Ultradot Pan AV

[ChattanoogaPhil]

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.

My three PDP2 are marked on the tube bodies (not just on the box) -- The one on the Ruger is Japan. The other black one is Philippines. The Silver one is Taiwan. They are all of the same era... 10-15 years or so. All three are identical in every way as far as I could ever tell. I have two $29 BSA RD30 both marked China. One I bought several years ago and the other a couple years ago. Ya know what... you could not tell the difference when looking through any and they all work fine. However, if you want to buy an honest to gosh goodness Japan made red dot and spend $200 for it let me know and I'll put my Tasco in the Classifieds... cuz my $29 BSA will do just as well as the made in Japan Tasco on the Ruger or 15-22.

ps. It's easy to overthink this stuff. Find something that you like the looks of... press the buy button and enjoy.

 

[RGPM1A]

So I'm ready to pull the trigger on a Red Dot. I'd like something a little better than the chinese made knockoffs but don't want to spend Eotech money.

I've pretty much boiled it down to the Ultradot PAN AV although I'm still considering the c-more sights. The only thing I don't like about the c-more is that you have to buy a large MOA dot with it and then spend more money ot get a plug in module for the size you actually want. That rubs me thw wrong way.

Does anyone have any experience with the Ultradot Pan AV?

Not with the Ultradot Pan AV but with the Ultradot L/T. Nice, light and bright but they advertise it as having 2 and 4 MOA dots and its not true. Its a 4MOA dot. BTW it says made in Japan on the box but they lied about the dot size on the box too.

 

[Bitbyte]

Not with the Ultradot Pan AV but with the Ultradot L/T. Nice, light and bright but they advertise it as having 2 and 4 MOA dots and its not true. Its a 4MOA dot. BTW it says made in Japan on the box but they lied about the dot size on the box too.

So how is the quality? It's my understanding that the quality of the glass and the coatings is a large part of the difference between the cheaper units and the better ones. Does it fade out when you take it outdoors? That seems to be a common failing on the cheaper units. How is the battery life? Also how clean is the dot?

 

[RGPM1A]

So how is the quality? It's my understanding that the quality of the glass and the coatings is a large part of the difference between the cheaper units and the better ones. Does it fade out when you take it outdoors? That seems to be a common failing on the cheaper units. How is the battery life? Also how clean is the dot?

I have three of them - one on a M41 bullseye gun, one on a M52-2 bullseye gun and one on my 10/22 plate rifle.

They are very bright outdoors. The dot on all of them is sharp but turns to a splat if I wear my iron sight glasses. With my contacts and safety glasses it is very sharp. The glass and coatings are very good but one of them I got had goo on the lens from the shock absorbing material they bed the lens in the frame with that I had to remove. The other two were fine but the bedding job on each of them was a bit sloppy but it does not interfere with the use of the sight at all. My main complaint about the units is that they are advertised as having both 2 and 4 MOA dots and they do not. When I contacted the company about it they didn't seen to care the marketing materials and manuals for them are incorrect. Overall I would buy another. The main reason I bought them was I had a nice Midway coupon and got all three for $600 including tax. They also usually get very good reviews.

I also considered the Pan AV but it was bigger than I wanted and usually avoid extra features - too much stuff to fail.

 

[RGPM1A]

Photos of the sights mounted on my bullseye guns. I used a BME mount on both.

Photos of the 10/22 added.

 

[Bitbyte]

I have three of them - one on a M41 bullseye gun, one on a M52-2 bullseye gun and one on my 10/22 plate rifle.

They are very bright outdoors. The dot on all of them is sharp but turns to a splat if I wear my iron sight glasses. With my contacts and safety glasses it is very sharp. The glass and coatings are very good but one of them I got had goo on the lens from the shock absorbing material they bed the lens in the frame with that I had to remove. The other two were fine but the bedding job on each of them was a bit sloppy but it does not interfere with the use of the sight at all. My main complaint about the units is that they are advertised as having both 2 and 4 MOA dots and they do not. When I contacted the company about it they didn't seen to care the marketing materials and manuals for them are incorrect. Overall I would buy another. The main reason I bought them was I had a nice Midway coupon and got all three for $600 including tax. They also usually get very good reviews.

I also considered the Pan AV but it was bigger than I wanted and usually avoid extra features - too much stuff to fail.

Thats pretty disappointing that they weren't interested in the product not being "as advertised". I bet a call to their state's attorney general's office would help them care.

Someone in here mentioned Vortex optics. Their warranty really makes me consider them. As they put it "We take your problem, make it ours, and make it go away"

"We will repair or replace your Vortex product for any reason at NO CHARGE TO YOU. It doesn't matter how it happened, whose fault it was, or where you purchased it."

