Do you leave the SD red got on all the time?

[Glenn E. Meyer]

My various rifles have red dots on them. The AR is usually designated as to go to gun for zombies at night. However, I realized that I don't have the sight on at home. I do turn i on for matches. So at night, do I have to futz with it, adjusting intensity level in the fog of the evening. Do folks turn them on at night. leave them on all day. Check each morning to see if it's illuminated. You can see the iron sights in extremis. Anyway, never thought about this much. Thoughts?

The home first go to Glock has night sights.

[Clusterfrack]

The MRO on my HD carbine is on and set so it’s visible indoors at night with splash from the WML. But adjusting brightness is often necessary depending on light conditions.

[nycnoob]

Ken Hackathorn gave the clearest rule of thumb I have heard for this subject,

If you keep a magazine in your rifle (rifle ready to go) then you probably want to leave the red dot on,
and if not (rifle will need some fiddling to make ready) then you probably want to turn it off.

[Darth_Uno]

I leave my MRO on 24/7 at setting 3, with BUIS flipped up. Needs to be brighter for outdoor shooting, but it’s never gone out with battery changes every six months.

Same with the RMR’s on my Glocks. I just leave ‘em on a medium setting.

[SeriousStudent]

I own a bunch of Aimpoints. They stay on all the time. ALL the batteries in my house get changed on January 1st.

It's a simple system. I like simple.

[WobblyPossum]

My primary AR wears an Aimpoint. I keep the dot on at all times with the BUIS folded down. I set it to a brightness at which I am able to see the dot while activating my weapon light. I change the battery every year. If I was using an optic with a shorter battery life, I would likely keep it off until needed, with BUIS flipped up at all times.

[Clusterfrack]

I change my Aimpoint and MRO batteries every 3 years. So far no problems.

[Sigfan26]

My various rifles have red dots on them. The AR is usually designated as to go to gun for zombies at night. However, I realized that I don't have the sight on at home. I do turn i on for matches. So at night, do I have to futz with it, adjusting intensity level in the fog of the evening. Do folks turn them on at night. leave them on all day. Check each morning to see if it's illuminated. You can see the iron sights in extremis. Anyway, never thought about this much. Thoughts?

The home first go to Glock has night sights.

What optic are you using?


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[UNM1136]

Always on Aimpoint and RMR.

If I go back to an Eotech, batteries will be replaced every couple of months. The auto off feature pretty much requires a fixed front sight post (it has been a number years since I ran one, they may now allow you to disable the auto off feature), in my opinion.

pat

[Casual Friday]

I leave them on all the time, whether it's the Aimpoints or the Primary Arms/Holosun red dots on my kid's and my wife's rifles. Batteries get changed once a year.

[Josh Runkle]

I leave them on constantly and change the batteries once a year.


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[ssb]

I leave RDS pistols and my carbine RDS on at all times. Brightness on both is set to setting "I can see the dot when a light is activated and the optic is pointed at a white wall." A RDS pistol is my EDC and also the gun immediately accessible to me in the home. The carbine RDS (Romeo 4T) has an auto-off/shake-awake feature after two minutes, so I suppose that's conserving battery life; it's not likely to be the first thing I have at hand/grab for HD, but there's no upside to powering down the optic due to that feature.

I haven't yet changed the battery on either, but the plan is every six months on the RMR and once a year on the carbine. I set calendar reminders on my phone for that purpose.