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Budget Red Dot for AR
- Thread starter BlackRifler42
- Start date
I prefer the SighMark Ultra shot. It a reflex sight as opposed to the tube style red dots. I find my field of view is less obstructed with the reflex style. I have owned five and have two now on 6.8 spcII's and they work wonderfully and hold their zero. I have had the same battery in one for almost two years. The ULtra shot has four reticle choices and 5 brightness settings. I have them on everything from a 5.56 to a 12 gauge and none ever failed me. Stayed on mark all the time. I think they are just over 100 bucks now. They use the popular coin style battery that's easy to find as well. The Ultra Shot is not like the real cheap reflex optics that just have a lens and a ring around it to keep the glass in, the Ultra Shot has a protective cover over all the vitals to keep from knocking the lens and ring around. Take a look at them on SightMarks web site. I don't like the Quick Detach ones cause some of them are prone to excessive movement when locked down so avoid them if you can. The QD ones work ok for shotguns but for rifles where you want to be more precise then buy the permanent attached one. You can still remove it and put it back on and it will retain it's zero if you return it to it's original place. I also like the fact that even if the dot is touching the side of the lens the shot will still go where that dot is. The dot doesn't have to be right in the middle to make the shot. You can just throw the gun up to your shoulder and point the gun at the target. No matter where that dot is on the lens that where it will shoot. You can get off a shot real quick.
have had tons of budget ones, sight mark, holosun, and PA are all not bad at all for the money but my personal preference has been vortex. have had strikefire, strikefire II, sparc and sparc II and loved them all, stellar customers service
The Vortex ones are hard to beat if you like the tube style red dot. A tad bulky for me but they great and will stand up to anything in that price range. The only thing that might be a stopper is the price. I think they a cresting 200 bucks now. Another thing I don't really like is the way they look on the gun. You have this big one inch riser and then big chunk of medal on top of it. It looks kind of goofy to me. The Sight Mark Reflex sights kinda seem to conform to the gun vs. sticking way up in the air buts that all personal crap. Vortex sights a great for the money. I have owned a few of them myself.
I have a Bushnell TRS-25 and Vortex 3x magnifier on my AR9. It was around $70 shipped from Midway. So far so good. Nice and bright dot, and it has held zero so far.
I have an astigmatism, so the dot isn't a perfect circle. Not a big deal to me.
I have an astigmatism, so the dot isn't a perfect circle. Not a big deal to me.
I can't seem to get behind a reflex sight or a laser.
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GAgunLAWbooklet
I've had good service out of the Tasco Red Dot.
Got one on Eeyore's AR57 that works great. Got another I'm thinking of putting on my folding stock 20" barrel Ithaca M37.
Like
GAgunLAWbooklet
I've had good service out of the Tasco Red Dot.Got one on Eeyore's AR57 that works great. Got another I'm thinking of putting on my folding stock 20" barrel Ithaca M37.
I don't think it's your condition. All the budget red dots are going to have a slight starburst effect. I mean the circle reticle will be a circle with the dot in the middle but when you select the red dot only reticle, it's not going to be perfectly round like the Leupold Fire Dot scope which is a perfect circle but it's 500-700 so you can see the cost vs. effect ratio there. Even the Vortex Spark has a slight starburst effect even at 200 and some odd dollars.
Even the best red dot will not be a perfect circle for someone with an astigmatism. The Fire Dot wasn't a perfect circle for me (astigmatism). Sure, a $20 red dot might not have a good reticle but ALL red dots will starburst for someone with an astigmatism - Eotech/H1/T1/PRO/Primary Arms, etc.