They make a tube style red dot, I wish they had an open style reflex sight. Although I'm still looking at the whole "etched glass reticle" thing as well.

I'm going to Scheels tonight to look at all their optics. Hopefully they can manage to get one of the Sightmarks going this time so I can say i've actually seen one in action. They have the NC Star as well, I'll check them all out.

 

[Bitbyte]

Stopped and saw the various offerings at the store.

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised at the Sightmark units. Clear crisp reticles. Are the posted battery life times of 2-4 hours correct though? That's pretty short.

Conversely I would never EVER buy an Eotech. 4 of us all looked at a 512 they had there and the lines were just a bunch of connected dots. Not at all smooth. Not sure what the attraction is to be honest.

I'm meeting a local vendor that sells Vortex optics later this week to see the Strikefire and the SPARC.

 

[Bitbyte]

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

Grim.

I picked up a Vortex SPARC from Ron at Jayhawk Optics, a local guy that sells Vortex Optics online. He was kind enough to let me come see it at his business before I purchased it. I'm not sure if I can post a URL for his site in here or not, someone let me know if it's ok (or not) please.

It was a tough choice between the Strikefire and the SPARC. The Strikefire has a 4MOA dot versus the SPARC's 2 moa dot, and the optics seemed a bit darker than the SPARC. The tint was a blue/grey hue, whereas the SPARC was a light greenish hue. I have no idea if the light transmission on the SPARC is higher or not, but it certainly looked brighter. Both my wife and the kids said the same thing about the optics when looking through it.

Vortex's customer service reputation, attitude regarding warranty and customer satisfaction and warranty are what drew me to them. (Are you listening Ultradot? No? You SHOULD be.)

Anyhow, if anyone is interested in seeing pics of an unboxing and/or how it looks on the 15-22, let me know. I'll update with impressions after I get a chance to hit the range.

-Tim

 

[catboat]

I have an Ultradot Pan AV mounted... I also did have a problem with this sight after about 6 months. The rheostat switch/battery compartment loosened up resulting in intermittent contact. .

I have read that the way to avoid this problem is to always turn the "intensity knob" (on/off) in the same direction. Don't turn it one way to turn ON and then in the reverse direction to turn OFF. Once you have turn it ON to a certain intensity level (ie "3"), to turn it OFF keep turning the knob up through the higher intensity settings to go back to "0"/OFF.

 

[oneyeopn]

Ultradot Pan-A-V

Ok I have read this entire thread trying to find reviews on the Pan-a-v sight. I have read that this is a knock off of a NCStar or a bunch of other baloney. I finally found a review of the sight.
Here you can read it for yourself:
Desert Eagle 50 caliber handgun and Ultra Dot reflex sight: durability test Video
for those who don't want to, they put both the Ultra dot and the NCStar on a 50 cal desert eagle. Which we would all agree has a certain amount of massive recoil. After 50 shots the NCStar was totally trashed, junk, not usable for anything. After 100 rounds the Ultra dot was still going strong and the person doing the testing posted that if it did fail he would report it but it hasnt after a year of shooting. So I don't think that it is a re-badged NCStar. I looked in Midway Catalog and saw how much the holographic sights look similar, but if you think of how they are made and function, it would be impossible to change them up that much. There is my nickels worth.

 

[5 DOLLAR FOOT LONG]

All those kind of reflex looking sights seem bad to me. I have a lucid hd-7 which has been working great, I think the strikefire vortex red dot is good also. Both are more ACOG looking sights than the one you posted, but both are a few bucks cheaper and well known to be good (in the sense of maintaining zero etc).

 

[tacticaledge]

Below is a link to Midway (with pic) for the UltraDot Pan-A-V selling for a whopping $200. Also below is a pic of my SightMark that I have had for a year or so. I purchased for $39.95. The SightMark has held up well and has the identical specs and functions as the UltraDot.

My guess is that UltraDot slapped on a sticker with a fancy name and gave it a lifetime warranty for a 500% markup in price so folks think they are buying something better than 'Chinese made knock-offs". Probably made at the same Chinese labor camp as all the others with different labels slapped on.... BSA, Sigtmark, TruGlow, Leapers... on and on...

UltraDot Pan-A-V Reflex Red Dot Sight 1x 33mm 4 Reticle with Integral Weaver-Style Base Matte - MidwayUSA

Im with phil on this one i got my sight-mark for 35.00 bucks it works great you dont have to spend big cheese to get accuracy ive invested under 300.00 into mine ive got all the goodies i need, halographic,scope,laser, tac lights, grip-pod,sling mounts ,sling, and the best part with the money i saved plenty o ammo so i can do what i like best shoot the darn thing......lol good luck happy shootin make that x affraid of being on the target.

