Don't they constantly fill up with lots of junk? Clothing fuzz, hairs, navel lint, cookie crumbs?

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
Don't they constantly fill up with lots of junk? Clothing fuzz, hairs, navel lint, cookie crumbs?

Fuzz, yes. I keep one of those bulb air blowers handy so I can blow on it before I holster up.

365 IWB 90% of the time with under shirt and covered by another garment. I check it every morning Prior to Holstering and gently wipe it with a Qtip to make it clear. Using air seems like a great idea as well.

I ask because I have a few of them, on general use pistols, long guns, hunting pistols, and they're all covered most of the time. And they still always seem to have stuff in them or spots on the lens.


Funny that the now antique Tasco Optima 2000 had it so right. A hard plastic cover that was very secure, yet easily pulled off. It has two raised slots in it you could run a tether to and to your holster. Draw the gun and the hood stayed behind. Most of the modern ones I have came with covers, or I bought aftermarket ones, but they're all lacking. Always falling off even in general storage.

They do, but if you're using them right (achieving correct target focus) it's a non-issue. You don't even notice it. Any loose crud goes flying out the first time the slide recoils, too. The only issue I could see is if gets so bad that it blocks the emitter, but I've never had that happen.

I periodically wipe mine with an alcohol wipe and dry it with a q-tip or blast it with air from the compressor if it's handy, but I don't get too worked up about it.

I collect lint, if there was a market for it it could cover my ammo bill. But since I always check the 'state' of the dot in the am when I gear up if its bad I just remove it. I've never seen it bad enough to be a concern if somehow I forgot to look.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
...but I've never had that happen.

Seen it with water/snow. lol

Snow could do it. Water just runs out. I've gotten mine absolutely drenched with no problems. If it's under your shirt you shouldn't be getting snow in it, either. I've been carrying an optic-equipped duty gun in all weather for the past year and not had any problems, but my duty holster does have a hood. Off duty I often carry a different optic equipped gun IWB, and it's even better protected where it's at than my duty rig.

I’ve found that this is one of the biggest benefits of using a closed emoter optic. I’m currently carrying a Glock 23 with the Holosun 509t on it. The pollen has been terrible this week in S.C. I can see if I look at the rear lens, but it’s irrelevant with a target focus. It’s also nice that I can just wipe it off and not have to worry about.

I posted the question out of curiosity, and because I'm kicking the idea around.

But boy did I get a reminder and pause last night. I was reading something about sights and eyes and wanted to check something on one of mine. I knew I had two Meprolights in my desk drawer, one I'd just taken off a bolt rifle, and one still in the box. Took the one out, it won't come on. Hmmm. The battery had maybe 20-30 hours on it hunting, but I'm guessing it's dead. Take the "NIB" one out try that battery. It's dead too. (I guess, can't find my other batteries, I hope they're dead and not the sights). I know for a fact the one was working about a week ago. The new one was working in Dec/Jan last I looked at it.

Drives home the point that I still don't trust them. Constant vigilance is crucial with them on a "weapon" and you'd better have other sights that still work if the dot doesn't.


Interesting wrinkle and not a great one. I have a third version of that same sight. It's currently on a muzzle loader, meant as a back up rifle for a hunt that didn't happen in December.
Picked it up, took the cover off and the dot is on! It shouldn't be, I haven't touched it since early December. These aren't shake awake units. If nothing else, it means the time out/auto off feature isn't working.

quote:

Drives home the point that I still don't trust them. Constant vigilance is crucial with them on a "weapon" and you'd better have other sights that still work if the dot doesn't

I’ve always wanted irons on basically all my firearms, rifles or not where it’s applicable. On a defensive pistol it would be a complete non starter only have MRDS. That said I’ve found as I experiment with them you can use most MRDS as a “point shooting” aid ala line the slide/housing up on the target and close range hits are totally feasible.

For me personally I am still leaning in the KISS camp with irons but I cannot deny dots bring a host of advantages at the cost of extra maintainence and cost. I still don’t think pistol dots are the paradigm shift that they were on a rifle.

Now keep in mind I am just a hobbiest nothing more nothing less so my opinion …….. well we all know what opinions are like.

