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

Tactical Gear Optics & Mounts
1

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

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The PRO is a lot of optic for the money.

3

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.

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

:frowning:

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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).

6

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.

7

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.

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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.

9

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.

10

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.

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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.

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I have completely adopted the aimpoint product as well. I have 3. My astigmatism and the well known and documented parallax shift with the MRO has confirmed the leader of the red dot world is aimpoint. The Pro mount is terrible and deserving an upgrade.

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Thanks for all the replies and is good to hear there are other people out there that still like the PRO.

I know the mount leaves alot to be desired but I must say, I added a 1.73 riser from SKD to make it a lower 1/3 and reversed it so the knob it’s on the ejection port side so it does not dig into my chest, applied some blue loctite to all the screws and I think is a very functional mount now that I have had no issues with.

I agree the ADM or LaRue or Scalarworks mounts would be a better choice but for now I’m gonna let it ride.

14

I have two PROs. They are most definitely the best value for a red dot on the market. Or really just the best value for any optic period.

I’ve also had Comps and Micros. The only tangible difference between the PRO and their higher end stuff is the glass quality. The PRO has a slight bluish cloudiness, whereas the Comp and Micro series are crystal clear.

Where that makes the biggest difference is if you plan on using a magnifier. If you plan on using even a 3x magnifier, my two cents is it’s worth it to step up to the Comp M4 at least, especially since you can get them used now relatively inexpensively.

I’ve been down the LPVO road, and my multi-year, multi-optic opinion of them is that all but the insanely expensive ones way underdeliver. To work the way they’re intended you need a FFP reticle with a dot in the second. And even if you can bear the expense of one, they’re still quite heavy and bulky, so you absolutely want to make sure the use case is justified, completely irrespective of cost. The only practical use cases for us civilian types I can think of are competition and people who live on big acreages.

ETA: Surprised to see such hatred for the PRO mount. It’s an extremely high quality mount with great repeat zero. Might not be as sexy as some of the other stuff out there, but there’s not much sense in buying a 350 dollar optic and then forking over another 200 for a mount just because it looks cool. It would be better to take that money and step up to the Comp or Micro.

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I’ve had several Pro’s - all gave god service & as noted, are built like tanks. Before my stroke, weight was never a problem but as time went along & funds became available, I did go to 2moa T-1’s over time. If your Pro’s work well, & work for you, don’t lose any sleep over it. I’m still doing O/T & P/T from my stroke - at least all YOUR parts are in good working order - a quality optic is the least of your troubles if You already have & are familiar with the Pro!

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I have 2 PROs and a CompM4s…

They are great red dots and won’t be getting rid of them. Bought the PROs new, and I believe I got the CompM4s off AR15.com slightly used (still looks new, mainly because I really haven’t shot that setup much). But they are larger and heavier. Larger… I actually prefer the bigger tube over micro red dots. Weight… with the knob mount, it weighs 12.7 ounces.

The PROs are both on 16” rifles; Spikes/AA piston and Colt 6920. The CompM4s is on a 16” Macon D/I .45 AR… but that will be shortened to 10” to 11” in the future and likely running my Bushwhacker 46 a decent amount of the time.

Shorter guns, like my 11.5” truck gun… I use micro red dots. Specifically, I use the SIG Romeo5. Just thinking about it, I have five of them on various firearms. They weigh 5.1 ounces. While I am not a fan of the smaller tube, making the gun lighter/more compact outweighs my preference for the larger FOV in some situations. If I’m using it on my truck gun, it is very likely going to be within 100 yards, so I really don’t mind it. Shot them on plenty of different firearms, to include a 10.5” AK. Feel confident with it.

I could have picked up an Aimpoint Micro… but as pointed out by the OP, they are on the costly side. For me, I rather buy two for two firearms, and then extra ammo to train on… over an Aimpoint Micro. Not a dig at them, being I’m sure they are great optics… but for some lowly Federal L/E that isn’t jumping out of planes or storming buildings at 0 Dark Thirty… the SIG is more than adequate if size becomes a bigger consideration.

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I hate the QRP knob mount so I buy the LRP. It’s the same price it’s just not as available at as many websites. DSG Arms is the last place I ordered one from.

The 1.73 riser is a great upgrade.

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Streicher’s has the version with LRP mount as well.

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I have had a PRO for a long time now, not a huge fan of the mount and am spoiled by all the other RDS that use 2032 batteries. There are more modern sights but I honestly don’t think there are better RDS for the money, especially when the LRP mount is available as a no (or low) cost option.

Andy

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There’s probably not much love for ARMS here but this $69 mount and riser have worked good with my PRO.

http://armsmounts.com/shop/mounts/a-r-m-s-7474-extension-combo/

Here’s the basic replacement American Defense for $85 I’d go with if I didn’t need the offset.

https://www.admmfg.com/aimpoint-comp-m4-mount

Not sure where okie is getting new mounts cost $200 but he is known to exaggerate.