Is the Holosun AEMS as good as an Eotech EXPS? The AEMS is less expensive, has a smaller footprint, has a multi reticle system and has longer battery life. The Eotech has a lot of history behind it.
Is the Holosun AEMS as good as an Eotech EXPS? The AEMS is less expensive, has a smaller footprint, has a multi reticle system and has longer battery life. The Eotech has a lot of history behind it.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
As good for what? An EXPS3 will still be the superior option if you're specifically dealing with NODs, as it still has a bit of an edge in light transmission, switchology (much more granular night vision settings and a dedicated NV button), and no forward visual signature from the emitter (which I think is pretty overrated, but I'm just a civvie, so who knows). It also will have superior parallax-freeness to any RDS and be true 1× by design, while fisheye seem to be a complaint that some folks (but not others) have with the AEMS. There is also the argument to be made that the EXPS offers a finer aiming dot under magnifiers, along with the fact that HWSes can still project the reticle just fine even with shattered lenses, and the inevitable point that it's made in the USA by a USA company rather than ChiCom in origin. Whether the (generally minor) optical superiority of the EXPS3 compared to the AEMS, especially for just daylight use, is worth the additional mechanical complexity, much shorter battery life, and additional cost is entirely up to you.Originally Posted by GJM
For me, an HWS and RDS fulfill different roles. The HWS is more useful in an initiating role, where you have the time to prep before hand to make sure you have a fresh battery and have the sight turned on and tuned to your desired brightness. The RDS is more suited for a reactive role, where the always-on capability is integral.
Last edited by Default.mp3; 01-17-2024 at 11:07 AM.
I agree with @Default.mp3's assessment. If you'll use a magnifier, EOTech is vastly superior: the center dots are not magnified.
As well, EOTechs are heavy.
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
FWIW, it can be a kinda a wash, depending on your eye. First, I'll note that it's my understanding that magnification of the center dot(s) still occurs, it's more a trick of the eye that makes it appear not to; the human eye tends to perceive point sources of light as around 1 MOA, so even if the dot is much smaller than that, that's what we think we see. When the dot is then magnified, it still appears to be about the same absolute size as the unmagnified dot. Still, a point for EOTech.
The problem is, at least with my EOTech EXPS3-2, Aimpoint 3XMag-1, and dog shit eyeballs, the EXPS3 dots are not actually dots, but smears (they are also smeared without the magnifier). So ironically, I prefer my CompM5 under a magnifier, as while the dot is bigger, it is also almost perfectly round to my eyes, and thus easier to get consistent POA with it. But yeah, for most folks, it seems that the EOTechs are much more consistently offering a nice crisp center dot than most RDSes, while also offering a smaller dot under a magnifier, so maybe I'm just the odd one out on this one.
With a 3x, I can make nearly equally precise shots with AEMS and EOTech. But with the EOTech 5x magnifier, it's way better on the EOTech with its fancy optics.
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
For a door # 3 option the Sig 4xt Pro is good with a magnifier. I consistently ding steel at 500y with it using the ballistic dot holds. It’s not LPVO good. But it’s a jack of all trades red dot that doesn’t require the Eotech tax of incredibly small battery life.
Optically… the Eotech is gonna be king but you’re sure giving up a lot of convenience.
I would not consider an Eotech unless passive aiming is of supreme importance to you. I guess maybe if you have a severe astigmatism that makes RDS unworkable but HWS still look ok. And juuuust maaaaybe if shooting under a magnifier is really important. But even in those exceptional use cases you have to weigh what are surely marginal benefits in specific areas against the big downsides of weight and battery life.
My 2 AEMS have great glass and seem about equal to a T2 for passive aiming. I would really like to try out the Sig 4xt Pro. Especially if it is made in the USA it seems like it offers better features and equal glass to an AEMS while only being $100 more.
I don't have a 4XT Pro but I have 3 4Ts and 2 4Ss with 3x, 4x, and a 5x magnifier. To my eyes, the center dot is always perfectly round under magnification, vs the blur I get with my Sparc solar.
Re the Eotech dot not getting magnified, how can it be, looking through a magnifier, that the dot doesn't increase in size? I typically shoot 3" stick on targets and under magnification at 100 yards, the 2moa dot covers roughly 2/3 the target, it doesn't get blown up to 6 or 8 moa and eclipse the target, everything just gets 3 or 4 times bigger. I can see why the HWS dot would be crisper, but my caveman engineer brain can't conceive how it would not be magnified along with everything else.
It is magnified but, as mentioned earlier, the human eye can’t perceive points of light smaller than one MOA. If a point is smaller than one MOA, it will appear to your eye as one MOA. The actual size of the EoTech dot is so small that even when magnified it’s under one MOA in size so your eye sees it as one MOA.
My posts only represent my personal opinion and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or official policies of any employer, past or present. Obvious spelling errors are likely the result of an iPhone keyboard.
Ah. Thank you. It's advertised as 1 MOA, I did not realize it's actually smaller than that or the part about our perception.
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