Primary Arms Red Dot Sight

[Zouave 13]

Hi, anyone on the forum have much experience with Primary Arms and their red dot sights?  I just purchased the following and got it yesterday...

 

https://www.primaryarms.com/Primary-Arms-3MOA-CR2032-Red-Dot-GENII-p/pa30crgenii.htm

 

I had looked around for feedback before buying one and I'd only seen good reviews on them in general.  Was planning on putting this on my Arsenal SGL21.

 

My concern is though is that in the unit I got, the dot doesn't seem like a dot, more like a splotch and when I turn it on to level 5 or higher (theres 11 settings), I see another smaller red dot at the 4 o'clock position but closer to the rim in addition to the main "dot". 

 

I emailed PA today and amazingly a rep responded within 10 mins and said that the smaller dot was a reflection from the glass and that the splotch was normal and that I'd see both of these on Aimpoints and EOTechs when put on the higher settings.  They also asked that I take it and try it out on the range and let them know if I still have issue with it. 

 

I have or used other red dots from cheap NcStar to an Aimpoint ML3 and don't recall ever seeing a second red dot ever in any of those, much less the red dot not really being a dot. 

 

I'm going to honor the request and see how it does on the range but if it doesn't fly, PA's getting a call from me to at least replace what seems to me like a defective unit right out of the box.  I really want to like this sight given what feedback I've seen and the cost but I'm just worried I wasted $91 on this...

 

Thoughts?

 

(sorry I'd post a pic showing you what I see but I can't seem to get a good picture)

[checko 180]

I had a older generation of the 30mm tube sight.  I didn't have any issues with another dot anywhere on the glass. The unit I had was (relatively) clean, sharp and easy to see. I really liked the sight. 

 

Marshall from PA and his team are awesome with customer service and I'm fairly certain he will make things right if there is a problem.  

Can you try and take a picture through the tube to show us the issue?

[DirtyDigz 1,812]

Have you had it outside in the daylight yet?  I have an aimpoint micro, and it "blooms" and looks big/ragged indoors and in low light when on the higher intensity settings, but outside on a bright day those same settings yield a sharp dot.

[Zouave 13]

Ok, here's two pics I took.  This is with the seting at the highest (11) level, though at lower levels I still see the 2nd dot to the right at around 4 o'clock.  Interestingly in the pics, the main red dot looks ok though through if I look through it, it does not look right.  I did not have a chance to take this out which I guess is why the PA rep asked that I do so...

 

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/202/df33.jpg/

 

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/547/uo4o.jpg/

[checko 180]

Well, you'll never have it up to 11.  especially not in a dark room like that.  It will just make the problem worse.  

 

The dot on the right looks like the led that projects the image onto the glass.  I'be never seen it in that spot but I don't make these things

 

My recommendation is to take it outside during a bright day, turn it up JUST high enough to see the dot.  Then you can evaluate if there is a problem.  You can also post a couple pictures on the PA subforum at ARFCOM and see what Marshall thinks.  Again, I'd post it at a medium setting, in a brighter room. 

[10X 3,320]

This is common if you have astigmatism.  If you aren't wearing corrective lenses, you will see the type of bloom/splotch you describe.

 

Try turning on the dot sight, make a note of the sight picture, then rotate the gun 90 degrees along the axis of the barrel.  If the bloom appears unchanged, it's your eyes.

 

If the bloom also rotates 90 degrees (that is, it's position is unchanged relative to the body of the sight), it's the sight.

 

I finally had to start wearing corrective lenses to shoot the dot sight on my bullseye gun.  My focus was fine, but the astigmatism made the dot too blurry for precision work.