Red Dot Sights for AR-15 - which one?

[Lone Shark 2]

Looking for a Red Dot for my AR. At first I was looking at the Sig Romeo5 XDR. Priced around $200, thought was a good deal, but has 6 month Backorder. Don't want to wait.

My Buddy told me to look into the Trijicon MRO, then theirs the Aimpoint Pro, same price range, both available.

Any feedback or other recommendations would be helpful.

 

 

[Displaced Texan 8,621]

Based on this data, I’d probably get an Aimpoint...and I’m a HUGE Trijicon fan. 
https://www.ar15.com/forums/AR-15/Observations-On-The-Effect-Of-Parallax-Error-When-Shooting-With-An-Aimpoint-Comp-M5-And-Trijicon-MRO/18-761668/

 

[Old Glock guy 960]

The Aimpoint PRO is a great choice.  I have one on mine, and have been very happy with it, but it's about twice the price of what you mentioned.  I have a Romeo MSR on my Mini 14, and while I have not had the opportunity to run that as hard as I have my PRO, it seems to work just fine.  They are only around $130, and I have seen them available recently. 

[Redeye65 115]

36 minutes ago, Displaced Texan said:

Based on this data, I’d probably get an Aimpoint...and I’m a HUGE Trijicon fan. 
https://www.ar15.com/forums/AR-15/Observations-On-The-Effect-Of-Parallax-Error-When-Shooting-With-An-Aimpoint-Comp-M5-And-Trijicon-MRO/18-761668/

 

Great read. 
 

My first red dot was a primary arms Slx md25. The shot goes where the dot is placed, that’s about as scientific of a review I can give you.  
 

they are $169 if in stock.  

[DirtyDigz 1,277]

I have several different laser-projected red dot sights including an aimpoint.

I'm *also* a fan of prismatic sights including the Vortex strikefire (I have a couple of them as well).

Not sure what your criteria are, but take a look at prismatics too - especially if you have a degree of astigmatism.

[Lone Shark 2]

Hey Texan, very informative test results by Molon.

Do the results get even more exaggerated if I add a 3x behind it? 

[Displaced Texan 8,621]

32 minutes ago, Lone Shark said:

Hey Texan, very informative test results by Molon.

Do the results get even more exaggerated if I add a 3x behind it? 

I would imagine they do change somewhat, but I’m not an expert in that area. I don’t know if it would be a ‘good, or bad’ change. 
 

For the most part, I’m a ACOG and LPVO user, don’t have much personal experience with red dot parallax. 
 

@High Exposure can tell you more I imagine. 
 

 

[tony357 385]

I have strike fire red dot on mine, new version is strike fire2  

VTX_M-00261-0_SF_2_RD_P_PM_WEB.pdf (widen.net)

Vortex Strikefire II Red Dot Sight | Bass Pro Shops

[Lone Shark 2]

OK. So after quite a bit of research/surfing, this is what I found out.

Looking for a red dot for closer range and want to add a 3x magnifier so I can shoot 200 yards.

 

Using a Red Dot with 2 MOA, adding a 3x magnifier makes it 6 MOA. At 200 yards the dot is 12". 

With a Holographic Sight 1 MOA, adding a 3x magnifier stays at 1 MOA. At 200 yards the dot is 2".

 

Very interesting, Hopefully the info is correct. If anyone has experience with this please confirm.

 

[Displaced Texan 8,621]

With a 50 yard zero you can shoot 0-200 easily with a red dot, not a huge change in POI, no magnifier needed. 
 

 

[Lone Shark 2]

1 hour ago, Displaced Texan said:

With a 50 yard zero you can shoot 0-200 easily with a red dot, not a huge change in POI, no magnifier needed. 
 

 

Not sure my eyes can handle the 200 yards.

I got a P226 Legion with a red dot right when everything shut down last year so it stayed in the box. I'll be in my back yard tomorrow with the  slide and red dot to see if I even need the magnifier. Thx

 

[Lone Shark 2]

So I grabbed my Romeo1Pro which is 3 MOA and went outside. Never used a red dot past 50 yards at the range. It seems like 200 yards would be fine.

[JackDaWack 2,542]

On 2/22/2021 at 10:09 AM, Lone Shark said:

Hey Texan, very informative test results by Molon.

Do the results get even more exaggerated if I add a 3x behind it? 

For the MRO? 

No, actually you would gain significant improvement. 

The parallax issue is more specifically from "odd" position shots where you cant get being the reticle on center. Like laying on the ground. The MRO suffers when the dot is at the extremes of the glass, from POI. Within the middle majority  of the glass the red dot is still on POI like every other red dot. 

