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Bitbyte
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I had to laugh. I was looking up their contact information. They are located in Yankeetown, Florida. hahaha
Ultradot Pan AV
- Thread starter Bitbyte
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Brett248Vista
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OP
Bitbyte
Member
Dang if that ain't irony!
Maybe they round up all the yankees and make them live there. Kinda like a leper colony.
whoppo
Member
My under $50 sightmark works very well... I think, however, if I were inclined to drop $200 on another sight, I would find a lot of good choices from either Primary Arms or RRages... and rest comfortable in the knowledge that either seller would make things right in the unlikely event that the product turned out to be a ***.
ChattanoogaPhil
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Who knows.... they might actually assemble the Chinese made dime store parts in Japan. Not sure that's worth paying one penny more. I have a bunch of dime store optics, and all perform well for the intended purpose. Whoppo is right on target. When buying dime store optics of questionable quality, it really makes sense to be buying from quality vendors like rrages or Primary Arms. They are in the dime store optics business, know their products, and have a reputation for no nonsense service.
Dragon88
Member
It's a whole lot better than anything mentioned in this thread so far. I've been very happy with mine and would buy it again. Keep in mind that it is a small sight, so get a riser for it. However, the frame around the lens is very low profile so it does not affect field of view during shooting.
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Bitbyte
Member
So you're suggesting I should spend the same amount of money at companies that openly sell chinese goods but have good customer service rather than buy something that MIGHT be chinese from a company that also has good customer service?
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Bitbyte
Member
Have you had to deal with Burris customer service yet? I've read lots of bad things and that was kind of why I shyed away from it.
grimreaper21
Member
the fastfire is definately a quality piece.. the odds are you won't ever have to deal with their customer service because it is a better quality product...thats what you get for paying more. When you go cheaper, the likelyhood of needing that customer service is going to go through the roof. only thing bad i noticed is they are 4 MOA though. In all reality i would probably get an Eotech for the 1moa dot with 65moa ring. theres a new cheap model starting at $369 shipped. http://www.opticsplanet.net/eotech-transverse-red-dot-site-non-nv-compatible-xps2.html
Or if you wanna scrap the whole idea.. get a vortex viper riflescope, they make some of the nicest quality pieces AND have the best customer service in the business..
cheap product: custome service > the item
expensive product : the item > customer service
Or if you wanna scrap the whole idea.. get a vortex viper riflescope, they make some of the nicest quality pieces AND have the best customer service in the business..
cheap product: custome service > the item
expensive product : the item > customer service
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I have an Ultradot Pan AV mounted on a 625 in 45ACP. The sight makes for a nice compact package. Now would I pay $200 for another one? I'd have to think about that. That said, I picked mine up at a gun show for $100 LNIB. I also did have a problem with this sight after about 6 months. The rheostat switch/battery compartment loosened up resulting in intermittent contact. This gun was set up for 200gr. SWC target loads, so it wasn't like I was beating it up. I sent it off to Larry's up in Maine, who handles the warranty work for Ultradot, and had it back repaired in about a week. That's one of the reason's that you pay a premium for the Ultradot products........the no bs lifetime warranty. I also have an Ultradot Match Dot on another bullseye pistol. I've never had a problem with that one.
Pro's for the Pan AV:
Made in Japan
Glass lens with superior coating
Nice round dot that I'm estimating is 5-6 minutes with sufficient brightness adjustment. I only use the dot, not the other reticles.
Lifetime warranty that I can personally vouch for.
I've shot with folks that use the Chi-com clones. The dots flare badly, and some don't have enough brightness on a sunny day. The NC-star version changes the point of impact when you change reticles. I would not waste my money on one of these.
Now if Ultradot would make a Pan AV with multiple dot sizes, like the Match Dot, I'd get another one.
Pro's for the Pan AV:
Made in Japan
Glass lens with superior coating
Nice round dot that I'm estimating is 5-6 minutes with sufficient brightness adjustment. I only use the dot, not the other reticles.
Lifetime warranty that I can personally vouch for.
I've shot with folks that use the Chi-com clones. The dots flare badly, and some don't have enough brightness on a sunny day. The NC-star version changes the point of impact when you change reticles. I would not waste my money on one of these.
Now if Ultradot would make a Pan AV with multiple dot sizes, like the Match Dot, I'd get another one.
CPTBeaker
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ChattanoogaPhil
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Burris FF are typically mounted on handguns, sometimes shotguns, or mounted as a secondary optic with a magnified scope on an AR platform. Don't see many people using them as a primary sight on an AR platform.
The dot on my SightMark is about 2MOA and sharp as a tac. It does, however, fade out in direct sunlight.
The dot on my SightMark is about 2MOA and sharp as a tac. It does, however, fade out in direct sunlight.
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OP
Bitbyte
Member
It has 4 reticle styles with different dot sizes
Ultradot Pan AV Animation
Thanks for the information. I'm glad to hear form an actual owner. I know many of the people down at the gun club swear by them. But then folks on here swear by the chinese ones too.
