With similar criteria, I ended up buying the Leupold Mark AR scope. I opted for their 3-9x40mm model, but they also offer a Mark AR 1-4x20mm, a 4-12x40mm, and a 6-18x40. It’s affordable (~$280 for the 1-4x), and considering the price range, it’s a pretty good value. The only drawback I found so far is that the 1" tube is not really standard to the rest of my optics (which are mostly 30mm tubes). I ended up buying a LaRue SPR 1.5 for mine (with 1" rings), and the whole package still comes in at sub-$500. Also, the ballistic coefficient and muzzle velocities of the 6.8 SPC round are similar enough to those of the 5.56 that you can use the same scopes and turrets for rifles of both calibers.
BTW, before this purchase, I already had a LaRue Po-Boy in a swivel mount in front of my Aimpoint. It’s 2.5x is fine for up to 100yds, but to me it felt pretty weak for anything past that. If you can live with fixed 2.5x magnification, the LaRue Po-Boy is a decent option. They’re no longer for sale directly through LaRue, but people still offer them for sale used on the Member Sales Forum here (as well as elsewhere.) The Aimpoint 3x magnifier is pretty nice, but it costs far more than I was looking to spend.
Are you ever planning on shooting past 200yds??? Is it possible you might find yourself in a situation where you are shooting beyond that mark???
I started with a dot sight on my 6.8 and then added a 3x magnifier… I did not like the fact that it was one or the other in terms or magnification or no magnification… there was no in between… I first saw my 6.8 as a rig for use from 0 - 300yds until I found myself with more room to stretch its legs out in the mountains and the desert… I started shooting beyond 400 yds and I noticed my shots were pretty much poa/poi at distances beyond 400…
I opted out of the rds for a variable power scope in the form of a bushnell elite 4200 1.25-4x24… it is still fast up close and has an illuminated dot but it allows me to taylor the magnification for the distance…
I then started shooting it past 500 yds and found the desire for more power… Which brings me to the conclusion that a 2-7x or 3-9x would be a great choice but I still wanted the 1+ power up close so I found a bushnell elite 6500 1.25-8x32 which should do the trick and for under 500.00 I cant go wrong…
I do plan on running an offset mini red dot in conjunction with the scope…
I like the fts 3x magnifier but it costs as much as a scope and becuase of that I might as well get 1 tube that does it all…
I actually looked into this one for myself, and really liked it in person, but have decided to go either with the EOTech 512 or the Aimpoint CompM4. For my purposes, I will NEVER need anything over 3x mag, most of my shots will be at or under 100yrds.
I felt it was a nice option at a good price though, and has true 1x mag with an illuminated red-circle reticle over fixed crosshairs.
Whatever scope you put on, make sure you use a good base a good rings. It kills me to see NF and other high end scopes put on with $30 rings and cheap bases. And torque the rings and base you dont need to use locktite ever on a setup. So whatever thats worth…
I scrimped a bit on the Nikon African 1-4x ($279 from SWFA or Midway) but had to have the LT-139. But I’m very pleased with the true 1x of this and the German #4 recticle. I’ll give it 6 mos or a year to see if I want to go up to the TR24 or back to a lower powered ACOG. Nikon 1-4x $279 + LT-139 $200 = $480/$500.