I agree. The magnifier is good for zeroing and for stretching a fast short range setup into medium range, whereas the LPVO is a medium range setup that can work up close. There are some caveats, but that seems to be the general rule.
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I have wondered why there isn't a long eye relief magnifier capable of mounting in front of the optic.
Haven't handled a magnifier above 3x, but anything decent with more magnification I can recall seeing jumped in price enough that an LPVO makes more sense on the cost end alone.
And the LPVO likely doing a much better and more versatile job than my theoretical LER magnifier may be why none exists.
Yep. The way I've heard it is that a RDS+Mag is good if you're expecting engagement distances mostly to be between 0-50 mostly, but with targets over 100 yards away to be likely as well. LVPOs are good if you're expecting most engagements to be 100 yards and beyond, with a good chance for some close up work as well.
Superset CA ACSS red dot + magnifier
https://youtu.be/eS0tQAtkZMY
What is "low light transmission"? 75% is not very good compared to the >90% you'll see on nicer LPVOs, but at the same time, is it any worse than other magnifiers? I've never really been able to dig out any published specs, whether be from Vortex, EOTech, Trijicon, etc. To my eye, my G33 had worse light transmission than my 3XMag-1.