Visible laser for rifle in 400 dollar range

[C-grunt]

I'm wanting to put a visible laser on my rifle for night shooting. I have messed around with a Surefire X400 before but I'm not sure I like the switches on it. A pressure pad might help that though.

I have no need for IR.

Are there other good quality weapon lasers out there in that price range?

[GFX_9]

Otal, but you will be disappointed in daytime visibility with just about any visible laser

[C-grunt]

I know they aren't useful in daylight.

[bamashooter]

Utility in daylight varies with laser and target environment. For example if it's sunny as hell and target is in shade / partial shade, the target will be illuminated easily. For most, green is more visible than red or blue. I recently rolled the dice and installed a Crimson Trace CR-206 (grn) on my M&P 15-22. Very impressed with it. Crimson Trace states it has the full 5mW output (maximum allowed by federal law). And I believe it. I have another (about the same price) which had the typical <5Mw advertised and the literature / manual showed the same however it didn't state the actual output. I discovered later it has <1mW.

The 1mW is powered by 6 (grn) or 4 (red) 1.5V button cell batteries (tiny). Battery life averages 20 minutes at best! I got about 5 more minutes or so when I switched from the junk alkaline batteries to silver oxide.

The CR is powered by a single 1/3N lithium battery and is very accessible and easy to remove / install. It's stated life is approximately 2 hours for green and 4 hours for red.

Some of the lasers are activated by the tiniest of buttons. The CR has large (but not stupid large) ambi - paddles. As some have, it has 3 modes; constant on, momentary, strobe. Though some find strobe to be a gimic, it actually serves 2 purposes (imo). Works well as a dazzler should the need arise. More importantly to me, it extends battery life. I need all I can get when engaging armadillos, skunks, etc.

It come with 3 small mounts (I think) to fit an assortment of weapons. The one for the picatinny was installed from the factory.

Though we're talking milliwatts, the 5mW was much brighter (espicially at distance) than the <1mW.

What I appreciate the most is two things. The paddle switches and that the windage / elevation adjustment appears to have a large field. One other. The adjustments, like many, are made with a small hex wrench. The CR's adjustments have a very nice resistance to them. This is a big deal. Others are so light (little to no resistance) that you best have the laser focused on a target, etc to observe the change. With the higher resistance, if need be, you can move the weapon away from the target and adjust the small amount by feel. You quickly learn to "feel" your way through the adjustments. Haven't removed it or banged it around. But with normal use and care, it has held zero. The book indicates about a 1/2" dot at 50 feet or so. At 25 meters the dot probably isn't pushing 1 1/2".

There you go. I like it so far and the price is much less than msrp. Believe CT prices it at 229.00 and I picked mine up for 129.00 shipped. I have 4 lasers and this one is tied for first.

Regardless of what route you take, please consider output power, ease of battery installation, battery life and type, size of windage / elevation windows, warranty / customer support.

[bamashooter]

Midway is running a very good sale now on this and even cheaper for the red one. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/12...-polymer-black

[Jellybean]

Midway is running a very good sale now on this and even cheaper for the red one. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/12...-polymer-black

That's a good price- I think I paid $130 for mine (also green) from an Opticsplanet sale.

Frankly, I wouldn't bother with the red laser- back when I was trying to research visible lasers in the "reasonably priced" arena, I found that apparently according to science the human eye picks up green lasers better. So, since my use also includes daylight use.... that's what I went with.

Now... I pretty much went with the CT laser simply because all the other lasers on the market were either obvious junk, or I could find no solid info on how reliability/quality was. The next contender in line was the Lasermax Uni-Max ES Picatinny mount, which was considerably more expensive than this CT laser, and pretty much 50/50 in terms on user feedback- literally I'd read one person say it was great, and the next it was junk... for that price I'd expect a more solid level of feedback....
So, the caveat here is I went with the CT 206 in a sort of "what the hell, it's CT, how bad can it be", and "at least if it sucks they have decent CS" mindset.

So far, it seems ok- I haven't used it hard yet ( I have maybe 100 rounds on it, 5.56), but for the price I can't say I'm unhappy.
I do question the zeroing adjustments- they are friction, no "click" detent, so... how long it will hold zero is a good question.
There is no way this thing can be very waterproof- the battery compartment doesn't seem to seal, it's just a thin metal cover that detents in place.
If mounting to a Pic. rail, I would be wary of it taking hard hits, as the body of the sight doesn't really sit flat against the rail along the entire sight, and the screws and plastic that make up the mounting system are rather thin.... I saw a post on AR15.com where someone molded a shim to fill the gap from JB weld or liquid steel or something. I may try that myself, just for peace of mind.
I also question the durability of the activation tabs against hard hits. Granted, if half the tab broke off, it could still be activated.

That being said....
It is daylight visible out to 35 yards, night visible I was laying it on items at 200 yards with ease, and if I'd had something specific to point it at, I'm pretty sure 400 and maybe further is possible.
The side tabs do make it real easy to operate either-hand, especially if mounted to 6'oclock on your rifle
The overall construction seems decent- there doesn't seem to be any of the usual obvious signs of poor quality.

So... I'd give it 7/10, just for the fact that they could have done better in some areas.

[bamashooter]

Unless it's hardcore deployed military - grade hardware, I assume it'll die when wet, break when hit with a pillow. Speaking of Lasermax, I have one on my 10/22 (red) that was originally manufactured solely for the 10/22 with the Ruger name on it. When they were first introduced, they were priced at 250.00 or very close to that. Got mine new about 3 years ago for around 49.00. Believe that's about the average cost now. Great quality and have yet to run the battery down. Luckily it uses the same type battery as the Crimson.

[Kain]

Unless it's hardcore deployed military - grade hardware, I assume it'll die when wet, break when hit with a pillow. Speaking of Lasermax, I have one on my 10/22 (red) that was originally manufactured solely for the 10/22 with the Ruger name on it. When they were first introduced, they were priced at 250.00 or very close to that. Got mine new about 3 years ago for around 49.00. Believe that's about the average cost now. Great quality and have yet to run the battery down. Luckily it uses the same type battery as the Crimson.

I think CDNN has them for $30 currently or something like that.

On the note of a laser of a rifle, I ran a TLR2S on a rifle for a short period before selling it. In bright light, ****ing forget it, you weren't going to see it beyond maybe 10 feet or so, though my ghetto line up with aimpoint dot zero was awesome at that distance that if you shot from the hip the hole appeared where the dot was. SWEET!!! Lol. Playing with it at night you could see it through the ACOG I had at some impressive ranges. The problem was that the laser was zeroed for the range it was zeroed at and beyond that, well you might hit it, if you were more lucky than good.

An IR laser with NODs makes sense, a visible laser is more a toy, albeit a fun one, I consider getting another one, even if it is just for a 10/22 to toy with, from time to time. I guess I ought to just break down and order the CDNN laser and be done with it.