Recently while looking for an Aimpoint clone I stumbled across the Holosun HS403A . They are a fairly new company that has been an OEM for Primary Arms and has recently started building their own optics. The first thing that jumped out to me was the excellent battery life of 50,000 hours and the lifetime limited warranty in a sub 200 dollar optic. The rest of the stats on the HS403 are just as impressive.
Right out of the box the HS403A looks excellent, it is extremely slim and low profile as the battery is located between the base and the sight. In an effort to keep the body as low profile as possible instead of the brightness being adjusted by a knob it is adjusted using buttons on the top. The only thing coming off of the body of the sight itself is the windage and elevation adjustment that is covered by caps, very similar to the T1. Once the cap is removed it is what is used to make the adjustments and achieve zero. It is very lightweight at just 4.3 ounces with the 1/3 mount.
It is impossible for me to already give a judgment on the 50,000 hour battery life but an excellent feature to add to the battery life is the 8 hour shut off. Normally this would be a negative as a like the red dot to be ready to roll at any moment but the HS403 also sports a motion sensor to detect movement. Testing this has been fairly simple, I leave it sitting on the table and check that it is off and then simply pick it up and see if it has come on and so far it has worked every time by just picking the optic up off the table.
As far as looking through the HS403A the glass is actually very clear but has a slightly bluish-grey tint to it. So far this has caused absolutely zero issue in any lighting condition and is comparable to looking through sunglasses or a lightly tinted window on a car. The emitter on the Holosun is as small as advertised, meaning it is tiny and causes no blockage of view when looking through it. The 2MOA dot is very crisp and clear up until you get to the high end where it halos a little bit (my T1 also does this) it also has 2 night vision settings.
Here you can see the size, or lack thereof, of the emitter.
The mount itself is nothing fancy but certainly gets the job done. It has held tight through several hundred rounds now and has not worked loose at all. The mount is the place that I feel the HS403 has the most room for improvement though. Since the battery compartment is on the bottom of the sight the dimensions are different that H/T1 mounts so it is not compatible with the many mounts available. The lugs on the bottom of the mount are small enough that when placed on the top rail there is a lot of movement forwards and backwards which means that when pulling it off and remounting it you will have a harder time keeping that zero. I just ran mine all the way forward in my preferred space each time and it retained just fine. A QD mount option would be excellent also and hopefully that will happen one of these days in an upgrade package.
As I mentioned earlier the Adjustment for elevation and windage is underneath two screw on caps that have a ridge on top that fit into notches in the adjustment turrets. I have heard several people say that they had issues with these freezing on them and locking up, not being able move them. I zeroed mine, then adjusted it a foot right, zeroing, going a foot left and then back to zero and never had an issue, distance was at 50 yards.
The HS403 has been a very good optic so far and has withstood normal, what I would call range usage. It has been zeroed, and had several hundred rounds fired through it on different rifles and always held zero. I have dropped it, thrown it on the dash of my work truck and let it bounce around all day, dropped it etc and it has lived just fine. I am very big on using top quality products for self defense but for the plinker rifles a clone is not unacceptable by any means. The Holosun offering is an excellent option in this category. It is a very feature rich budget optic with the extremely light weight, excellent battery time, 100 foot submersible and many other features all for under a price of $200 the Holosun HS403A is by far the best budget optic I have gotten my hands on.
Brightness buttons are on top of the HS403 instead of a knob to keep a slim profile. It also helps them keep from bumping against gear.
I am very curious to know what the HS403 will withstand so I fully intend to do a part 2 to this write up with video and putting it through some abuse!
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