanted to try it on his RRA LAR-762. The rubber that goes around the objective lens which holds the flip up lens cups. Hit the Picatanny rail and caused it to point up. Removed the rubber (it just slips off), and worked great. Had to adjust windage for his rifle 10 MOA. After putting it back on my FAL, I just dialed the windage back the same number of clicks and it was right on. I have heard that the dot is not very bright. It is hard to see against a fluorescent red gong at our club, but not against any other targets. I also like that I can instantly change from red to green. I have not needed the Night Vision modes as I have no night vision equipment.

I paid $150 delivered from "optics planet". Don't know what they are charging now.

I have used this alot, and still on original battery.

LNK
 
Another vote for the Vortex SPARC. My first one had issues cutting-off and they replaced it with a reasonable amount of fuss and delay. Good dot and options. The 2x magnifier is not totally useless. For longer range target shooting out to 150 m on my AO M1 carbine, I like to use it.
 
I hope I'm not the only one that took advantage of Primary Arms' Black Friday Vortex Strikefire package deal. For the price of just the Strikefire ($169) you get a red/green version (like the one I already have), which comes with a very good mount, an additional cantilever mount, a PA 3x magnifier (vastly superior to the one included by Vortex) and I opted for the swing away magnifier mount ($40). It came today and is a very impressive package for the modest price.
 
CraigC said:
I hope I'm not the only one that took advantage of Primary Arms' Black Friday Vortex Strikefire package deal. For the price of just the Strikefire ($169) you get a red/green version (like the one I already have), which comes with a very good mount, an additional cantilever mount, a PA 3x magnifier (vastly superior to the one included by Vortex) and I opted for the swing away magnifier mount ($40). It came today and is a very impressive package for the modest price.
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That's a smoking deal. All that for 2 bones?
 
The cheap $20 BSA would get my vote. I wouldn't get rid of my good ones but for $20 it works fine. Holds zero even when beat on and just loves batteries.

Once you get into the $150 range I would suggest to just keep saving and get an aimpoint, acog or other good optic.



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I noticed that Midway has the Bushnell Trophy 1x4 Red Dot on sale right now for $82.60. I've never used one but the reviews seem favorable, mostly.
 
+1 for vortex. Very good warranty. The sparc and strikefire are the best dots under $300.
 
folks,
I'm looking for an entry level red dot for my casual use flat top AR. FYI I'm pretty "entry level" myself when it comes to this stuff. The TRS-25 looks like a great buy and the posts here seem pretty positive. Any negatives? Battery life? Would I need a spacer for 1/3 co-witness?

Thanks,
- Mark
 
I noticed that Midway has the Bushnell Trophy 1x4 Red Dot on sale right now for $82.60. I've never used one but the reviews seem favorable, mostly.
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Thats $1 more than on Amazon, and Amazon gives you free shipping!
 
I prefer an Aimpoint Micro T-1. I am not sure where it falls on the expense scale. I decided anything less was not worth owning, and then found the best deal reasonably possible at the time.
 
I studied up on good/cheap red dots a fair amount.

Found the Vortex StrikeFire to not be very bright and the Bushnell TRS25 to be extremely bluish/green but it did have a nice dot.

Instead of going with cheap red dots, I like quality "affordable" fixed power, low magnification scopes.
 
I have a TRS25 and a Vortex Strikefire. I prefer the Vortex and it comes with a decent mount, the Bushnell does not.
 
I like Primary Arms red dots for budget units. They are well made, hold up well, hold zero fine, and they are inexpensive. Primary Arms customer service is tops if you should need to use it. I have their M3 and M4 style sights and they work just great.
 
76shuvlinoff said:
folks,
I'm looking for an entry level red dot for my casual use flat top AR. FYI I'm pretty "entry level" myself when it comes to this stuff. The TRS-25 looks like a great buy and the posts here seem pretty positive. Any negatives? Battery life? Would I need a spacer for 1/3 co-witness?

Thanks,
- Mark
Click to expand...


I have two TRS-25s and no real negatives from me as they're much better than I expected. I like a bottom 1/3 cowitness with my AR irons and the following mount is the lowest price solution. I bought one as a temporary fix but it's a tough mount that holds zero so I bought two more. The RDS and the mount both are bargains.

http://www.amazon.com/UTG-Profile-Riser-Mount-slots/dp/B003TWZG4G/ref=pd_bxgy_sg_img_z
 
If you get a red dot get a good one.

If you want cheap get a good ghost ring peep
 
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