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Prism sights

Bassbob

Bassbob

Emissary
I have a Romeo 5 in front of a magnifier and it distorts the dot. I noticed on a friend's gun with a prism in front of a magnifier it doesn't distort. So in short, I am looking to try out a prism sight. I have looked at a couple on line. Vortex Spitifre, PA Cyclops, PA SLx1, Swampfox Blade. Any opinions ? My requirements are that it has shake awake, comes in green and as close to $200 as possible with exceptions made in the case of significantly better quality.

Or I could ditch the magnifier altogether and put a decent, inexpensive LPVO on it I guess.
 
I have three PA SLX 1s and love them. I also have their 3X magnifier and its a great combination and very compact. I also, through the guidance of @KillerFord1977, picked up a Vortex Strike Eagle 1-8 x24 LPVO with offset mount for the same price as an SLX 1. Got mine from Palmetto State, but everyone seems to have deals on it. It arrived yesterday and I mounted it on my AR and it's pretty cool (my first scope), but its gigantic compared to the SLX 1 and the like. I use the SLXs on my AP5s. They are close enough to my eye that I found the Romeo 5 blurred on me. No such problem with the SLX. I'm all in on etched reticles - the new Vortex uses one as well - because they work whether they are "on" or not.
 
SimonRL said:
I have three PA SLX 1s and love them. I also have their 3X magnifier and its a great combination and very compact. I also, through the guidance of @KillerFord1977, picked up a Vortex Strike Eagle 1-8 x24 LPVO with offset mount for the same price as an SLX 1. Got mine from Palmetto State, but everyone seems to have deals on it. It arrived yesterday and I mounted it on my AR and it's pretty cool (my first scope), but its gigantic compared to the SLX 1 and the like. I use the SLXs on my AP5s. They are close enough to my eye that I found the Romeo 5 blurred on me. No such problem with the SLX. I'm all in on etched reticles - the new Vortex uses one as well - because they work whether they are "on" or not.
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Yeah you are the one who got me looking at the PA SLX 1. It would be riding with a PA 3X magnifier.
 
Vortex Spitfire is excellent for the money. I'm probably picking up one of those PA SLX 1's in Green this black friday.
I too have the Vortex Strike Eagle 1-8x FFP LPVO and it is excellent. It all depends what you are looking for.

You can find the SFP version with the cantilever mount on PSA for around $300 as a combo quite frequently so even if you miss it now, don't stress about it. Those however don't have the best eye relief. If you are looking to stay at 1x mag and want etched reticle prism, the spitfire or the PA SLX is the way to go imo... without breaking the bank. Eye relief is good but does have its limitations on the prisms i've noticed.
 
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The brightness can control the "burst" look. What max range are you using the magnifier for? Lots of 3x's that give long eye relief and still have good cqb usability. Depending on how "precise" you want to be get a 3.5moa dot or less. At 500 yards that 3.5 will cover 17.5" unmagnified. Same 3.5 @ 600 gives 7" of coverage. You can range it 2 ways. By head size or shoulder width for an average if the dot covers too much?
 
TEXASforLIFE said:
The brightness can control the "burst" look. What max range are you using the magnifier for? Lots of 3x's that give long eye relief and still have good cqb usability. Depending on how "precise" you want to be get a 3.5moa dot or less. At 500 yards that 3.5 will cover 17.5" unmagnified. Same 3.5 @ 600 gives 7" of coverage. You can range it 2 ways. By head size or shoulder width for an average if the dot covers too much?
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Romeo 5 is 2 MOA and I don't have it overly bright for sure. It's not as much a starburst as it is the dot becomes a diagonal squiggly line. I could have astigmatism I guess, but I have had no other issues with any dots, red or green.
 
Bassbob said:
Romeo 5 is 2 MOA and I don't have it overly bright for sure. It's not as much a starburst as it is the dot becomes a diagonal squiggly line. I could have astigmatism I guess, but I have had no other issues with any dots, red or green.
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Easy way to check if you have astigmatism is hold the optic while it is not mounted on a firearm, look through as you normally would....noticed the "squiggle", then spin the optic while looking through it. If the squiggle does not spin with the optic, you might have astigmatism...if the squiggle spins with the optic, you likely don't have astigmatism.

I'm not a doctor, I just heard the above line somewhere, and I have starburst astigmatism. Went to the prism, problem gone. Mine's a cheaper Burris AR-1X ($149) got at Midway on sale recently...
 
Jfal said:
Easy way to check if you have astigmatism is hold the optic while it is not mounted on a firearm, look through as you normally would....noticed the "squiggle", then spin the optic while looking through it. If the squiggle does not spin with the optic, you might have astigmatism...if the squiggle spins with the optic, you likely don't have astigmatism.

I'm not a doctor, I just heard the above line somewhere, and I have starburst astigmatism. Went to the prism, problem gone. Mine's a cheaper Burris AR-1X ($149) got at Midway on sale recently...
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Do you have the issue only when using a magnifier ?
 
Jfal said:
No, I do not use a magnifier with a dot...I go to an LPVO for magnification, but all dots with or without a mag I see a starburst.

That is odd you see it with the mag, but not with an unmagnified dot....not sure what that means.
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Me either. My first reaction was it’s a crappy magnifier, but my buddy switched to a prism because he said the magnifier made the dot starburst on his regular reflex sight.
 
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