VortexOptics Spitfire 1x Prism Scope - DRT Reticle (MOA)

I have this mounted on my Rock River Arms AR15 that dose not have a detachable carry handle and the fact that i can lower the scope base really helps out. It is clear and bright with both green and red lighted reticle. It holds its zero and seems robust. I love vortex optics and this one is no exception.

I have been waiting for this type of Red Dot for a long time now. There are a few prismatic RDS's, but they dont have all the features this one offers, and also cost much more. I previously owned a Bushnell TRS25 Red Dot, but I quickly learned I have very slight astigmatism, which distorts the red dot in a star like pattern or just generally washed out. I thought it was the poor quality of the Bushnell unit, but I was proven wrong when I started doing some reading. The main advantage of this unit, that no other Red Dot offers for the price, is the burned in reticle. With astigmatism the red/green dot is clear as day, nothing is washed out or distorted. The general quality of the unit is top notch, there are really not that many negatives I could find in it.I have it paired up with the VMX-3T magnifier, and it works great.Before buying this I planned to get an EOTech XPS2-0, but knowing the red dot will be washed out I decided to skip it.PROS:1. Burned in reticle (Prismatic) - you'll see it even if the battery is dead2. Red/Green options3. Good brightness - setting 3 is perfect for indoor conditions, 5 for outdoor4. Solid lens covers, easy to flip and close (can be taken off)5. Very solid clicks to adjust brightness settings.6. Glass is very clear7. Solid price point - you wont find anything close to it for $299.998. Very good quality overall, solid construction, good finish.CONS1. Brightness settings from 3-4 dont seem to make much of a difference. 5 makes a huge difference which is mainly for outdoor settings. Indoor, with normal room lighting settings 2-3 will work just fine. Its not really a big con, but wanted to point it out2. Its new, so there arent many mounts out for it for now. I do wish this came with a quick release mount, or at least have a factory option to purchase one. It would make it easier to store in a rifle bag

I traded in my EOTech for this little bad boy since the holographic distorts with my vision. The prism is very clear and the etched reticle is great when you run out of battery power. The led green and red have multiple settings for different uses. It is not too small or too big and just the right size. It is bigger than the smaller red dots, but again, this has an etched reticle as most red dots do not. The mount "seems" sturdy and only a range test will determine it's true usability.The only downfall is that there is not aftermarket QD mount available yet and would like to see one. Other than that so far my first impressions is that this is an awesome little prism red dot. Here is a picture mounted on my rifle.RANGE TEST UPDATE:Optic did perfectly and zeroed very solidly at 50 meters. It worked flawless and easy to use! This optic is great.

Great product for the money.Pros:1) I have never used the illumination for actual shooting. To me it is more of a "nice to have if I need it" add-on." However, at setting 3 or 4 it is generally bright enough for daylight use, and setting 5 is almost distractingly bright if you are not used to it. In low light where it is bright enough to, say, ID friend from foe, the lowest setting is plenty bright. The 3000hrs rating on the lowest setting would give about 4 months of illumination if left on, if you wanted to use it for this purpose. Turning it on only at night would roughly double that, allowing you to replace the batteries every 6 months and maintain more or less "constant on" illumination. If you keep the front cover closed, you can leave the light on the dimmest setting and still see it with your dominant eye for close-range shooting during the day. Though, as a side note, accuracy may suffer because our eyes rarely perfectly aligned together. Long story short, if this is going on a primary "serious use" firearm, there are ways to maintain nighttime illumination without needing to remember to turn it on in the heat of the moment.2) The biggest reason I went with this scope over red dots is my terrible astigmatism. As an example, astigmatism tends to blur everything in one direction as if the image was faintly "smeared" a couple inches to the side (or in my case, up). Small light sources tend to be most exaggerated by this eye problem, and at its worst, red "dots" looked like a pair of comets in my FOV, which made precision shooting very diifficult. However, because the dot in my scope is etched and thus appears as more of an actual "object," it is no more affected by my eyesight that anything else. With the illumination on brighter settings the blur is more noticable, but with it off I have to consciously look for the blur like with everything else. So, using this optic on my .308 AR and decent handloads, I have been able to consistantly shoot about 1.5MOA 5-shot groups with this unmagnified 3moa dot.Cons:1) I really can't wait for this fad of fancy reticles to end. Crosshairs that span the the entire FOV are simple and easy to use, and stand out in your vision much more than small dots because there are no straight lines in nature. For example, say you wanted to aim at a deer 100 yards away. If the deer is a dark color and you didn't have your illumination on, the dot itself might wash out on the deer, even if it was standing in an otherwise well-lit field. If you had crosshairs, it is much more natural and quick to follow the lines from the edge of your FOV to to aiming point, rather than focus really hard trying to find the dot. The outer circle is, IMO, useless. Id have preferred if it wasn't there at all. From anything beyond 10 yards, it is too large and tends to be distracting to good shot placement. If anything, not having to illuminate such a large area rather than simply the small inner dot would mean much better battery life. Yes, the Leupold Prismatic scope does have a better reticle, but I was still experimenting with optics and didn't want to spend the extra $200, not to mention for the much poorer battery life.2) Small issue, but the light is rather visible from the front. Aim at yourself in the mirror and you can see it pretty plainly from the rifle angle . Again, probably a symptom of it having to illuminate such a wide area rather than just a dot.3) An even smaller issue, but the 1MOA clicks can be a little tough to get used to and if you are trying to get a really accurate POI, 1MOA can be a pretty large jump.Bottom line? I would recommend this over a good red dot to someone with less-than-good eyesight who is looking for more precision than a red dot might allow, while not sacrificing much in close-range target acquisition. Not to mention it is a relative bargain and almost certainly more durable for the money than a variable powee scope (just baving fewer moving parts and being shorter in length). I give the product itself 4 stars (one downgrade for the cheesy reticle and front-visible illumination), probably 4.5 if I could. But compared to all available options I would probably give it 3 stars. If I had good vision like when I was a teenager, Id certainly buy a lower-end Aimpoint over this. That could give the same level of precision with the inarguably excellent track record of Aimpoint, and with true "set and forget" battery life. In the future, I might try out one of the 1-4x scopes or maybe that Leupold Prismatic (just for the reticle).