Advice needed from the experts

[tt4617]

All, I am just getting into the AR world and have purchased my first AR, a Sig M400 Enhanced. I am looking for optics for it but don't want to spend a bunch of money until I know what I like on it. Right now, I would like to try a red dot scope that will give me accuracy out to around 100 yards, at least. I want to spend $200 or less. Once I determine if I like that, I may move it to my Mini 14  and then go the EOTECH, AIMPOINT route. Can any of you give me some suggestions from personal experience as to what brand of red dot to try? Thanks for all your help. I appreciate the availability of all you knowledgeable people.

[Bugflipper]

Not an expert.
This has been a good one. http://www.vortexoptics.com/product/vortex-strikefire-red-dot-scope-for-ar15 I have had it since they came out. Guessing 5 years? It is red or green, of coarse adjusts intensity and has a night vision setting for using with goggles(also dim enough for predation at night). As a bonus it comes with a screw in 2x doubler. It restricts the field of view a little so I leave it off. But at the range or hunting it makes a difference. The reason I like it so well is their no fault warranty. My father knocked an ar off the 2nd floor balcony. It landed squarely on the strikefire hitting a concrete block. The dot wouldn't turn off, but everything else worked and it held zero. For about a year I just unscrewed the battery cap until I remembered to send it in. Attached a note on how and why and they sent a new one. That impact should have broken glass on a scope. So it's a pretty tough little setup.


Another dot I have is a millet SP-1. http://www.millettsights.com/scopes/sp%2Dseries%2Dred%2Ddot/ It's about 18 years old now. Started off on a 22 pistol, went on top of a bunch of contender pistols, including a 45-70, moved to a 12ga slug gun and is currently on an AK. It shows it's age with quite a few scratches but it still works fine. Never been dropped though, but definitely beat up a little over the years. This one also has a dim enough setting for nv and night shooting. I have read some posts on GBO about dot scopes that the lowest setting is to bright for night time.

[cjclemens]

I've heard good things about the Vortex Strikefire, too.  Been thinkin about gettin one, too.

[Lloyd Smale]

ive got two strikefires and 3 aimpoints. The strikefires are an excellent bang for the buck redot. Only real big disadvantage to them over an aimpoint is battery life. I can leave my aimpoints on so there battle/defense ready all the time. Left on the batterys will last at least 2 years in my comp 2s and probably 4 or 5 in my comp 3s. Strikefires have a decent battery life. better then the cheap redots anyway im sure if you could leave it on it would last 3 or 4 months anyway but the thing is you cant leave it on. It times out after a few hours and shuts down. A feature i dont care for. If it were all i could afford for my home defense gun id still like to leave it on even if i had to buy new batterys every couple months. I dont want to have to fool with switches in the dark if someone is breaking into my house and I dont want a unit that times out in the middle of a battle or hunt. So my two sit on an ar22 and a 1022. On them i dont have to worry about those things. Like i said i have only that complaint and for the differnce in under 200 bucks to an ampoint that starts at over double and eaisly can triple the price that its a small complaint. For an under 200 dollar sight ive found nothing better. Keep an eye on the classifieds. Just a month or so ago i bought the second one. I picked it up for 110 bucks shipped to my house and it was like new and even was still going on the original battery.

[Bigeasy]

Might want to take a look at the "Ultra Dot" series of red dot sights.  They are a small bodied sight that has just about ruled the bullseye game for years.  Very durable.  I have had one mounted on a Redhawk .44 mag. for thousands of heavy loads with no issues.  They come in at a little less then $200.00.  Some models offer fixed, and others variable dot size.
 
Larry

[tt4617]

Ok, got the Strikefire this weekend. Mounted it and will be heading to the range this week hopefully. Seems to be a quality piece and I am anxious to see how it performs. Thanks to all who have input on this subject. As always, I can rely on the help of my GBO brothers.