I am severely disappointed with the video. In most of the things, you can tell I am doing something with the rifle, but can’t see exactly what. 
Will cut and slap together in a few though.
Interesting for sure !!! And a “BIG” Thanks for potentially sacrificing a expensive Weapons Site !! I have a XPS3 and its been a great site,but I have never dropped abused or plan to drop or abuse the site,:eek:,so this will be a interesting Test for sure !!! Thanks again for taking the time to do this,I’ll be watching !!! 
Saturday, 16 July 2011
I went to my local shooting pit with my rifle and EOTech XPS 2-0. The purpose: to find out if I could get the sight to stop working through “normal” and extreme measures.
I started off simple: dropping the rifle optic first onto the ground. I confirmed zero with my irons, and also with shooting a 6" plate at 50 yards. The optic did fine, though had a slight gouge on the hood of the optic.
The next test was smashing the sight against a tree about 60 times. I succeeded in bending the hood and f*ing the finish up, but nothing else. I still had hits on the 6" plate at 50 yards, and the optic was still co-witnessed with my iron sights.
The next test was throwing it out of the back of a moving vehicle at 20 MPH onto the gravel road. The rifle hit the gravel road, optic first, and took a really good bounce before stopping about 20 feet from where I saw the rifle hit the gravel the first time. The force of the impact dented the hood of the EOTech hard enough that the hood is now touching the optic and it is bent sideways away from the adjustment screws. Co-witness was just fine, and the optic was still zeroed. Side note, the force was enough to knock the MIAD grip core out of the rifle and send it flying about 15 feet as well.
The penultimate test was to drive the rifle and optic over with the Jeep we rode in on. This proved too much for the mount, but the optic was just fine. The mount itself became loose, and I had to retighten the mount screw for it to not wobble on the upper receiver. The optic however now has the hood touching the inside of the optic, but was off by about 5 MOA or so. The optic and mount were no longer zeroed after having the Jeep drive over the rifle. There was also one small piece that broke on the inside of the optic that is now attached to the inside and top of my window. It doesn’t appear to effect function of the optic though, and the optic is still “fine” in that it turns on and off and doesn’t have a wandering reticule.
The last test is to shoot it with a 12 gauge. Three times. The load was Winchester 12 gauge 7 1/2 2.5" target loads that is common at Wal-Mart and the shotgun was a Remington 870 with an 18.5" barrel with a cylinder choke. The adjustment screws were facing away from the shotgun blasts. The optic is still on, but the zero wandered again because of a piece of the shot that managed to wedge itself under the mount and push the entire optic and mount up and to the right of where its POI was before the test.
My final thoughts: The EOTech is a lot tougher than I imagined it to be. This will be my go-to optic for red dots from now on because it has been run over, shot with a shotgun, dropped out of a moving vehicle onto a gravel road, beaten against a tree, and covered in mud and still functioned. The weak link in the whole process was the ADM mount, and I believe that is inherent with all the mounts for the EOTech because of how the EOTech mounts to the mount. I may try to get a new one from ADM because the current one is bent from getting run over by the Jeep, but I may just keep running with it. The optic still functions and the mount still holds onto the rail tight so I may just re-zero and live with it.
I don’t know if I will be able to send it to EOTech after this test about the little bit floating on the inside of my window, but we shall see if they send me a new one or not.
More pictures:
Thanks for all the work and sacrificing your Eo, mount, and rifle. Its been a fun thread.
However, I can’t help but wonder how a LaRue mount would have held up after being run over by the jeep.
I was thinking the same thing. The mount was bent because the ADM mount allowed wiggle on the front end of the mount. This, for some reason, caused the mount to not have the same tension on the rail even though the screw hadn’t become loose. I had to re-tighten the mount so it would flop around.
Don’t mind my shitty shooting. I had poor trigger control, but I think part of that was because my right hand was swelling from bashing the rifle into the tree. My left hand didn’t hurt because of the larger area on the hand guard, but the receiver extension is less forgiving. No excuses though.
Thanks for doing this. My brother has a XPS on his SCAR and has been apprehensive of it. I’ll be sure to let him in on this one.
I have been just as impressed with your rifle as I am with the optic.
Kind of dispells all that gun shop knowledge about the durability of the AR series of rifles.
Thanks again.
Thank you for the update. I am interested to see how a T-1 would hold up after 60 bashes against a tree.
I bet it’d be a puzzle :lol:
Actually, I think it would hold up just as good, if not better, than the XPS. The hood was visibly bent after the tree bashing. I wish I had before and after pictures, and the video I made just makes it look like I was givng love taps against the tree because you can’t see the bark flying off the tree itself. The rifle is below the line of vision. FWIW, my right hand is slightly swolen right now and only closes at about 25-40% of my normal gripping strength because I was gripping the receiver extension with my right hand.
