Red vs Green?

[Archer1440]

The other downside of green- besides being less useful to some in vegetated areas- is power consumption compared to red. Green emitters can use up to 5X more power than red for the same output (but can be more visible at lower settings to some users).

Green with a slight yellow shift (555 nM) is the most visible color to normal human eyes, and is certainly better for lasers than red for the vast majority of users. In my personal experience, some lasers have more of a yellow component than others, even from the same supplier. A bit of a roll of the dice depending on the characteristics of the specific emitter module.

I have looked through enough green dot reflex sights to have an opinion that there is a similar variability, but I don't have receipts on that, just an opinion. Similarly, some red dots appear more orange to me than others.

[RJ]

I’m going through this process of choosing a new optic. I have had good results with red so will likely stick with that, but I still wonder sometimes about green.

Would expected circumstances / environment be an input to the choice? As a geezer, I don’t get out much after dark. My typical imagined use is probably a decently lit WalMart parking lot, or during the day at a gas station. I’ve had someone tell me Red is better during bright daylight, and green is preferred for night shooting, but I’ve never taken a dusk or night training course to find out how my eyes respond, except for comparing a couple FO rods of different colors once.

Also, what about a video game, such as Call of Duty, if the game offers a selectable reticle color as an option? Could you change reticle color in game and see? I admit I don’t have a lot of experience with video games to know. If so, I might try that out.

[Darth_Uno]

The other downside of green- besides being less useful to some in vegetated areas- is power consumption compared to red. Green emitters can use up to 5X more power than red for the same output (but can be more visible at lower settings to some users).

Yes, my green Trijicon MRO has significantly less battery life than any of my reds. It says one year battery life on setting 3, but I've left it on 4 and it's been dead in a month. So I just keep it turned off, and use red dots on anything serious.

[mcgivro]

I have six optics and they’re all green dots. It catches my eye easier when I’m presenting the gun and finding the dot. Green is also better for low-light situations, IMO.

[boing]

In a Rangemaster newsletter, Tom Givens had this to say about iron sights, which seems applicable to dots:

In preparation for an Active Shooter Course we put on, I once went to the food court of a popular local shopping mall, got a drink, and just sat at a table and observed. I had a notebook, and kept tabs of the outer garment colors worn by everyone that came and went in the course of an hour or so. Black, brown, blue, gray, and green in various shades were by far the most heavily represented colors. No one wore an outer garment that was an ugly orange/red color. That color front sight will, however, show up very well against any of the colors listed. A policeman would call this “a clue”.

My carry dots happen to be green because it “seemed more eye catching” at the time. If/when I can justify dropping the coin on another dot set up, I’ll opt for red for comparison testing. That P30sk mod from Langdon looks tempting.

[chances R]

I read that green requires a darker window, which in turn may decrease one's vision through the glass at night. Anyone heard/experienced this?

[Archer1440]

Two hours ago, I installed a green reticle Holosun HE507C-GR X2 for a friend on his SIG M18 with a Springer RMR to DPP adapter plate. He had bought the thing because of the ring reticle, and thinking it would be a direct fit.

I DID notice that his red laser boresighter was harder than I expected to pick up looking through the thing at a white wall, and yes, thinking back, it was perhaps a bit lower in light transmission indoors (incandescent room light) than a couple of other optics we had on hand- but quite honestly I didn't really think much about it at the time.

I certainly don't see it as anything that would interfere with the utility of the thing if properly used with target focus and with both eyes open in a visible light spectrum.

Night vision might be a different matter, but not relevant to his use case.

[1Rangemaster]

I am somewhat equivocal about dot color, but if asked to choose would go red. I have worked enough with lasers to prefer green, to the point where I'm usually carrying a red Aimpoint/Holosun and green TLR8G. Some instructors ran a low/no light course recently and I saw one or two of the green laser setup to be encouraged by it. I think @GJM ran a green laser at some point-hard to keep up with his gear sometimes!
OTOH, I have an EPS Carry w/small green dot and it's served me well on the range. It may wash out in some situations. The red laser does in daylight. I can see the argument for knowing your probable environment.
As @SoCalDep said, only you can determine what's best for you.
For now, the green laser is a nice to have, with red dot "have to have"(and loaded, functional firearm "gotta have"). With eyesight problems over years, I try to be flexible.

[45dotACP]

Have a 507 that's green, a 507 that's red and a 407 that's red.

I vastly prefer red at this point I think.

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