My pistol-mounted RDS thoughts...is there something new I'm missing?

[vcdgrips]

"Optics are like televisions and cell phones. The “best” will be soon obsolete and “buy once, cry once” doesn’t apply. You just have to figure that they’re semi-disposable."

A lot of wisdom there it seems to me.

Outside of my Lane:

I have been on water's edge for a while. This comment has me staying on there for a while longer. I keep waiting for the ACRO to get sorted to no avail. I hear all the positive comments re Holosun but am very reluctant to go down that road.

It is starting to sound a bet your life optic + mounting (Milled etc. or Better than OEM plates/hardware etc) is going to be as expensive as the base gun for many (500+ optics /500+ Glock)

Thank you all who are spending the time. talent and treasure such that people like me have the data points to make a solid choice on any given day as red dot optics and their pistol mounting solutions continue to evolve.

[WobblyPossum]

Why is running the ACRO at a higher brightness setting and just replacing batteries more frequently such a big deal? If you buy a bulk pack, the batteries end up being like a dollar each. What’s $12/year to have the peace of mind that your MRDS will always be at the brightness you want it to be at?

Or you could buy a Holosun like everyone else said. Pick a brightness setting that works for you, turn off the auto-adjust, and swap batteries every 6 months or so just to make sure.

[psalms144.1]

I'm also "on the waterfront" on this issue. I've tried multiple different optics in the past year, and every single one of them has left me with a non-negotiable issue. The most frequent of these is the brightness adjustment - my 507K was always either too bright (hard to see the target through the glare), or too dim (dot disappeared on light colored targets in even moderate light). The auto-adjust on the Swamp Fox Sentinel actually worked great, but the dot was impossible to find among all the flare and light artifacts once you take the sight outdoors.

A buddy just received and mounted an SRO on his "game" Glock - will be shooting on auto-adjust setting Friday, so maybe that will be the "easy button."

[Adam]

"Optics are like televisions and cell phones. The “best” will be soon obsolete and “buy once, cry once” doesn’t apply. You just have to figure that they’re semi-disposable."

A lot of wisdom there it seems to me.

Outside of my Lane:

I have been on water's edge for a while. This comment has me staying on there for a while longer. I keep waiting for the ACRO to get sorted to no avail. I hear all the positive comments re Holosun but am very reluctant to go down that road.

It is starting to sound a bet your life optic + mounting (Milled etc. or Better than OEM plates/hardware etc) is going to be as expensive as the base gun for many (500+ optics /500+ Glock)

Thank you all who are spending the time. talent and treasure such that people like me have the data points to make a solid choice on any given day as red dot optics and their pistol mounting solutions continue to evolve.

More agreement here and great points. I believe dots are for sure the future and more and more of the present, but I couldn’t do it without members here and elsewhere doing so much leg work on my behalf. I’ve entered in to the dot world because 1) I’m intrigued by the concept and want to try it out and 2) it’s just cool. I’ve done that same math on guns and for sure think you’d be hard pressed to convince me that MANY would get more out of a good 2 day class and ammo than a quality dot setup. But this is PF, not Reddit, so I don’t need to be speaking to others about skill level etc.

OP, you’ve for sure got some options, and they’re better than they’ve ever been if that is any consolation. 😀

[tlong17]

More agreement here and great points. I believe dots are for sure the future and more and more of the present, but I couldn’t do it without members here and elsewhere doing so much leg work on my behalf. I’ve entered in to the dot world because 1) I’m intrigued by the concept and want to try it out and 2) it’s just cool. I’ve done that same math on guns and for sure think you’d be hard pressed to convince me that MANY would get more out of a good 2 day class and ammo than a quality dot setup. But this is PF, not Reddit, so I don’t need to be speaking to others about skill level etc.

OP, you’ve for sure got some options, and they’re better than they’ve ever been if that is any consolation. 😀

Easy button, low cost quality dot setup like MOS+507c AND ammo, 2 day course from a vetted trainer specific to using a red dot would give you even more!

[Utm]

I've messed with an ACRO (300 rds) and a Gen 2 RM06 (3,000 rds) on my G19.5 MOS. Per this thread, I went back to Ameriglo bold-type tritium irons in November (https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....like-it-better).

I've not been doing much with the gun other than carrying it. I have a class coming up in about a week and so I shot about 100rds yesterday and another 100 today confirming sights and POI 0-25yds. Everything is just like I hoped it would be, so we're good there.

I have very good vision and the main advantage I saw to the dot was the ability to hit at distance (50yds +) compared to irons. Not that it's my everyday, but it sometimes gave me great peace of mind to know that I effectively had a PDW concealed on my person at all times. Going back to irons, I have to work much harder past 25yds to achieve good hits, so I occasionally entertain the idea of an RDS again.

Here are my big hangups:
1. Brightness. Even if you adjust the RMR before holstering, it eventually "forgets" where you set it to and goes back to auto-leveling. Furthermore, It takes a second to auto-level. In practice, I found multiple times when I would present the pistol I'd been carrying all day when undressing at the end of the day or around the house and the dot would not be visible.
2. Use in low light with WML. See above, but exacerbated by being washed out by the WML.
3. Battery Life/re-confirming zero after changing batteries

Is there good tech on the market yet to overcome these issues or are we still waiting? I suppose in some ways the ACRO could overcome #1 and #3 if I just ran it on max brightness, but then I'd be changing batteries every month.

I can see where some of these issues might be different for LEO's who in some ways can plan their need for the gun better than I can, check before going into a house, etc. For me as a concealed civilian, the gun has to stay concealed until I need it and when I need it, I need it to be ready 100% of the time. To me, the above issues make it not ready 100% of the time.

I keep my brightness settings 1 down from the highest. When I get up in the morning I bump it up 1 and back down 1. I am good to go for the next 16 hours at that point. I do the same thing in the evening which means I'm good to go until morning

Auto brightness is a no go for me due to unpredictability

Annually battery change isn't that big of a deal

[mrozowjj]

Why is running the ACRO at a higher brightness setting and just replacing batteries more frequently such a big deal? If you buy a bulk pack, the batteries end up being like a dollar each. What’s $12/year to have the peace of mind that your MRDS will always be at the brightness you want it to be at?

Or you could buy a Holosun like everyone else said. Pick a brightness setting that works for you, turn off the auto-adjust, and swap batteries every 6 months or so just to make sure.

While I think it's kind of shameful that Aimpoint of all companies made a red dot that goes through batteries like a fat kick locked in a candy story over night I do tend to agree that I do not understand the mentality of battery changes being that big of a deal as far as cost is concerned.

People will spend $600 on a pistol, $400 on a red dot, and with the current cost of ammo $500-700 for 1000 rounds of practice 9mm but then suddenly are angry at at $1 for a battery. It sucks that the ACRO is measured in months compared to the RMR or Holosun being measured in years but if you love the ACRO more than everything else as long as that battery life is consistent (as in always lasts 4 weeks or 2 months or whatever.) so that you can properly plan around it just replace the battery at whatever interval makes sense. If you change that battery every month it will cost you $120 for 10 years of use.

[DacoRoman]

We wish. It switches back to auto brightness mode after 16.5 hours. Theoretically if you bumped it up or down and back once per day you are fine.

Thanks for clarifying that!

[GJM]

Battery changes also bring the possibility of loss of parts and cross threading caps, so it is more than just cost.

[psalms144.1]

Battery changes also bring the possibility of loss of parts and cross threading caps, so it is more than just cost.

This, and, given some designs, requires a trip to the range and expending extremely hard to come by ammo just to verify zero.