 

[oneyeopn]

Im with phil on this one i got my sight-mark for 35.00 bucks it works great you dont have to spend big cheese to get accuracy ive invested under 300.00 into mine ive got all the goodies i need, halographic,scope,laser, tac lights, grip-pod,sling mounts ,sling, and the best part with the money i saved plenty o ammo so i can do what i like best shoot the darn thing......lol good luck happy shootin make that x affraid of being on the target.

Yeah....I actually can now see very closed minds...I put a sight mark on my 1911...lasted almost 3 months,,,I can tell that there are people in here that really believe that someone would rebadge a holo and sell it for 500% over the cost of some cheap plastic imitation...
We are not talking about Ford Motor Company here....duh!!!!

and it is holographic were not talking about angels!!! LOL

 

[oneyeopn]

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.

I had better hope for this forum!!!





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.

Look at the review I posted...the gentleman said right upfront the NCstar lasted 50 rounds...it is not an Ultradot...at 50 rounds I would have to replace it every time I go shooting...can't make any money that way but NCstar can because there are people who believe that because something looks like something else, they must be rebadged. There are times when the only way to build something like something else is to make them look similar.

 

[oneyeopn]

So Gentleman according to your arguments because a Zeiss looks like an NCStar...it is just a Rebadged NCstar that they charge 2500% more for...do I have that right?

 

[tacticaledge]

Yeah....I actually can now see very closed minds...I put a sight mark on my 1911...lasted almost 3 months,,,I can tell that there are people in here that really believe that someone would rebadge a holo and sell it for 500% over the cost of some cheap plastic imitation...
We are not talking about Ford Motor Company here....duh!!!!

and it is holographic were not talking about angels!!! LOL

The only point i was making is you dont have to spend big dollars on optics my sight mark has been durable and is accurate for me pick what ever works for you its just an opinion not a fact,,,,take as you wish i get great gouping with my optics and the both cost me 100.00 combined i see people spending more id rather buy ammo so i can shoot more.....

 

[oneyeopn]

Ok...I mounted the Ultradot Pan-A-V on my M&P15 Sport. The optics are totally parallax free, it is highly visible in direct sunshine. It co-witnesses perfectly and using the iron sights you dont even notice it. I am using the + style reticles with my gun but the red dot is nice also but the reticles I am using line up with the sides of the front sight just right making it quicker and easier to get your target and sights centered. It felt real solid and even my gunsmith and my dad whom are both pretty critical when it comes to guns were impressed at how easy it is to use and that it doesn't interfere with the iron sights at all. right now I am giving it 4+ stars. Just because I have only shot through it twice but it was cased up between shots and held its Zero just fine.

 

[Aceman58]

My .02 cent, the best of the lesser price Red Dots are listed below. I can say these work very well, solid build handles the recoil & vibrations of the 22lr (not much recoil to worry about). I got a box of NStar red dots, burris, Tasco that look good on the rifle but that's about all.

SightMark Red Dot SM13041................. $ 79.00
Vortex SureFire Red Dot....................... $149.00

Good luck..

 

[photoracer]

Anyone have any experience with the C-More brand of red dots then?

Something like this.

C-MORE Systems - Railway

Yes, with one exception I use nothing but C-Mores on my competition guns. Might be overkill on a plinker but for speed shooting they are the best. And by best I mean they always work. Reason most speed shooters use them.
I have to admit that the one gun I am not using them on is my AR15-22. I bought 5-6 red dots before my 1st C-More. I just did not listen to some of the top shooters I know. I spent more on cheap sights trying to get reliability than if I had just bought a C-More to start with. My AR15-22 is using one of those first 5-6 that I corrected and made reliable, a TruGlo Dual Red/Green Reflex. The quality of the projected image is second to none among the so-called Asian reflex sights. Very sharply defined, always bright enough in daylight (like a C-More) and stone reliable since about early 2011. If it does ever fail again I will just buy a 3rd C-More. So far it has lasted thru several major matches and one world championship.
The Ultradots are the top red dot used by Bullseye pistol shooters. you will not find much else used. They are also very reliable. The Sightmarks and such are Chinese copys of the Ultradot. I can't vouch for the clone's reliability but I know the Ultradots are good. I don't use one because they are not a good choice for speed shooting.
Another sight used by some top shooters is the Aimpoint Micro. Current Steel Challenge and Ruger Rimfire Challenge World Champion BJ Norris uses their sights exclusively on his open and rimfire race pistols and both his 3-Gun AR and its .22 upper he uses for RR.