View Full Version : Is the eotech for me?
I know this has been covered extensively, but if you can bear with me(I don't blame you if you can't) here I would appreciate the help. I've been trying to decide what optic to put on my ar-15 and although I know aimpoint is better in most respects, for some reason I'm still am gravitating towards the eotech 512 becasue of its reticle pattern for moving targets up close and precise shots out far. I'm going to be using on my "ranch gun" ar-15 which will see use mostly as a varmit gun and if needed, home defense. It won't see rough use so I thought the eotech might work good in my case. Will the eotech more than likely give me years of good service or will I be cursing this thing when it breaks a year down the road?
mine never gave me a hint of trouble and I liked it
run good batteries
Nathan_Bell
07-25-08, 08:57
The 512 is a pretty solid unit.
I have some cautionary remarks though.
IF you have astigmatism in your shooting eye, try one out before you buy, as the Eotechs laser HUD system doesn't agree with many folk with astigmatisms.
Buy good lithium batteries and do PM by checking on them.
If your varmints are fairly close and fast moving, such as dogs, coyotes, etc you might want to try the Eotechs reticle out. I have loaned my Eotech out to several friends for Ohio deerhunting and they all have declared it too busy for that. A fast brown target moving through brown background is tough to keep your eyes on as it is, and the 65MOA ring just adds to that problem for the small sample size (5) that I can report on.
twodollarbill
07-25-08, 09:21
IF you have astigmatism in your shooting eye, try one out before you buy, as the Eotechs laser HUD system doesn't agree with many folk with astigmatisms.
How True!!!!
Over the years I have owned quite a few Eotech's. I have even sent a
few in for repair because of fuzzy HUD's.
Due to my current astigmatism.......the Eotech HUD is now always fuzzy.
I've finally swithed to Aimpoints.....T-1's that is.
Failure2Stop
07-25-08, 09:26
I have seen no difference when shooting moving targets with an 1X optic to prefer one over another. As long as the reticle/dot is of sufficient intensity to be seen, they are all about the same, with effectiveness having more to do with individual preference/skill than anything else.
The claimed precision increase by having a 1 MOA dot versus a 2 (or even 4) MOA dot is irrelevant unless you are shooting at a 1 MOA target at the zeroed range.
FWIW- "rough" use for an EoTech is shooting several thousand rounds. "Rough" use for an Aimpoint is dropping the unit out of a helo and falling on top of it. -Just for perspective. ;)
Thanks for the help so far. I guess what I was thinking with the eotech reticle was that the 65 moa circle would be handy for up close and fast moving targets like raccoons, skunks, and jackrabbits, while the small dot could be used for hitting stuff out there like coyotes. Is that sound thinking, or would an aimpoint dot work just as good? My biggest problem with deciding on optics is that it's hard to find a place where I can actually look at one in person, although there is one gunshop that I think stocks eotechs that is "close"(over 100 miles away). That is the main reason I am trying to get as much info on this descision because I'll probably be buying the optic(whatever I go with) sight unseen. One other quick question, how do I know if I have an astigmatism? Is it something one has when they're young or does it develop when you're older?
"Rough" use for an Aimpoint is dropping the unit out of a helo and falling on top of it. -Just for perspective. I presume the Aimpoint survived the ensuing cussing.
I Like the EO-Tech for all the reasons mentioned i.e flaxibilty of reticle for CQB and distance. In the 5-6 years I have owned one, it has gotten progressively fuzzier, particularly when I shoot with contacts as opposed to glasses ( I suspect my glasses do a better job of correcting my ASTIMATISM).
Therefore, I suspect that I will ultimately sell my EO-Tech and get an Aimpoint.
If you don't have astigamatism issues, I like it better because of the above mentioned flexabilty/ability to use straight from the box without an additional mount/price/Heads up display/customer service should there be a problem.
Just my opinion from trying both, if your target is close enough to use the 65MOA ring as an aiming point then your going to shoot under your target. The Aimpoint 2MOA dot that I have now is pretty hard to miss even without the 65MOA circle surrounding it. I mean it's a big bright red dot, hard to miss it.
I have had 3 Eo-techs and 3 Aimpoints, for up close and personal either one will work but for distance it's hard to beat a low powered variable scope when your target is less than COM. I use my Aimpoint when calling critters in timber, where shots should be only 50 yards or less. Any other time my 1.5-5 Leupold is sitting on top of my carbine, to me it is a better all around optic for calling coyotes and such.
I have an Astigmatism and for some reason it is worse with the Eo-tech than the Aimpoints. YMMV.
For your intended uses.. go for it, you will be fine and it will most likely serve you well.
Just use good batteries and keep spares on hand.
Hey Failure2Stop I was gonna ask you something. Were you serious when you said that hard use of an eotech is several thousand rounds? I guess that's something I also should have been more clear about, but mostly I am concerned about the eotech's longevity. Even if I don't abuse it will the thing suddenly die in a few years because something in the circuitry failed? Am I getting too concerned about what I guess is a small number of eotech failure's?
Parabellum9x19mm
07-26-08, 19:43
its not really the circuitry, its the battery cover. that's where most of the problems attributed to "overheating" or other such failures come from.
my 552 has seen thousands of rounds. it works fine, but it has switched off on me while in the midst firing once.
if you are using an EO you want fixed irons, or if you have flip ups, you want to keep them up all the time.
i have my 552 on my home defense gun, just because for some reason its faster for me to acquire a sight picture with the EO than anything else....but for more general use i much prefer Aimpoint.
