Any recommendations for an Eotech clone sight 551/553/558

Impulse said:
I have the Nuprol one and it turns itself off sometimes when I fire an AEG (I had it on my mp5k), let alone a GBBR, so now it just sits on my 416 NGRS that I never use and just looks pretty. 

Don't get the Nuprol one. It's crap
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Yeah, I guess that's my remaining concern is that any airsoft-level sight won't have sufficient shock resistance. 
Looks like I'll be Mr Guinea Pig on the Sotac one :)

My real-steel Kobra seems to be suffering at the moment (and I think this pre-dates my GBBR) that a knock to it triggers the 'lower brightness' button circuitry.   A full burst of shots turns the brightness to zero.  That's one of the reasons I wanted to buy a new sight.   It unfortunately demonstrates that even rugged sights with a good rep aren't completely bomb-proof.

rocketdogbert said:
I never said that. Lots of cheap EOTech clones have terrible parallax error is what I said.

I’ve said my bit, likely I’ve owned more red dots than most people here, both real and clone. It’s your money, spend it on whatever you like lol. I’m out
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Ok, thanks for the input, I appreciate it even though I've either misunderstood it, or disagreed with it.  Eotech's are the one thing I've got zero experience of, I didn't expect them to be different from red dots (given that I wouldn't be going for a true holo sight).   My only real-steel sight is a Kobra.  Functionally, in terms of parallax, that's acting the same as my other red-dots (which are all cheap and/or used).

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Edit:  The green rattle can came out to play at lunchtime... PEQ box is now 'assimilated'...  I think it'll look great with the Eotech-a-like on top :)

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My two cents - genuine EoTech sights are expensive by nature because of how they work. None of the copies work the same way as mentioned above and are basically reflex sights so need a mirrored lens. The biggest issue is that the cheaper ones tend to be more heavily mirrored which makes them harder to see through in low light. Halfway decent ones however are "good enough" for airsoft unless you're in a particularly dark CQB environment and then there's plenty of other red dots that will do the job.

As for saying that they're all shit or that only Holy Warrior are any good is subjective at best and disingenuous at worst. I've had a cheap chinese knock off for years that's absolutely fine (which I used to use at The Mall to no detriment), the Sotac ones are fine too.

 
Impulse said:
I have the Nuprol one and it turns itself off sometimes when I fire an AEG (I had it on my mp5k), let alone a GBBR, so now it just sits on my 416 NGRS that I never use and just looks pretty. 

Don't get the Nuprol one. It's crap
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I have a couple of theta ones.   Seem usable outdoors for me... Wouldn't take them indoors as low light is an issue for them.

They also turn off, but as opposed to a fault, I think it a battery saving measure they have, which is annoying as you aren't going to be constantly poking the optic during game days.

 
I'm a big fan of the look of an EoTech on a 416. I got this EXPS3 and G43 clone from an airsoft store on eBay for around £120 a couple of years ago. They look pretty good, the reticule is nice and crisp, but it's only ever a guide to your target!

I do have to say the Red Dot Engineering sight protectors are great though. Definitely worth a few extra quid. 

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Yup, that looks fantastic.
But ... oh no, you've got me thinking of getting a G43 to go with it, when will the expense ever end? ;D 

I've seen cheap magnifiers at my site before, and on AliExpress etc... but I heard they tend to flop around on the flip mount, and are therefore as much a liability as a benefit.  So it would really, actually, definitely need to be a good one, wouldn't it?

I bought a LPVO 1.25-5 scope which is on my DE M906, I do intend to give that a proper run to see how I like using zoom in-game, I've only ever tried a sniper scope before and didn't really get on with that..  so maybe it's a temptation I might be able to stave off.

How do you find using the magnifier?

 
I am in a similar situation to the OP in that this is the first time I wanted to get a classic Eotech style holographic site for an mk18 build.

I have bought this site off fleabay (yeah I know...) but from a looks point of view it was the closest to the Eotech and that was in stock, without spending hundreds of pounds. At this stage I am not sure if I like this style over the red dots I have but, this was for the look: SOTAC EXPS 3.0 Holographic Red Green Dot Reflex Sight XPS3 558 £63

It looks Ok but, there is a lot of distortion on the lens if you move your head/view point from the very center and I am considering sending it back but, again, no where has stock of the HW S1 in tan in stock which seems the best clone even at ~£140

I just stumbled across this very good comparison video which also backs the claim that, out of the ones tested, the HW S1 is the best:



 
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RostokMcSpoons said:
The vibe I'm getting though is that anything below HW levels is trash, but HWs are way above my intended budget.  And will have to come from Them Foreign Climes.

So the input has been useful - I thank you all. I've dragged myself away from feeding at the very bottom, and went for something a bit better, safe in the knowledge that the stuff that's actually good was more than I wanted to spend.  

And yeah, I've been casting around the Classifieds for a cheap sight for long enough that I definitely have become impatient :D
 
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Buy cheap buy twice... I understand that you don't want to spend too much money on it but you need realistic expectations. If you don't mind a bit of parallax or ghosting then go for a cheaper one.

