Good Red Dot and magnifier systems

[A Boy Named Sue]

I second Primary Arms. I have several of their optics and couldn't be happier. Mine are all the newer generations except one and you can see a huge difference. They also are ending up a sale currently, but most of the good stuff is already gone.

I just got their newest optic about a week ago, the Cyclops 1x Prism, that sits on my 9" 300blk truck gun. I absolutely love this thing and will be purchasing another for my AK. Good eye relief, and because it's an etched prism instead of a regular red dot, it's more ideal for people with an astigmatism, which I have. And with it being etched, you can still use it if your batteries take a crap on you. They are $240 shipped, and comes with the mount but you can get better ones that use T1.

[AndrewRose]

I have the Romeo5 on both my 300 Blackout and my lever action 45/70 Govt. If it will handle the recoil of my 45/70 is should handle anything.

[TexasEric]

I have the Romeo5 on both my 300 Blackout and my lever action 45/70 Govt. If it will handle the recoil of my 45/70 is should handle anything.

How do you like it? What do you not like about it? What do you use it for?

My use is range toy, home defense, and maybe hog hunting.

[45scw]

I have a Sig Romeo 4H sitting in my closet as we speak. I hate the thing. 40 percent of the scope washes out with a pale pink if the lighting on the front is dimmer than the natural light on the back. Its called a flash or a ghost. Sig customer service told me it is normal for their red dots and the rep told me that he had seen it on an Aimpoint the rep owned and even on an Eotech. They did not even want to look at the scope when I offered to send it in and after i sent pictures of the problem.

Never having seen the problem on any Aimpoint I owned, or an Eotech I owned which has a different system, I retired the Sig Romeo to a back up and will probably sell it. I have gone to all Aimpoint Pros instead.

Then there is keeping zero. The Aimpoint does a much better job. Too bad because there are a lot of good features on the Sig.

I do not have experience with other lower cost makers.

[AndrewRose]

I have the Romeo5 on both my 300 Blackout and my lever action 45/70 Govt. If it will handle the recoil of my 45/70 is should handle anything.

How do you like it? What do you not like about it? What do you use it for?

My use is range toy, home defense, and maybe hog hunting.

I love everything about it...cost, battery usage, instant on ability, clarity of the red dot, ease of use, everything! I can't think of a single thing I don't like about the Romeo5. I use the romeo5 for hog hunting, self defense and paper punching. Great optic....

[RWA007]

I have two of those Romeo5 XDR's. For those that don't know the DR part of the name stands for Dual Reticle. It can either be a dot, or a circle dot like an Eotech. Also it has "instant awake". You can leave it on to the setting of your liking and put it in your closet and it turns itself off after a minute or so. Years later when you pick it up it turns on automatically to the previous setting of the dot/reticle and brightness. I have one on my ready to go 300blk and one on my 9mm lookalike trainer. I have a BURRIS 3x magnifier that I am extremely happy with. Magnifiers, I've owned the Eotech, the Primary Arms and some other knockoffs. The Burris is the most bang for the buck for me.

As far as red dots...I've had many. Including the aforementioned Eotech, Aimpoint Pro and many others. So far, this Romeo5 XDR is the best one I've found including the price point. I even still have a $19 fieldsport on my .22 AR15, which actually works fine and believe it or not is very comparible to size and weight of the Romeo5 and is perfect for a .22. The only thing I worry about on the Romeo 5, with the "instant awake", is that you DO need to turn it off when transporting in your car. There is enough movement in the car to keep it "awake" all the time. So I turn it off when transporting. Leaving it in the safe is a no brainer and I never have to worry about remembering to turn it on.

I am not in the armed forces nor a LEO so I don't use mine everyday, but after over a year of clunking around in my truck, being stored in my safe "on", and use in the field...I love the Romeo 5's.

Randy

[Ben B.]

