POTD: Romeo and Juliet

@Swamp They seem to be trending a little higher in price right now, but I did get one in bulk OE packaging for that price from Bereli several months ago.

@derpmaster Have you tried holographics w/ magnifiers?

@Aono Not yet, but in general I prefer holo sights. The only downside is battery life and cost. I had an EOTech but I foolishly sent it back whenever they had their big recall years ago.

@derpmaster I find they're night and day better than red dots for astigmatism, and I think it's because the laser dot is very small but very bright. It shouldn't scale up in a magnifier the same way a red dot does.

@derpmaster That's a case by case basis with my astigmatism. A magnifier made an Aimpoint H-1 look even worse for me, but other red dots (SIG Romeo5 and 4H) were not noticeably worsened. Of course, those looked less distorted unmagnified as well.

@derpmaster Why do you think that was a foolish decision? Weren't there significant issues with holding zero?

@AF_Ret_20.5 They wouldn't hold zero under very specific conditions that I would have never dealt with. Overall it was a fantastic optic.

@derpmaster If cost is an issue like it is for me, buy used. You’ll find deals on optics that were taken out of the box, zeroed and then left in their safe for a period of time until the owner decided to sell it.
It’ll be listed as used but it’s basically new for a fraction of a new one.
Or you can trade plus add cash.
Battery issue isn’t really a huge problem. Lithium batteries will prolong battery life.
Although I don’t know off the top of my head if eotechs have parasitic drain issues. My 512 from 2007 doesn’t drain batteries when off. Not sure about other models.

@AF_Ret_20.5 FWIU zero shift issue was that the zero was shifting in extreme temps (say, 120F+ or below 0F), and it wouldn't go back afterwards. The not going back was the big factor; I remember an Eotech employee saying that every optic will exhibit some zero shift at temperature extremes, and if they didn't they'd advertise it. Not an impartial source, but it made sense to me given the lack of claims by other optics makers.

So, not that relevant for most people on a home defense/recreational rifle, but for a rifle that rides around in a squad car rack, it would be a potentially bigger issue.

@Aono I have a pre-recall 512, and it looked better to me than other period red dots. Newer red dots (Holosun, SIG, Aimpoint T-2) look good enough where I question whether the battery life and size trade-off for holographic is worth it anymore. I don't have NV, so that performance with the NV mode Eotechs is lost on me.

But, I've heard other people with astigmatism say that the Eotechs are unusably fuzzy to them, so eh, everybody's eyes are a little different.