I can't get away from the Aimpoint Pro (long post)

[JR TACTICAL]

Hello all, I am gonna preface this with I have taken a break from the firearm world for a bit. We have had a rather interesting few years in my family including 2 cross country moves. During that time i had sold most of my firearms and all of my AR's and pars/accessories and now we are finally settled in a good area and I have a good job and everyone has achieved a relative homeostasis which I am very thankful for.

Anyway I am now in a rebuilding/requiring phase for my firearms and I have acquired 2 AR's in the past few months thus the post.

Most of my knowledge comes from here and the late Iraqgunz (RIP brother) I have always valued this forum and his opinion and I am very much in the mindset of buy once cry once and having a quality firearm and quality gear is important to me.

My first rifle on this adventure I bought complete. I did some reading and research here and the general internet and settled on a Geissele Super Duty rifle. I liked the idea of buying a complete rifle that was "done" as in I will not need to add a trigger, ambi-selector, CH...ect and I know from here and past experiences that Geissele makes good quality stuff.

I of course did not just stop at the rifle. I started with an optic and chose the Aimpoint Pro. I have had these on past rifles and always had a good experience with them so I figured I could not go wrong with that as they are a good optic for my purpose. I also purchased back up sights, a light sling and plenty of mags and ammo to train and get back into the shooting sports.

All the above leads me into my post. As stated above, I acquired another rifle recently. This one did as a build of sorts. I bought an Aero lower and built it out with a ALG lpk, Vltor A5 and magpul CTR stock. I found a deal on a colt 6920 complete upper that I could not pass up so I got that and boom, another complete rifle...kinda.

I have this thing about me that when I buy a gun I really want to make it complete ASAP (optic, sling, light at a minimum) and here is where the post stems from.

When I did this build I had every intention of buying a variable power optic to put on the geissele rifle and switch the Aimpoint Pro over to the new build. I had all options on the table from the Steiner P4XI 1-4, to the vortex razor HD 1-6 and everywhere in-between. I started having second thoughts and figured maybe I will just stick with the red dot. I knew I wanted to stay with aimpoint because of battery life and durability so I started looking. I immediately looked at the T2, I had a T1 in the past and it was ok. I did not care for the restricted FOV with it but if was on the table. Then I saw the Comp M5. This I was excited about as it was kinda an in-between and it's the new hotness and has great specs, the price though hard to justify. Then the Comp M4, this peeked my interest. Battery life was of the chart, durable and battle tested, common battery what's not to like right...but still hard to justify. All the above Aimpoints were above $700 everywhere I looked.

I kept coming back to the aimpoint pro. First off it's a hell of a deal at under $500. For that price I could order a life time of batteries for it and still come out money ahead and I can pretty much do everything the other aimpoints can, its just a little heavier. I was fully prepared to drop $1300 on a razor and another $400 on a scalarworks mount or the best red dot money can buy but then I thought why? I could get the pro which is pretty damn good, get a 3x magnifier eventually which will let me extend out a bit further if needed and then have money left over for ammo, light, sling, trigger and CH or whatever.

Nothing against anyone who has high end LPVO optics or T2's/Comp M4/M5's on the rifles, they are amazing and definitely have a purpose and role but after reading, watching videos and with my experiences with both red dots and LPVO's I just can't get away from the Aimpoint Pro as it fits my CQB aspect of needs and I can still make hits out to 200-300 yards without magnification and with a 3x behind it even further.

Anyways, thats my rant and thanks for reading and I would love to hear yall's feedback, I think the PRO is still a great option that combines ruggedness, battery life and accuracy.

I look forward to getting back into the AR community and M4C.

-John

[Five_Point_Five_Six]

The PRO is a lot of optic for the money.

[WillBrink]

I put the Pro on my general purpose carbine and it's built like tank (don't care about the weight personally...), can leave on for years without dying (I still try to replace batteries yearly) and it's more then good enough for me. I got mine before prices went up, so well below $500 at the time. If I were to replace it, I'd go with a variable magnification optic now favored by many, which allows a lot more options. But, the good stuff is big $ and while I want it, don't need it, so have not bothered. If I starting fresh on a all around GP carbine, I'd be looking at those variable magnification scopes personally.

[wildcard600]

Wait till you try it passive NV. It's like trying to look through tinted glass.

[JiminAZ]

I have Pros and Micros and they are great dots, probably the best dots for my old guy presbyopia and astigmatism. I am historically a big proponent of dots and like you, have used them with flip to side magnifiers.

With that said I recently tried an LVPO and I'm sold. Especially on a surprisingly accurate rifle like your Geissele it will open up new possibilities for you.

You should try one. Get a used optic and try it out. It doesn't have to be alpha glass. If it doesn't work for you sell it - no big loss.

I went with a Leupold 1-6 FFP model, and it is surprisingly good. All this talk about "daylight bright" dots for me hasn't been an issue. There's a crosshair reticle that is plenty daylight visible.

I use it on 1x or on 6x. Don't really ever use anything inbetween. And the diopter is adjusted for my eyes without corrective glasses so it's just a win.

I don't feel a need for a canted dot either. I really think as this LVPO thing evolves, dots will become less used. For me from this point forward I only really want dots on SBRs/pistols.

(I don't have NV, If I did the answer might be quite different).

[El Vaquero]

The PRO is always solid. Another one I like (except the price), is the Trijicon MRO HD. Not the regular MRO but the HD version. Large objective like the PRO. Clear glass and a nice red dot for astigmatism. It’s a nice option, just on the pricey side.

[Hammer_Man]

The PRO is an amazing value, and I would recommend it to anybody if they’re on a budget. If you can afford them, the newer T1/T2 and M5 models have better glass IMO.

[markm]

I have the C3. I bought the PRO after getting the C3 thinking it was the same thing with a different name. It was not. The adjustments in brightness weren't what I was used to and it just seemed cheaper. I got rid of it. Had I not had the C3 first, I might not have dumped the PRO.

This is the reason I'm leery of the new Aimpoint Duty sight.

[TBAR_94]

The PRO is a good sight and I like mine, but I was not a fan of the stock mount. Not only was it bulky, I had issue with zero shifts. I swapped it for an ADM and haven’t had issues.

[ryr8828]

I have the C3. I bought the PRO after getting the C3 thinking it was the same thing with a different name. It was not. The adjustments in brightness weren't what I was used to and it just seemed cheaper. I got rid of it. Had I not had the C3 first, I might not have dumped the PRO.

This is the reason I'm leery of the new Aimpoint Duty sight.

I found a good deal on a c3 years ago and threw it on my acr, I like it. Also came with an fde rubber cover to match my rifle because as we all know, fashion is foremost.
Have a t2 and an h2.
Also bought 3-4 of the stainless sights that look just like the t2/h2when they were discontinued. Don't remember their designation. Got a wonderful deal on those. Painted them black.