I have been looking at the Aimpoint, but man even with the discount it’s still $570ish shipped. I can get the Steiner for around $440. Anyone have experience or thoughts?

Looks like the Aimpoint wins in the battery life category (50k vs 13k hours).

The battery life is a key thing but $130 buys a lot of batteries.

For the P2-Check with Sport Optics, and their sales and promotion section for a better price. I used the difference saved towards a Forward Controls design plate and reinforced locking bar.

Two of our guys have those on their duty weapons. I have tried both. Of the two I would take the Steiner. I believe the glass is a little bigger.

Campusninja's sport optics recommendation shows the P2 just under $500. Thats a close enough gap for me to look hard at the battery life issue (I suppose you are still doing better than the P-1 issue). I held an MPS the other day and the dot looked good, controls seemed pretty decent as well.

I have two of the Steiner ones, they work perfectly well on both of my full-size guns, one is Glock 34 the other ones Sig p320 full size. Can’t say anything bad about the Steiner, I did have issues with other Steiner products, but their customer service was excellent with quick turnaround. However I do not have this specific aimpoint one to compare.

I have 2 Steiner MPS optics that are excellent minus battery life.
The MRS is on the list to pick up eventually. I like the ACRO but the added cost is just not for me.

I just used the old calculator and realized 13k hrs is over 17 months. If you change batteries annually it's actually, potentially not a big deal depending on what you want to do with it.

The Steiner is a Gen 1 product from a company that isn't known for red dot optics, while the Aimpoint Acro P2 is a Gen 2 product from a company that really only does red dot optics. I was an early adopter of the Steiner, and it had to go back for failure to hold zero. Frankly, neither have a great display size, and I think the 509T and EPS full size are attractive closed emitter options.

Thanks guys

I have the Acro P2 on my SP5K and am very happy with it. I have not, however, tried a Steiner.

what you get with aimpoint is the top of the pyramid on reliable and durable and proven. What you get with everyone else is someone trying to beat aimpoint. Whether the cost difference matters is really on what you intend to to with it. Lots of cheaper stuff is fine or even great for casual use, but if not get the aimpoint.

I haven't owned an Acro but I have a lot of optics experience and have an MPS.

Things I like about the MPS:
-Very clean dot.
-Good glass.
-Top emitter may allow factory height irons.

Things I don't like:
-Battery life is relatively low.
-Battery cover impossible to remove without damage.
-Losing the top brightness setting to disable auto shutoff.

I've had my MPS for about two years. It has been mounted on a Glock 17 with a C&H plate. I have had no issues with the function of the sight. My MPS is a "Gen 2" which added the ability to disable the 13 hour auto shutoff. Unfortunately, disabling auto shutoff also disabled the top brightness setting. According to Steiner the battery life on max brightness is cut to days or weeks (I don't recall which). My red color vision isn't great and frankly I need that top setting. All of this is likely a byproduct of the very clear glass. An optic with a more aggressive notch filter would probably have much better battery life.

The top mounted emitter makes the window much lower than most optics, with have a bottom mounted emitter. This ends up allowing lower irons. On some guns this might allow you to retain the factory sights. On my MOS 17 I ended up with Ameriglo "1L" height sights. My guess is a lot of direct mill and really low cuts like the PDP would allow factory height sights. This isn't necessarily a big deal but it might save some coin.

The battery cap is trash. The included tool is the only way to have any chance of removal without damaging the cap and I made it through one battery change before damaging the notch. The notch is too shallow and the torque required is too great. I think this is a really disappointing element of the design and I hope the aftermarket produces a better cap. Battery life has overall been disappointing. The optic does not make it to one year for me and it is off most of the time as it is not a carry gun for me (and auto-shutoff is enabled). My need to use the max brightness setting 90% of the time probably causes this so your mileage may vary. Batteries (I use only Duracell) are $2 each so replacing even every couple months isn't a huge problem, it's just that the battery life is so poor compared to most other optics. Again, probably a consequence of the glass quality.

The buttons are really nice and work well. They provide good feedback and require deliberate presses. The replaceable side plates are good in theory but I think they're more aesthetic than anything else.

Overall I think the value delta is there versus the Acro as long as you can see the dot ok but you also end up in a territory where the Holosun 509T plays and really has none of the observed issues, but is a Chinese made optic. I will probably end up selling my MPS eventually.

Another vote for Steiner. Never had any issues with their products and I own over a dozen of Steiner optics.

I have many Steiner products from very expensive sniper scopes to red dots and many in-between. I also had a problem with one of my MPS battery covers. But from the moment I contacted the customer service, mailed it in and the time I received a new one, was under a week. That means a lot to me as well. I also don’t think that Steiner MPS is a cheap knock off or an imitation of an Aimpoint. Just because you can buy it for cheaper does not mean that it’s worse. To each, it’s own.

Appreciate all the input, I ended up going with the Aimpoint. I may grab a Steiner down the line but this is going on a G17 that is going to be an everyday truck travel gun.

I own both. Can't go wrong with either.