I have to wonder though why more people don't own them, they seem to ride the fence between quality and price nicely.
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Bitbyte
Member
CPTBreaker. Do you own this sight? Looks interesting. I was hoping to avoid a tube type because my two young kids struggle with getting a good sight alignment on tube type optics. I'm not sure how much of that's an issue with 1x magnification though.
Dragon88
Member
No, but I don't foresee the sight failing anytime soon. The NC star red dot however most definitely failed within a week or so of me owning it. NC star has good customer service, at least via email, and gave me instructions on how to fix it myself. One of the problems I had was the exact problem mentioned above regarding the Ultradot sight. Like I said, exact same sight. Even if the customer service is better, is it worth $200? Not to me.
You can literally buy six NC stars for the price of one Ultradot and replace them as they break. Is that ridiculous? Yes. But so is paying $200 for a $30 item.
While it's unusual, I have found the FF to be a fine primary optic on a riser. A larger and heavier sight would provide me no additional functionality.
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Bitbyte
Member
Yeah, the guy at Scheels (regional sporting goods store) said the same about shotguns for the burris.
I think i'll have ot go and press them to get one of the surefires working. Last time I was there they couldnt get any of them to work. Didn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling about the product.
Bitbyte..............Now you are getting a little feedback from the owners of the Chinese copies. Pretty much everything I mentioned. I shoot bullseye pistol, and my group of shooters is probably a bit more demanding than most. Ultradot products pretty much rule the roost. I've been shooting red dots since the late 80's, so I've checked out a bunch of them. If you are looking for a very good tube style red dot, look no further than the older made in Japan Tasco PDP3. Tasco was one of the first companies to produce this type of sight. The Japanese made ones were of excellent quality. The dots are consistently round due to the good lens coatings. The polarizing filter that comes with these is actually made by sandwiching the filter between two layers of optical glass. Just like a proper pair of good sunglasses or a camera filter. You can find these older PDP3's on Ebay for $30-50 new in the box. Another reason I like these red dots, is that they have the widest field of view of any 30mm dot sight out there. They are even superior to the Ultradot 30mm sights in this regard.
I saw your link to the reticle display. What I am talking about is simply a choice of single dot size: 2-4-6-8 minute just like in the Ultradot Match Dot. Us bullseye shooters have no use for crosshairs, circles around dots, etc. If you are looking to do some "precision plinking", all you need is a sharply defined dot that is reasonably small. The human eye is naturally drawn to focus on a dot. Once you learn to see through the dot and focus on that X behind the dot, you are getting into the zen of bullseye shooting.
Keep in mind, that going cheap on any optical sight usually results in money wasted on ammo that is not being used to it's full potential.
I saw your link to the reticle display. What I am talking about is simply a choice of single dot size: 2-4-6-8 minute just like in the Ultradot Match Dot. Us bullseye shooters have no use for crosshairs, circles around dots, etc. If you are looking to do some "precision plinking", all you need is a sharply defined dot that is reasonably small. The human eye is naturally drawn to focus on a dot. Once you learn to see through the dot and focus on that X behind the dot, you are getting into the zen of bullseye shooting.
Keep in mind, that going cheap on any optical sight usually results in money wasted on ammo that is not being used to it's full potential.
ChattanoogaPhil
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Don't know anything about the PDP3, but I have three PDP2 that I have terrorized on 9mm, 45ACP, 223 and .22 for over a decade. They won't stop working. I was using one yesterday on my Ruger 22/45... And about a year ago I had one mounted on a the rare 15-22 Tacticandle edition. 
OP
Bitbyte
Member
Ever laid hands on a Pan AV?
If I understand you correctly the older PDP3 were made in Japan and then the later ones made elsewhere, presumably China. I looked on ebay for the Tasco but found no indication whether they were made in Japan or elsewhere, I can only assume they were not made in Japan. I did find one from Japan, used from an estate sale, but it's silver in color.
I agree about cheap products, I'm trying to find that sweet spot between price and quality.
During my research yesterday I came upon the Leupold Tactical Prismatic 1x sight. Model 63300. The illuminated reticle is etched on the glass rather than a red dot being projected there. I have an astigmatism and wonde rif I might be better served by this sight. At $500 the price tag is a bit hefty tho...
CPTBeaker
Member
No I do not. I do own a Nikon Pro Staff 3x-9x and was impressed with the quality, performance, (and Lifetime warranty) of that product for a scope that cost ~$150. It has exceeded my expectations and I would suspect that the same would apply to the Nikon Red Dot. The reviews I've read have been very positive. If you want to go the non-Chinese/clone route and spend a little extra (~$240) you could realistically use this on a full size AR or other larger caliber weapon and have a good warranty for as long as you own it. When I decide to get a red dot, I'm getting this one.
However, there are many that are perfectly happy with the lower cost red dots from many different brands.
