I see hundreds of them on ebay and amazon. They have the Cmore sight for around $275 and then the look alike from China for around $40. Has anyone ever really put them to a range test. What is the difference in them? What say you?

I believe that the cheap knock-off sighting system will likely not stand up to the abuse the better sights can take. For a range toy, you pays your money . . . For your life, well, the same applies.

RMD

I can’t think of the name of the company off-hand, but you see the sights and lasers at a lot of gun shows. They are crap. I have tried two and they didn’t last and didn’t hold zero. I also would not trust buying a brand name optic on eBay or Amazon due to the counterfeiters out there.

I have several sub-$70 red dots on rimfires and am perfectly happy with them.

Don't know that I'd trust them on anything with any significant recoil tho.

I pay no attention to cheap optical sights regardless of the type, but if that’s all someone can afford, there are always the same things to consider, especially if the sight will be used for serious purposes and we really, really don’t want it to fail at a critical time.

Durability. In bad situations, the last thing we want to be worried about is if exposing the sight to heavy recoil or rough handling such as being dropped or smacked into a door frame will affect the zero or cause it to stop working entirely. The ML series of Aimpoints have the reputation of being very rugged. They’re not indestructible (I have a box of units that weren’t), but anything that can be issued to actual warfighters and expected to survive months or years in military combat conditions has to be tough.

Optical quality. This doesn’t matter so much in the typical applications red dot sights are put to as in a sight used for 1000 yard competitions, but it can’t be ignored. Better sights typically have better optical systems.

Adjustment tracking. When zeroing a sight, it’s important that the windage and elevation adjustments move consistently. One Aimpoint micro (of some type, I don’t recall which) I recently had experience with was excellent in that regard, but I’ve often found that red dot sights are difficult to zero because they don’t track well. If that’s true of the expensive sights, what’s it like with the bargain basement variety? Zeroing such sights can be a very frustrating experience and expensive in terms of time and ammunition. And then the question is how well does the sight hold zero.

Environmental immunity. If sights like the EOTechs have problems holding zero in varying temperatures, how will a $40 knock-off do? When my Aimpoint got drenched in meltwater during our last team exercise, I didn’t feel I had to worry about that rather than the sudden appearance of a bad guy. How well will the counterfeit do under the same conditions?

Bottom line is how important is it that the sight work properly? If the only bad thing that will happen if it fails is a ruined range session, then a cheap sight may be fully satisfactory. If the consequences might be more severe, then it may not be.

Added: I suspect that like anything else, the difficult and expensive part in designing and building a high quality red dot optical sight is at the beginning when it’s not known what’s necessary to make them work properly. Once a company like Aimpoint or EOTech has done that, their products can be copied for far less money and be virtually as good. But of course if no effort is made to match their quality, they can be produced at even lower cost.

I have a Vortex SPARC II on one my AR's, it's been flawless with 60 rounds so far.

On a more serious note, I have three UltraDot's that I shoot Precision Pistol with. They are great for competition, but way to big for CCW.

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:
I can’t think of the name of the company off-hand, but you see the sights and lasers at a lot of gun shows. They are crap. I have tried two and they didn’t last and didn’t hold zero. I also would not trust buying a brand name optic on eBay or Amazon due to the counterfeiters out there.

NcSTAR?

The difference is Parallax.
A cheap red-dot puts a red dot up, but the location changes as your eye position moves.
A higher quality one has parallax correction lens so that the red dot goes on target and then doesn't move as you move your head such that the dot is off-center in the window.

You can try this out at a gun store. Hold the sight on a rigid support, then mover your head side to side. Observe how the dot position either wanders or stays on original target point.

I have a Sightron, but it is pretty old.

quote:

Originally posted by Crom:
A higher quality one has parallax correction lens ....