Take care, shoot safe
Chris.

quote:

Drives home the point that I still don't trust them. Constant vigilance is crucial with them on a "weapon" and you'd better have other sights that still work if the dot doesn't.

My daily routine with my RDO-equipped duty gun is to pull it out of the safe, check the dot, slave it to the irons to confirm that the zero hasn't shifted, and check my witness marks. I confirm that the mag is seated, and check to confirm that a round is chambered by looking though the gap between the barrel hood and slide. The gun then goes into the holster.

The battery still died on me mid-work day about 8 months into carrying it. I'm changing the battery proactively every 6 months now. And yes, it has backup irons.

I’ve been experimenting with the Holosun SCS and while the gun generally lives in a dark safe the vast majority of the time about once a week or so I let it sit under a 1500 lumen bulb for a few hours.

If I believe the literature I should be replacing the juice lost in a week. Under direct sunlight it would charge wayyy faster of course but for me it’s more feasible to throw under a bulb.

So far so good and again, if the literature, is to be believed doing this should easily result in this thing lasting perpetually. (Within the realms of rechargeable batteries etc. so like a decade or more.)

My thought process is a good set of night sights is gonna run a 100-150 bucks or so and be more of a pain to replace. The dot in question is a little more then double the price but brinks far more advantages then the night sights so maybe a wash and if the battery passes the 10 year mark or the solar works well enough in most cases it may end up being better overall.

Like I said I am experimenting with the concept. I like to have a little first hand knowledge on a lot of things whether I adopt them or not.

I keep an artist's brush near where I store it and brush it off when I put it down for the night. My EDC has a red dot and a rear sight, so I always have something, although I have gotten pretty good with my other red dots just focusing on the target through the optic's "window."

I went from a Romeo zero, super lint collector to a holosun eps carry which is fully enclosed, no more lint. A little dust maybe but nothing like the open emitter Romeo zero

I don't get where your lint goes. I have carried an RMR (for years and years) and an ACRO (recently). The amount of lint on the lens just doesn't vary that much.

Under my T shirt doesn't get much gunk, certainly not snow lol.

I have heard some horror stories of poor battery life. That being said I have multiple Aimpoint T1's, PRO's, DP Pro, SRO, couple Holosuns, maybe something else as well. Battery life on every one of these is long as shit. The only ones that I can't confirm is the Holosuns because they have only been in the stable for almost a year now. I tend to either run them till they die or once a year if I am worried.

Now in my experience what I would never trust a battery life on is illuminated rifle scopes. Those things tend to crap out on me way faster than I expect. They are also etched so they still work though. If I needed lume I would never trust the ones I have SWFA and Leupold.

I'm definitely a member of the enclosed emitter mafia and this is one of the reasons. I prefer not picking gunk out and they pick up a good amount of lint under the shirt IWB. Its great just wiping off my 509t with the same shirt that's covering it. I have an EPS carry which should be brown trucking it here as we speak and I'm looking forward to it.

As for MRDS breaking, I've seen irons break too. Nothing is guaranteed and you still have your irons if your MRDS breaks as well as a few other methods for defense. Dont buy cheap and you'll be fine, Holosun, Aimpoint, Trijicon. Not specifically in that order.

I think this is one of those in theory vs in reality issues. In theory closed emitter is better.

In reality, the most common red dot in LE use is the open emitter RMR. Lots of them are in duty holsters, that don't even have a cover garment to keep out dirt. And I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not hearing a hue and cry to replace them with closed emitter units because the RMRs are getting their emitters covered in gunk.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
I think this is one of those in theory vs in reality issues. In theory closed emitter is better.

In reality, the most common red dot in LE use is the open emitter RMR. Lots of them are in duty holsters, that don't even have a cover garment to keep out dirt. And I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not hearing a hue and cry to replace them with closed emitter units because the RMRs are getting their emitters covered in gunk.

Based on recent trends, my guess is that open emitters will gradually fade into the sunset as closed emitter versions continue to get smaller and more acceptance.
I’m not getting rid of a perfectly good open emitter until is serves its life and craps out.