I bought a Primary Arms 3x to mount behind an Aimpoint, M3 or M4. Immediately after mounting it and messing with it, I wondered “YTF did I want this?” It adds noticeable weight, gets in the way when flipped to the side, and generally seems like adding a sidecar to a dirt bike. The optics of the 3x are fine, and it helps when zeroing, but I soon took it off and it’s relegated to range duty of (very) occasional checking POI at 100 yds. If I’m gonna routinely shoot at 100+ yds, I’ll put glass on.

You might consider going to a 1x-4x rifle scope.

[loveha]

I bought a Primary Arms 3x to mount behind an Aimpoint, M3 or M4. Immediately after mounting it and messing with it, I wondered “BLK did I want this?” It adds noticeable weight, gets in the way when flipped to the side, and generally seems like adding a sidecar to a dirt bike. The optics of the 3x are fine, and it helps when zeroing, but I soon took it off and it’s relegated to range duty of (very) occasional checking POI at 100 yds. If I’m gonna routinely shoot at 100+ yds, I’ll put glass on.

You might consider going to a 1x-4x rifle scope.

Was in the same boat. Decided against the magnifier for my Eotech for the very same reasons. Bought a Nightforce NX8 (1-8x24) for my 16" DD 300 BLK. Then moved the Eotech to a dedicated suppressed SBR I'm waiting on stamps for. Since that will be zeroed for 50 yards and max distance is 100 I don't see a need for anything more than just it. With some great 1-4/6/8x24 scopes on the market, I personally see very little use for magnifiers.

[TexasEric]

I have two of those Romeo5 XDR's. For those that don't know the DR part of the name stands for Dual Reticle. It can either be a dot, or a circle dot like an Eotech. Also it has "instant awake". You can leave it on to the setting of your liking and put it in your closet and it turns itself off after a minute or so. Years later when you pick it up it turns on automatically to the previous setting of the dot/reticle and brightness. I have one on my ready to go 300blk and one on my 9mm lookalike trainer. I have a BURRIS 3x magnifier that I am extremely happy with. Magnifiers, I've owned the Eotech, the Primary Arms and some other knockoffs. The Burris is the most bang for the buck for me.

As far as red dots...I've had many. Including the aforementioned Eotech, Aimpoint Pro and many others. So far, this Romeo5 XDR is the best one I've found including the price point. I even still have a $19 fieldsport on my .22 AR15, which actually works fine and believe it or not is very comparible to size and weight of the Romeo5 and is perfect for a .22. The only thing I worry about on the Romeo 5, with the "instant awake", is that you DO need to turn it off when transporting in your car. There is enough movement in the car to keep it "awake" all the time. So I turn it off when transporting. Leaving it in the safe is a no brainer and I never have to worry about remembering to turn it on.

I am not in the armed forces nor a LEO so I don't use mine everyday, but after over a year of clunking around in my truck, being stored in my safe "on", and use in the field...I love the Romeo 5's.

Randy

Do you have astigmatism?

[RWA007]

I don't have astigmatism (that I am aware of...) however, red dots of any kind are never truly a "dot" to me. They are more like a "comma" ( ,) than anything. That is one of the reasons I really like the Romeo XDR is because I've always struggled a little bit with just a red dot, but I absolutely love that circle dot reticle, like the Eotech has. The Eotech was my go-to sight for years, I had an EXPS in FDE and loved it. I also had a couple of knockoffs that I used with success on the .22 and 9mm. Then Eotech had that big recall and I it back for a full refund and bought a 1-6 (Strike Eagle) which ALSO has sort of a circle dot reticle. However, it's big and heavy. I still have the Strike Eagle but it has been relegated to my range guns. I really wanted the eotech type sight, but didn't want an eotech anymore...it was then that I found the Sig Romeo 5 XDR. Holosight (I think) makes one similar with the dual reticle but I don't own one of those and have never used one, but reviews are about the same, they are good.

Hope this helps!