Recommend dot for USPSA/IDPA?

[ST911]

High round count red dots will fail at some point.

What constitutes "high round count" for a red dot?

[ECK]

What constitutes "high round count" for a red dot?

For a slide mounted red dot, I’d say north of 30K. I’ve heard of some shooters getting close to 100K out of their red dot before it died but that is prob the exception.

It may also depend on what you’re shooting. With powder puff competition loads you can probably go longer.

[FNG999]

Something else to consider is the quality of the customer service support. High round count red dots will fail at some point. Either from the normal use or from rough handling. Investing in a brand that has good customer support / warranty is a must IMO.

My first SRO finally died last year after three seasons of comp shooting, not sure of the round count but it was up there. The intensity buttons stopped working then shortly thereafter the emitter quit. I called Trij’s CS and no questions asked within the hour I had an RMA to ship the red dot back to them with a 6-8 week quoted turn-around. 5 weeks later I received an email saying the dot was coming back to me. They replaced the electronic guts and the lens (why I have no idea since the lens was fine, but thank you Trijicon!). Cost me $0.

If I can afford it, I like to have a backup gun for the divisions I shoot a lot, more or less set up the same if not identical. So during the time my original SRO was being repaired I was able to shoot my backup gun with the other SRO. For major matches I bring both guns so I have a backup if one of them goes T-U. Way easier and less hassle to switch guns than try to fix a gun at the range and this way I can concentrate on my shooting.

Oh man, 6-8 weeks for repair? I can see having 2 is a good practice.

[ECK]

Oh man, 6-8 weeks for repair? I can see having 2 is a good practice.

Yep, but they beat their initial estimate and returned it to me in 5 weeks.

[DMF13]

Something else to consider is the quality of the customer service support. High round count red dots will fail at some point. Either from the normal use or from rough handling. Investing in a brand that has good customer support / warranty is a must IMO.

Alternatively, buy it from Brownells to get their "Forever Guarantee." That's my plan when the HS507COMP becomes available.

[rawkguitarist]

For IDPA/USPSA? I'll be a heretic ... a 32MOA circle on a Holosun or the large, empty circle on the new 507Comp. For just letting the reticle appear, that's the ticket for me.

Erick, for competition the 32 moa circle has been great for me. Its the setting I've been carrying with too.

[DaBigBR]

Holosun's warranty handling is very similar. Submit claim online, emailed label shows up within a day, replacement dot within a few weeks.

[mmc45414]

I just ordered the 5 MOA SRO, thanks guys!

My experience is limited, but in this case maybe that makes it appropriate!
I did what you did and have been happy.
After I did a test case with a Swampfox I had a 5" M&P direct milled for a 5MOA SRO.
As a RDO newbie I wanted a big window with a big dot.

[BWT]

I had my SRO replaced as well.

Dot intensity would change when firing. Replaced batteries, other things, and it didn’t help. I think it was at 8 weeks.

They replaced it entirely works great since returning.

I’d recommend Trijicon as well.

[Archer1440]

Just a note to mention that open circle reticles really require a hard target focus, and “picking a spot” for optimal performance in terms of accuracy. The eye will naturally center the ring if you hard focus on the specific desired impact point.

Purely for competition purposes, a correctly trained shooter with proper target focus may actually be faster using a dot (shooting the streak) than one using a ring, but the ring may have advantages in extreme shooting positions that break normal indices, and support hand only shooting from awkward positions. Stuff that happens in the real world as well as in the game.