Using a magnifier will place you more appropriately on center since it WILL have parallax limitations to even see through it. The dots always increase in size with magnification, a 2moa dot at 3x appears 6moa. A 1moa dot at 3x is, 3moa. But moa doesn't change at distance. 1moa is roughly 1inch every 100 yards.. its an angle thing. The 1moa dot magnified to appear 3moa, is still... 1 moa..

If you maintain proper cheek weld and treat it like any other optic with parallax its irrelevant. I find the benefit with the MRO is the field of view. I would take the MRO with worse parallax than an aimpoint pro that gives me tube vision. 

[Shepherd9 213]

I'll throw in a recommendation for the Holosun 510C reflex sight.  Basically a less expensive Eotech.

I have a couple of them and they have been fantastic.  Very low (to practically none) parallax.  Great battery life, supplemented by solar power.  Holds a zero and works very well with a 3x magnifier.  

 

[GlennS87 61]

I have had these for 3 years with no issues but I will admit that they have seen mostly static range duty as I didn't want to spend a lot of money:

AT3™ Magnified AR-15 Red Dot with Laser Sight Kit | LEOS and RRDM (at3tactical.com)

 

[JackDaWack 2,542]

4 hours ago, Shepherd9 said:

I'll throw in a recommendation for the Holosun 510C reflex sight.  Basically a less expensive Eotech.

I have a couple of them and they have been fantastic.  Very low (to practically none) parallax.  Great battery life, supplemented by solar power.  Holds a zero and works very well with a 3x magnifier.  

 

Less expensive and better. Just bought one a few months ago. 

[Lone Shark 2]

On 2/28/2021 at 2:53 PM, JackDaWack said:

Less expensive and better. Just bought one a few months ago. 

Can you elaborate on the Eotech.

Trying to decide on an optic based on online reviews feels like I'm watching tv commercials.

The most popular ones with good reviews are the Eotech, Aimpro and the Trijicon MRO.

Was considering the Eotech XPS3 - Not familiar with holographic optic, never used one. I do like the 1 moa, plus stays at 1 moa even when using it with a 3x magnifier. I think that would be great for smaller targets at a distance.

Any opinions on the Eotech? Good or Bad

 

 

 

[marlintag 128]

On 2/21/2021 at 11:10 PM, Lone Shark said:

Looking for a Red Dot for my AR. At first I was looking at the Sig Romeo5 XDR. Priced around $200, thought was a good deal, but has 6 month Backorder. Don't want to wait.

My Buddy told me to look into the Trijicon MRO, then theirs the Aimpoint Pro, same price range, both available.

Any feedback or other recommendations would be helpful.

 

 

The question i have for you is do you have an astigmatism? I purchased a red dot recently and after a few range sessions and some researched, it became clear that i have astigmatism in both eyes which makes red dots a no-go for me. There is alot of good red dots out there, but if you have astigmatism the dot will appear blurry or starburst. I have since ordered a good prism sight.

[Redeye65 115]

As others have said, if you have an astigmatism a red dot could be an issue, it was for me, the red dot was a blurry star burst that gave me headaches, I solved my issue with one of these.  
https://vortexoptics.com/vortex-strike-eagle-1-8x24-ar-bdc3.html

 

 

[JackDaWack 2,542]

2 hours ago, Lone Shark said:

Can you elaborate on the Eotech.

Trying to decide on an optic based on online reviews feels like I'm watching tv commercials.

The most popular ones with good reviews are the Eotech, Aimpro and the Trijicon MRO.

Was considering the Eotech XPS3 - Not familiar with holographic optic, never used one. I do like the 1 moa, plus stays at 1 moa even when using it with a 3x magnifier. I think that would be great for smaller targets at a distance.

Any opinions on the Eotech? Good or Bad

 

 

 

Depending on the model they can have battery issues. The battery life is bad. They have terrible drift from zero with minor temp swings. Talking about a hot or cold trunk on your drive to the range. They literally had to buy back any of their RDS if people asked. I think the DOD sued them. Their dots are not crisp at all due to it being a hologram. I had a xps2, I liked the optic but sold it for an MRO. 

 

All RDS stay at their moa under magnification, be it 1 2 or 3. They will appear bigger, by whatever the magnification is, along with everything else down sight. 