Thanks a lot for doing all these tests, it was really interesting. I have an aimpoint t1 and an eotech xps3-0 and I usually use the eotech because i prefer the recticle, and your tests gave me another reason to keep using the eotech. (i also prefer american made things)
your review was very well put together, but I don’t quite understand something, did the eotech lose zero after all that, or was it the eotech screw mount, or just the ADM mount? Thanks
It was the mount from what I can get from my un-scientific tests. The mount was really loose and required tightening after the jeep rolled over the mount. The second time, there was a piece of shot that was wedged under the mount in the picatinny rail that caused the shift from where it was after the jeep ran over the rifle/optic. As soon as I removed the optic and mount, I could pry the piece of shot out of the rail (there is still a piece of shot wedged into the optic near the cross bolt for the sight itself) and the mount returned to zero where it was before. I don’t know if a Larue mount would have the same results. At the front of the ADM mount, the sight could be moved laterally on the rail about a quarter milimeter to the ejection port side. On the Larue mount, there is a block that might prevent this movement, but I am not sure because I haven’t held a Larue mount before.
I’ll also add my thanks for doing this test. While I still think the Aimpoint is more durable than the EOTech due to the simpler LED system they use I’ve always thought the EOTech was a lot tougher than people give it credit for.
I can’t believe the things you see on the internet. This might be the final straw that keeps me away from these forums.
Why is that? I don’t mean that flippantly, I’m honestly curious since you are an SME and I thought what the OP did was useful and informative.
I’m assuming you’re aware but in case not, nimdabew simply tried to replicate what Larry Vickers did in his torture test for the Daniel Defense promo. That test seemed well appreciated by members when it was posted here. Owning both an H1 as well as an XPS2, I was both surprised and appreciative that nimdabew put his own money on the line to prove the XPS was just as rugged. I honestly think EoTech should cut him a check because I bet this will sell more than a couple units.
Was it that you thought the tests were silly and/or non-representative of real use (again, he was just replicating the ‘tests’ Larry Vickers did), was it a sense of waste in that he was abusing an expensive piece equipment, or was it something else?
Side note: I wasn’t surprised that the PMAG broke where it did. I have known for a while that the weak point of the windowed PMAGs was the window itself and this proved it in a round about way. I have been stocking up on Lancer mags when I can find them for cheap instead of re-buying PMAGs.
I for one appreciate the few out there who are willing to test their chit in ways that most of us aren’t willing to. That way I can have that warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that its quality. Thanks OP, if I ever decide to go back to EOTech, I wont hesitate to go with the XPS. The mount maybe not.
nimdbew, thanks for doing this. I think this will be something we can debate for a while, but at the end of the day you took your hard earned cash and took the chance. My only hope is that EoTech will compensate you somehow for doing this. From what you have posted, the EoTech still has some shortcomings, but you have to one degree or another demonstrated that is has pluses as well. Thank you.
Thank you so much for the very detailed series of tests. I don’t have any problem with individual’s preference to using Aimpoint; but it seemed that a lot of the Aimpoint fans were trying to have others believe that Eotech wasn’t very reliable or dependable. I think your test; albeit unscientific; proves that for 95%+ (Guestimating) of users of red dot type optics, the Eotech will stand up to just about anything they can put it through. Including military and Law Enforcement. Honestly; how many people purposely throw their weapon and sights out the back of a truck; intentionally run over it; and try and kill a tree with it.
There will still be those that feel that they need a sight that is powered on 24/7 and can’t conceive pushing a button. That’s OK. Aimpoints are a fantastic sight. But there are quite a few people that don’t have a problem with turning an Eotech on. And this test helps lay to rest that the Eotech can’t handle adverse conditions. I have an XPS2-0 on one of my weapons, and I really like it. Then again; I also have sights that range from $60-$900. I don’t buy optics, guns, or anything else because someone says I should. I buy to satisfy a specific purpose. For one of my AR’s, with the type of rail and BUIS I put on it, the size of the XPS2-0 was the perfect fit for me. I’m just real glad that some can see that buying an Eotech is not submitting to a compromise, when on/off/battery isn’t a factor. I know I didn’t compromise by purchasing an Eotech. Just glad your tests confirm the quality of the Eotech. Yes; I would have been concerned and possibly disappointed if the Eotech failed your test, even if the test was rather excessive. But it didn’t fail your test. And that’s all that matters. Thanks again.
It’s still not completely clear to me but from what I read, it seems like the actual eotech mount is good to go, it was the ADM mount that the eotech mount was mounted to that was problematic.
am I right in saying that nimdabew?