If you've seen my other thread, you know I've been threatening to buy one of these and do a review for some time. That time is now. So, get comfortable. This will take a little while and there are a lot of pictures. I promise only one thing, the truth. I have no bias and will only report what I observe. Feel free to respond to this review as you see fit.
One thing you won't see here is the ridiculous "torture" tests. If you want that, there are plenty of videos on youtube. Several are listed on the Primary Arms site. So, if you want to see it frozen, bashed, battered, dragged behind a truck or blown up, go to Primary Arms and click the links there. It's been done enough to show that this is one tough little optic.
I will only list stuff not on the Primary Arms website. You can read all the technical details here:
https://www.primaryarms.com/Primary_...s_p/md-ads.htm
The basics:
Price- $169.99 + $4.58 shipping = $174.57 to my door.
Why this optic? I was hoping for a reasonably low priced optic that performed well. For me that means long battery life and clear, undistorted optics. Based on a video posted by another member, I took a chance.
Here it is mounted on my rifle:
I like the low profile and small overall size. It adds very little weight to the gun and doesn't stick out like some cancerous appendage.
I have this one mounted on a 1/2" riser. Mounting closer to the bore makes for more precise aiming qualities. I tried mounting it directly to the receiver, but that was just too low. Co-witnessing is not a big concern for me. I have no plans on going into combat/competition so, instantaneous operation of back up sights is not a high priority. However, with the 1/2" riser the MD-ADS does co-witness with my back up sights. It's kind of a top 1/3rd co-witness. I don't recommend mounting your sight this way, but it will work. (For the record, the back up sights are not sighted in at this time)
I find the controls easily accessible and easy to operate. Pressing either button turns the sight on. Pressing both together turns the sight off. I see no reason to ever turn the optic off. With a 50K hour battery life, a single battery will last for 5 years of constant use at a middle setting. So, changing the battery every 2 years should keep it running fine.
Someone questioned if this had an auto shut off; it doesn't. I turned it on as soon as it was out of the box yesterday and it's still on as I type this. I have no intention of turning it off until the battery dies or I reach the two year point.
Unlike previous models, the battery is easily accessible from the side. So changing it out will not require removing the optic. When it arrived the battery was already installed. If using the gun for defense, I'd change the battery to a new one just to be sure I started with a full up battery.
Unlike the Vortex SPARC, the adjustments are easy to access and none of the other controls got in the way of using a high tech adjustment tool.
For comparison, here is what the SPARC looked like:
The adjustment caps are not attached. This should not present a problem as adjustment should rarely need to be done. I've only had the optic for a day. Whether or not it holds zero remains to be seen. At first I thought they were plastic. It turns out they are made of aluminum and are quite nice.
The question was asked about how the controls would work with gloves:
I found them easy to operate with a pair of Mechanix gloves. In fact, they are much easier to operate than my EOTech. The buttons on the EOTech are recessed. The buttons on the MD-ADS are not recessed. Only time will tell if this is a detriment. Under normal use I don't see how it could be.
If you wanted to mount a Kill Flash or flip up caps you may be out of luck:
The objective bezel is not threaded and has precious little area to add a slip on device. If anyone knows of a source for either of these that will work on this, please let me know.
That said, the rubber bikini cover is OK:
I find it much easier to install than the cover that came with the SPARC. However, it is indeed a cheap cover and I'd be surprised if it lasts long.
A nit that I just have to pick, the mount screw:
This is one cheaply made part. The Torx shape is not well made and doesn't fit well with the supplied wrench. So, yeah, as I was tightening the screw, the wrench slipped and I scratched the optic! I find the finish on this to be very mediocre. It is very easy to mar. For those of you who like that "Boba Fett" look, you'll love this because it will take on a worn appearance quickly. Yes, this is really being picky, but I promised the truth.
Alright, now to the good stuff, shooting. In the end that's all that matters; how good it is at putting hits on target.
I fired 30 rounds at the range today. It took me a little while to get it dialed in, but not that bad. I started by bore sighting the gun to the optic. If you don't know what that is, I will explain later. By doing this, the first three shot group was on a 12"x12" target.
I found the adjustments very positive. Usually on low dollar optics the "clicks" are very spongy. Not this one. Each click is positive and easy to feel.
Once zeroed well enough, I shot this group:
Granted this was at 50 yards, but that's a sub MOA group using an optic with a 2MOA dot. You can't complain about that.
Of course a good group means nothing if you can't repeat it. So, I followed that group with a 4 shot group:
Take out the one shot on the left and it's another sub MOA group. Add that shot in and you have a group that's just over 2MOA while using an optic with a 2MOA red dot. This was all done with Wolf Gold ammo and me behind the trigger. That's as good as I'd ever expect and I'm very happy with the groups I got today.
After what I've just talked about, most people would be very happy with this optic. Relatively low price, easy to use, long battery life and seems to have the ability to provide good accuracy. Now we have to explore that oh so mysterious aspect of optics we call parallax.
Accuracy is easy when you're at a range with a bench and sand bags. However, the beauty of the red dot is that it can be accurate when conditions aren't perfect. Because you don't need to be in the physical center of the optic to be on target. In order for this to work, any red dot has to have a low incidence of parallax.
So, I attempted to recreate the nice video Chattanoogaphil made:
Watch it on youtube to see it in a larger size. Look closely at the relationship between the stump and the dot as the camera moves around. Pay no attention to the fence because it's too close. That stump is 50 yards from where the gun is sitting, +/- a yard or so.
Before I comment further, I have a question: the specifications say that this optic is parallax free beyond 33 yards. Do you think this optic meets that spec?
One thing that cannot be denied, I was able to shoot some nice groups with it. In the end, that's all that matters. I will continue to use it and continue to report on how it's working. For what it is, what I intend to use it for and what I paid for it, I'm OK with it. I will look more closely at the parallax stuff. Even so, as long as it continues to help me put rounds on target, I'm happy.