 

[Lone Shark 2]

1 hour ago, marlintag said:

The question i have for you is do you have an astigmatism? I purchased a red dot recently and after a few range sessions and some researched, it became clear that i have astigmatism in both eyes which makes red dots a no-go for me. There is alot of good red dots out there, but if you have astigmatism the dot will appear blurry or starburst. I have since ordered a good prism sight.

8 minutes ago, Redeye65 said:

As others have said, if you have an astigmatism a red dot could be an issue, it was for me, the red dot was a blurry star burst that gave me headaches, I solved my issue with one of these.  
https://vortexoptics.com/vortex-strike-eagle-1-8x24-ar-bdc3.html

 

 

Thanks for your replies.

So looking at my red dot it seems a little blurry, not terrible, I wear glasses so I just figured its my eyesight. So of course after reading your posts I need to take it to the next level and google Red Dot Astigmatism. This is what I came up with:

"Turn the red dot on and, using your mobile phone, point the lens down the sight as you would with your eye. How does the dot look? Is it crisp or is it showing you what your eyes are seeing? If the dot looks good, there’s a possibility that you have astigmatism".

Sure enough the red dot is clear thru my cell phone Camera. Now What???

 

[JackDaWack 2,542]

10 minutes ago, Lone Shark said:

Thanks for your replies.

So looking at my red dot it seems a little blurry, not terrible, I wear glasses so I just figured its my eyesight. So of course after reading your posts I need to take it to the next level and google Red Dot Astigmatism. This is what I came up with:

"Turn the red dot on and, using your mobile phone, point the lens down the sight as you would with your eye. How does the dot look? Is it crisp or is it showing you what your eyes are seeing? If the dot looks good, there’s a possibility that you have astigmatism".

Sure enough the red dot is clear thru my cell phone Camera. Now What???

 

When you look at your red dot, what are you focusing your eye on? The dot?

[Lone Shark 2]

7 minutes ago, JackDaWack said:

When you look at your red dot, what are you focusing your eye on? The dot?

Definitely clearer when I focus on a target, perfect with both eyes open.

[Lone Shark 2]

2 hours ago, marlintag said:

The question i have for you is do you have an astigmatism? I purchased a red dot recently and after a few range sessions and some researched, it became clear that i have astigmatism in both eyes which makes red dots a no-go for me. There is alot of good red dots out there, but if you have astigmatism the dot will appear blurry or starburst. I have since ordered a good prism sight.

Which sight did you end up getting?

[JackDaWack 2,542]

11 minutes ago, Lone Shark said:

Definitely clearer when I focus on a target, perfect with both eyes open.

That's how it's done! As long as you have a decent clean dot when focusing on the target you're gtg, not much to worry about. 

The refracted light is more noticeable when you focus on the dot, due to the shape of your eye lense. When you focus beyond the dot, the dot becomes more uniform and less focused.. inherently it makes no sense.. but I beleive it's due to the nature of the led light waves bouncing off and through glass, and how our eye lense can focus on it, to pick up all the imperfections, or look "Through" it and focus down range giving you a better dot in your feild of view. 

[Redeye65 115]

59 minutes ago, Lone Shark said:

Definitely clearer when I focus on a target, perfect with both eyes open.

I’m jealous, wish I could say that.  

[marlintag 128]

8 hours ago, Lone Shark said:

Which sight did you end up getting?

I ordered a "Primary Arms SLx Compact 1x20 Prism Scope w/ACSS Cyclops" it's meant for ar/ak's and is excellent for mild or severe astigmatism. They also have a 3x version as well, but i just wanted a 1x for mostly cqb situations. All of these can be used with magnifiers and most have night vision options, Other options for people with eye issues are:

Cyclops (Primary Arms)

Vortex Spitfire 1x

Swamp Fox Blade prism scope 1x

Sig Bravo 5 (a little more pricey than the others)

 

[silverado427 7,046]

I run the PA fixed 2.5 and the 3x acss  And their my favorites. I'm fazing out my red dot sights.

The magnification is just what I was looking for too. jmho 

[Krdshrk 3,159]

14 hours ago, marlintag said:

The question i have for you is do you have an astigmatism? I purchased a red dot recently and after a few range sessions and some researched, it became clear that i have astigmatism in both eyes which makes red dots a no-go for me. There is alot of good red dots out there, but if you have astigmatism the dot will appear blurry or starburst. I have since ordered a good prism sight.

A prism scope you'll still have smearing if you use the built in illumination - it illuminates the same way as a red dot.

 

[Lone Shark 2]

This is the reason I keep on going back to the Eotech EXPS3.      If its on the internet it must be true!  

Holographic Weapon Sight.