I am new to RD sights and have a question ...

Do all of them have a parallax problem in that the dot/reticle floats and changes position with head movement?

Thanks.

Not necessarily. See, with red dots or optics in general you get what you pay for. I've heard the more expensive, the less the parallax. Mine, however, I paid about $60, it was a knock off brand, and it has a horrible parallax problem. I don't think the PA ones have this problem. May I ask which one you have?

I'm looking at the Barska Electro Sight (mod 10984) It's not top of the line, but not a low budget cheapie, either. It's a ACOG clone, I think.

Ultradot and PA M4 red dots have given me no parallax problems. Generally, red dots are considered parallax free for most practical purposes.

I'm not an expert, but I don't think what you are encountering is parallax.

All the RD sights that I own exhibit this behavior, including a $500 aimpoint.

Parallax refers to the issue with the sight design, and according to this article is inherent to all RD sights.

I use both an Ultradot Matchdot and a Millet and parallax has not been a problem at 25 and 50 yards.

__________________
Not All Who Wander Are Lost

I just bought a Vortex Red dot today and thats one of the first things I checked! Less than 50 yards I could see a shift in the dot but past 50 yards I couldn't detect any movement. For &149.00 I would consider buying and additional one for my other AR-15. Plus it came with a 2X adapter which I screwed on and adjusted for my eyes and I could see a magnification increase. I also have 2 reflex sights one is Pentax and the other is BSA and they are pretty good, I will say on the BSA I get a bit of ghosting of the dot on higher settings so I just lower the setting .
Good luck picking one out, sometimes its better to save up a few dollars and buy a better product.

My PA micro's do what you described a little. You have to have the dot almost all the way to the outside of the tube for it to shift. As long as you have the dot close to the middle (and there's a pretty big margin of error) it is accurate.

Thanks for the link. It was very informative. I must admit I have only looked through a couple and all at typical in-store distances, not shooting distances.

Bushnell TRS 25 micro red dot. No parallax, as in I can put the dot on an object at a few yards, move my head, and the dot and bore alignment is uncomprimised. Best $100 red dot I've bought, and at a hair over 2 inches long and a few onces in weight, it is unnoticed. Shoot it with both eyes open too!

I haven't seen much parallax in my Primary Arms M4 style multi reticle. They say the multi has more but it isn't bad at all. I've only seen it at about 1/8" from the edge and I have to put my head at a weird angle to see it.

Change glasses--Its your eyeballs

Cute, but it doesn't happen with my scopes.

i'd have to see it to believe it, bushnell isn't even making that claim, you should read their website.

"Bushnell center fire riflescopes under 11x are factory-set parallax-free at 100 yards; rim fire and shotgun scopes at 50 yards."

that article C-Fish posted is spot on. read that, and research the specific optic before you buy, they are all different.

1fly2ty, has it right on the money, the Aimpoint doesn't have parallax issues at all due to the double lense in the front lens, where ever the dot is (after zeroing first of course) the bullet goes there period. But you pay for that option to the tune of approx. $540 to $650 range.

Parallax is not bad for combat shooting, you are still in the kill zone so it's not a real big issue, remember speed is important using Red Dot optics. Now if your using the Red Dot for accurate bulleyes shooting within 50yards with the Vortex, well you just have to have that Red Dot right in the middle for the Vortex to work right..

First, thanks to everyone for their responses. All were very helpful.

I went out this morning and bought the Barska Electro Sight and mounted it. I didn't get a chance to sight it in yet, because it's 39 degrees and raining and my range is outdoors and I DON'T like shooting under those conditions. I had to settle for looking out my window and sighting across the street.

It appears that my concern/problem was more one of perception than reality. I am used to shooting with both eyes open with iron sights but not with optics. As soon as I started keeping both eyes open, the effect I was seeing in the store pretty much went away - the reticle stayed on target even though it moved through the field of view.

Thanks for all your help; I have been shooting for a few decades, but the AR platform and RD sights are new to me. I AM having fun, and I guess that's the whole point, isn't it?