Thanks. That was a difference I wasn't aware of.

quote:

Originally posted by maladat:

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:
I can’t think of the name of the company off-hand, but you see the sights and lasers at a lot of gun shows. They are crap. I have tried two and they didn’t last and didn’t hold zero. I also would not trust buying a brand name optic on eBay or Amazon due to the counterfeiters out there.

NcSTAR?

That is it.

Crom nailed it. Parallax is all important. If you shift slightly off the sighting centerline and the dot leaves the target, it will be a great detriment when shooting under stress and moving. I have two Primary Arms sights that are exemplary in terms of target retention. While they might not be as durable against sights costing 5 times as much, they have certainly been worth the cost of admission.
At any rate, I would not buy a red dot that I couldnt put on a level surface and check the parallax on distant targets.

For a self-defense gun, save up for Aimpoint (followed by Trijicon, Eotech, Leupold Deltapoint, then consider the higher end units from Primary Arms like the MD-ADS, the better Vortex sights).

I like the cheap ones for pure range guns, like my .22 AR build. Even then, they aren't NcStar (or their ilk).

The Bushnell TRS25 has pretty good reviews. I got a sale RDS from Primary Arms for $59 which included a AR height QD mount. I'd never trust my life to it, but it works great so far on my .22 build.

I have an Primary Arms MD-ADS on another rifle (rugged, 5 year battery life) and the newest version of that sight on an AR pistol. These are ~$250 sights + or - depending on if there is a sale, I'd trust my life to them after putting a decent amount of rounds through them.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by Crom:
A higher quality one has parallax correction lens ....

Thanks. That was a difference I wasn't aware of.

Dot intensity as well.
I wondered about some of these knockoff/ airsoft Trijicon sights so I bought one to see for myself.

The dot was very low even on the highest setting.
Barely visible in bright sunlight.
Parallax was bad but it held zero for the 100rds I put thru the AK I mounted it to on that range trip.
I was comparing it to an old TRS25 & there was no comparison.








On the other side of the coin, this little Sphinx reflex has been on 3-4 different rifles & AR pistols for the last 5 yrs with no issues.
Battery life sucks but it was a good little reflex until last fall when I was using it on my 16" 300blk.
Then it didn't want to zero so it's dead. It's obviously no comparison to a duty level optic but as a range sight or as a cheap 45° back up it's been an inexpensive was for me to decide that I like this type of optic & that's convinced me to spend the money on one of the quality reflex options out there.

Holosun or a Romeo 5 is as cheap as I go. I skip the ultra cheap $35 stuff on the gun show tables.

I even got ripped on here for a Holosun.

With the very reasonable price of Holosun, Sig Romeos and Primary Arms, I cant see myself paying up for one of the bottom of the barrel knockoffs. You arent actually saving any money if it breaks and the factory chooses not to talk to you.

quote:

Originally posted by ThankGod4Sig:
Holosun or a Romeo 5 is as cheap as I go. I skip the ultra cheap $35 stuff on the gun show tables.

I even got ripped on here for a Holosun.

Exactly. When you can get a Romeo 5 for $120 any day ($100 on a good day), there's no real benefit to going any cheaper.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
I have several sub-$70 red dots on rimfires and am perfectly happy with them.

Don't know that I'd trust them on anything with any significant recoil tho.

true. For rimfire on the range and even for small game the cheapies seem to be GTG

quote:

Originally posted by ksw2190:
I would be wary of Chiese look-alikes. There are a few budget red dots that I'd recommend including AT3 Tactical's red dot. That's a good deal considering it's under 100 dollars. Honestly, if you're just looking for straight value it's almost impossible to be the Sig Sauer Romeo5. I have like 6 of them now. There are some other great optics out there if you're willing to spend the money. We used Trijicon ACOGs in the Marines, but they just switch to the VCOG. Anyway, I actually put together an red dot sights guide here if you want to check it out! There are plenty of great optics out there, no need to buy cheap knock offs.

Aimpoint T2 at the bottom of the list, below all those other shitty sights? Please, clickbait at best.