So, Im interested in buying a Primary Arms magnifier, but I dont really know the difference between a Magnifier X3 or X5.

From a person who doesn't know much about magnifiers/scopes, what is the difference between these two?

Heres the link to the magnifiers by the way:


Red Dot Magnifiers

Magnifiers are pretty straight forward. a 3X magnifier will make a target at 30 yards look like its at 10 yards, at 60 yards it will look like ats at 20 yards, and so on. Same with a 5X. 50 yards looks like 10, 75 yards looks like 15, 100 looks like 20.

Make sense?

As the_new_guys says, the x3/x5 is the magnification factor.

Sometimes I use a primary arms "Deluxe 3x Magnifier" on my S&W M&P 15 with EOTech XPS2-0.
It does it's job, and works ok. Great value for the price. Really helps my old eyes at >50 yards.

Only downside is it has low/NO eye relief. They list 1.5", but even that seems generous. And of course using any fixed magnifier kills the Holo effect of the sight, and it becomes more like a scope (in this case a scope with low/no eye relief fixed at 3x).