Failure2Stop
07-28-08, 03:03
It really isn't a case of "X number of rounds and the optic fails". It's a chance thing. It's the same kind of reasoning that drives some people to buy Colt instead of Bushmaster. That's a little oversimplifying the issue, but pretty relevant. The EO might last you the rest of your life. It might shit the bed the second day you own it. The same could be said for the Aimpoint. However, in the really real world, the number of Aimpoint percentage failures is significantly below the EO.
I have both EoTechs and Aimpoints. My HD gun wears an Aimpoint. It is always on. I change the battery annually, whether it need it or not (it doesn't). My EoTech eats batteries at the cyclic rate and doesn't stay on for more than 8 hours unless I tell it to. No matter how great something is supposed to be, if it isn't working when you need it to, the supposed advantage is irrelevant.
I have a feeling here that you are leaning toward the EoTech. That's fine. Buy whatever you want, it hurts me none at all.
In other post here many of us have talked about the EOTech and it's failures. Here is a pic of an EOTech Mod. 552 that recently went tits up. It was mounted on an M240 machine gun. This occurred during range training with the PSD team. It would appear that the reticle screen or something came loose inside.
1154
I have a feeling here that you are leaning toward the EoTech. That's fine. Buy whatever you want, it hurts me none at all.
I have been leaning toward the eotech based on cost and that I don't have to buy a mount with as well as it reticle. However, the idea of going with an eotech is fading fast. I started out wanting an aimpoint, but thought that the eotech may be good enough, plus it's cheaper. Now after reading more threads here and on TOS I have decided that I just can't buy an eotech with confidence. Like you said Failure2Stop it might last me forever, but the way my summer has been going, it probably won't work when I get it. Simply put, I sure would like to have at least one expensive device that doesn't fail on me. Looks like I'll just spend a little more and get an aimpoint. I see that grant and larue tactical have some excellent aipoint&mount packages. Thanks to everyone that's helped me out with this descision.
SODak
I have been leaning toward the eotech based on cost
Look at the cost of batteries over the life of the sight and do the math...
I make no bones about the fact I am an AImpoint guy.. I think they are a superior sight with over 750.000 units in the field and another 750.000 in the pipeline.
They have been battle tested for over 6 yrs and have a reliability rate second to none. I have a M2 that I have owned since 02 and it's on it's second battery ( It did not need changing, I just changed it)
I have a T-1 that I just bought and will leave the power on all the time.
To me the most important aspect of a RDS (Red dot sight) is not it reticle, but it's reliability to work ALL THE TIME.
You have to decide what is most important to you and then decide...that simple.
I had an Eotech (512) and loved it except for the battery life. It seemed like I was always needing batteries whether I was shooting it a lot or not.
I got tired of it and went to an Aimpoint. A little more $ but a lot more confidence that it will be ready when I need it...
Just my .02
Buckaroo
I'd recomend the aimpoint H-1 if you haven't seen it yet try to get your hands on one. Just about impossible to beat the durability, size, price, functionality. I had an eotech, couldn't pass it up for 225, but it didn't impress me enough to keep it after the H-1 came out, the others I consider too damn big and bulky but the H-1 and T-1 are the shizznit.
I would not worry about an EOTech failing as it only happened to a select few and the issue was resolved. Better chance of winning the lottery than buying a bad EOTech...
The AA Battery Series is Iron clad as it has never had any known battery leak issues as the CR123 powered models did. I have had my same set of batteries in for a year now... Never had a failure of any kind either
I prefer the EOTech over the aimpoint because of the increased target accusition speed. I paintballed for years using RDS so I had become very familiar with hitting fast moving targets. The EOTech is by far the fastest and easiest sight to use.
The aimpoints have a tighter, les blury dot which can be percieved as more accurate but it actualy is not. The EOTech is a 1MOA dot first of all and second the dot may be blury but if you familiarize yourself with the structure of the dot you can become very accurate. I shoot sub moa from the bench at 100yds w/ my EOTech 552.A65.
A big shocker for me was how bad the EOTech dot became once it was magnified. I had bought a 3x magnifier thinking I would see increased accuracy at 100yds+ but this was not true as the dot became more fuzzy and seemed to have a star effect. Almost like it fluttered. This made it impossible to shoot consistantly so I got rid of the 3x mag with the quickness
I think a Micro T-1 mounted on a Trijicon Accupoint would be the more all-around optimal setup one could have. Shooting coyotes from 300yds+ and the ability to hit a close fast moving rabbit would be neat to have in one package.
RogerinTPA
08-05-08, 16:17
You can't really argue the batt life on the two optics. There's just no comparison. I went with the EOTech 553 on my first RD optic while ago, and like it despite the batt life. The reticle is just faster for me. Now that aimpoint has the latest RDS and longer batt life. It makes since to buy the latest version but I'll wait till the price comes down. The silly thing is, they or someone will top that model in the next 6 to 12 months, then I'll be stuck with buyers remorse.:eek:
I finally got to look at an eotech(I think it was a 552) and I'm not sure if it is for me. I have to say that the reticle pattern would be great, but I had a terrible time trying to keep the reticle from being blurry. I played with the brightness and that helped some and I could sometimes get the reticle to be in focus. I don't want to say that it was the sight's fault because I doubt I had the brightness set right or my eyes suck. I still don't think I want to go with an eotech for two reasons. 1.I have and aimpoint 9000sc on the way. 2.After looking at the eotech I looked at a trijicon accupoint with the amber triangle. I have to sya that I was very impressed with it and if I spend any more money on optics I might go with one of those.
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