I'm sure Holy Warrior has an official online shop on aliexpress it could be cheaper than any uk retailer.

 
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Thanks chaps. 

That video you linked @Panama is why I agreed the HW was the best, it's a useful resource.  

@Krisz thanks, I found the HW shop again.   I think I'd seen it before but discounted it as the initial view of the sight on the front page shows it for $10  - but turns out that's just for a sticker!   A closer look at the product page, and the confusing morass of options I can see is for the site with different Eotech logos.   Now I'm understand what I want and what I'm looking for, the price of £113 inc shipping does become more of a sensible proposition, if the £55 sight I've bought disappoints me.

I'll look out for lens distortion on the Sotac, and if it's something I won't stop noticing I'll send it back under the returns policy, and spring for the HW S1. 
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001473704252.html

Edit: Absolutely bloomin' typical, someone puts the Sotac sight up on the classifieds for £35, but it's too late to cancel my order and get that instead ?

 
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RostokMcSpoons said:
How do you find using the magnifier?
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I probably use it more as a monocular if I'm honest. At most airsoft ranges, looking through a 3x magnification brings targets way too close for my liking.

The mount mine is on is solid though, with no flapping about. 

 
Here's the Sotac...

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Basically the sight is really nice made, the buttons work well, the quick release mount was easy to adjust to get a solid fit.

As you can see the reticle has the additional aiming marks, which makes it a nice change from all the plain red dot sights I have.  It seems to go quite bright. 
At the low end there's a big jump from 'indoor dim' to 'very dim' on the last adjustment step.   I presume that's for NV mode.  The NV button makes the reticle green.   It might do clever stuff with the brightness too, but I don't need that, so haven't checked the instructions ;)

The glass isn't strongly tinted or distorted, but I can see there is distortion of the reticle when viewing off-centre so it's in the top corners of the sight.   Is it enough to make me send it back and spring the extra ~£60?   I don't think so but I'll sleep on that.

 
RostokMcSpoons said:
Here's the Sotac...

View attachment 102155

View attachment 102154

Basically the sight is really nice made, the buttons work well, the quick release mount was easy to adjust to get a solid fit.

As you can see the reticle has the additional aiming marks, which makes it a nice change from all the plain red dot sights I have.  It seems to go quite bright. 
At the low end there's a big jump from 'indoor dim' to 'very dim' on the last adjustment step.   I presume that's for NV mode.  The NV button makes the reticle green.   It might do clever stuff with the brightness too, but I don't need that, so haven't checked the instructions ;)

The glass isn't strongly tinted or distorted, but I can see there is distortion of the reticle when viewing off-centre so it's in the top corners of the sight.   Is it enough to make me send it back and spring the extra ~£60?   I don't think so but I'll sleep on that.
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Doesn’t look like it’s sitting flat on the rail?

Is it lightly mirrored enough to make it useful indoors/lowlight conditions?

 
Lozart said:
If you look at where the adjusters are it looks like it's the outer cover that's wonky. Sight itself seems to be sat properly.
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Aye, hood looks super on't wonk. Makes the whole thing look like it's leaning backward, curious to see how it looks from the other side, give the 3 cut outs for the control buttons and the pair of torx screws on the other side I'd like to think it's damn near impossible for the to be wonky. Looking at the second photo the hood definitely looks higher at what would be the front right as you're looking through it.

Edit: Not intending to rail on your purchase, just want to make sure you're getting a product you're happy with.

 
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If you do get a sight protector from RDE, you'll struggle to get it in place without encouraging the hood to stand at attention

 
Thanks for pointing that out... I'm not enough of an Eotech afficionado to think it was anything else than "how it's supposed to be", I guess.
I loosened off the torx screws and fiddled the hood into better alignment (maybe half a mil), and re-tightened them.   I think it's looking much straighter.  I also checked the overall aligment from the front, it looks correctly centred (the ADS pic was taken with no great consideration to lining it up nicely, so that may have been misleading)

I'm off to play footy but I'll take a pic or two later so you can all give me an unbiased opinion on whether it's ok now.

 
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What do you guys think?  The windage and elevation dials aren't perfectly centered in the cutouts, but it looks straight to me.

I suspect my quick attempt to wedge the sight protector into place had pushed it askew (which doesn't say great things about the screws fitting the hood to the sight, but hey-ho)

Edit:  Seems I'm going to be spending a lot of money on airline tickets shortly, so frankly a few quid here or there will make sod-all difference in the grand scheme of things - I'm now leaning a little towards sending this back and ordering the HW S1, as I now have 2 reasons to prefer it:  [1] the reticle hopefully won't distort when viewed in the corners, [2] the screws aren't made of cheese and the hood will stay in the right place (though I do like cheese)

 
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RostokMcSpoons said:
View attachment 102184

View attachment 102185

What do you guys think?  The windage and elevation dials aren't perfectly centered in the cutouts, but it looks straight to me.

I suspect my quick attempt to wedge the sight protector into place had pushed it askew (which doesn't say great things about the screws fitting the hood to the sight, but hey-ho)
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Yeah, in the bottom pic it looks a lot better.

 
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