Aimpoint m2's or M3's, particularly the m3, anybody got any intel on them? I've got an M4 carbine type rifle and am looking for CQB to 200 yrd stuff. Have a loaner Eotech, which is nice, but am intersted in the Aimpoint because of battery life at the advertised 50k hours.
Eye relief and sight aquisition as good as Eotech's?
Durability?
Anyone use them in bad places/environments like the sand box or A'stan and have feed back?
Edumacation appreciated...
Lets start off with ignoring of battery life. Unless you plan to have your rifle sit for years and never touch it or check it, than the battery issue is really moot. Batteries should be changed out and serviced to make sure they are fresh anyway (Read Kestral threads)
It really comes down to what you want. The M2,M3 (ML2/3 are non nv, IE no super low settings) are good optics. The Aimpoint Pro is bassicaly a M3 with a QRP mount. Unless your getting a M2 with mount for under $350, Get the pro.
Downside is its size and weight. Now everything is realitive, I had a M68 (M2) on one of my M16's in the box and it was not heavy at the time. Compare it with a T1/H1 and it is now "heavy"
People will tell you aimpoints are bombproof and never break. That is a lie. They break and fail and go tits up like an electronic device can. I had a whole box of broken M68's in my arms room. Eotechs were not as durrable and have gone through many revisions and the current crop of EXPS are almost as reliable and durrable as AP. Time will tell how the EXPS's stack up, but thus far they have been great. I would give aimpoint a SLIGHT edge in durrability, but for me, the features and sight box of the EO make it a clear choice. Both will get lead on target, they just do it differently.
Eotechs are speed. They are one of if not the quicket sight for target aquistion that is made. If speed and getting on target quicky are your goal, then get a EO. Some people don't like the retticle (they make others, single dot in a EO is pointless as you lose the quick targeting ability). There is a reason, the tip of the spear, use Eothings for their assualt teams. The window is huge and you do not need a pefect head possition behind the stock to get a accurate shot of beacuse of the hologram. There is no Eye relief, it has no magnification.
The H1/T1 will be lighter. They are around $500/$600 respectfully. EXPS (trust me and get the lever mount model unless you cannot do lower 1/3 cowitness) run around $525 for 2's (non -nv) and $620 for 3's (NV). There are a bunch of reticles, but I still prefer the -0 which is a 1moa dot with 65moa circle.
One of the benefits of the circle dot is that if you zero the dot for 50m/200m, the bottom of the circle is the POI around 15 Feet. Not that a few inches mean shit at this dist to most of us, but for some users this is a good feature.
You need to get time behind all of them. The T1/H1 will be the lightest, have longest battery life, but has a very small tube and for me, is hard to get the dot focused on the target quickly. IMO Aimpoints are overpriced as the technology and build is inferior to that of the EO.
I appologize if I sound Bias, beacuse I am. For me, The EO makes perfect sense. I still own AP products and would use them if I had to. For superlight builds or using the RD in a offset , the t1/h1 is a great choice as the MRD's are not durrable enough of they get dropped or banged into shit.
