Ade Advanced Optics RD3-011 Avenger Red Dot with removeable picatinny plate

This is the second red dot I've owned, the first was a cheaper model I got to decide if I even liked using a red dot. It turns out I do, so I got this model. It fits nicely on the rail, and is not heavy or intrusive. It was easy to zero and holds it well. I placed it on a QD rail segment, I've taken it off several times and it seems to hold zero nicely so long as I put it back in the same spot on the rail. It feels well constructed and robust, I like that the cover over the lens is solid and strong, I feel like it protects the lens well. The controls are intuitive and easy to access, and the red dot is bright enough in daylight that it doesn't need to be adjusted often. When seen from the outside the lens coating is more reflective and bright than I'd like, but it cuts down on glare nicely when looking through the optic.Overall I think it is a solid optic that comes at a reasonable price.Update: I've put several hundred rounds through my rifle using this optic and it has been great. The rifle is chambered in .300BLK, and I can consistently ring 10" steel plates at 200 yds while standing. I still use the QD mount and continue to remove it after shooting, still no significant issues holding zero between range days. I've upgraded the product to 5 stars as it has performed consistently and without issue since I started using it.Update 8/28/19: Took it to the range again last weekend, still just as good when i first put it on. Highly recommended

The first thing to note is that the adapter plate they linked here is wrong. The adapter plate suggested will not fit this sight which is huge (someone posted a pic on their XD). You need a modular adapter plate like this:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MFFOFGO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1This essentially means that to use this sight on your handgun, you are essentially paying $130 at the end of the day. There are cheaper options if you don't need the night vision setting, that cost less for the sight, and use the cheaper $15 sight mount.The night vision setting uses IR light rather than visible light to produce the dot. This prevents burning out spots on your night vision tube. This IR light setting is not needed if you have a digital night vision setup like the syonix auora, because you can just lower the brightness until you can see through the sight window. If you don't need night vision, Ade and others sell a regular micro red dot for ~$40 which will work with a normal adapter plate or possibly a milled slide, depending on your cut.One of the key features of this sight is that the battery is accessible from the top. This means you will not lose zero replacing the batteries by having to take the sight off to access a battery compartment. You could use a screwdriver, but the best tool is a quarter.A big criticism of this sight is that it has an auto shutoff feature after a few hours (I believe it is 2 hours). This is a terrible feature to have on a sight that cannot be cowitnessed. It is not the end of the world, but their other offerings did not have this feature before.This sight also flickers rather than staying constant on in order to save battery life. The frequency of the flicker is like an mouse cursor. If you just look at the dot, it looks normal, but if you move the dot any appreciable amount, you see duplicates or afterimages of the dot (shake your mouse to get the same effect). In practice this does not affect shooting performance but can annoy people. Due to the autoshut off feature, it is very difficult to gauge the battery life. I estimate about 24 hours with a lithium battery on the brightest setting (which would be your setting for daytime shooting in a desert or snowy environment). Indoors, the 3 setting is probably best. IR power consumption seems much less than visible, so you can probably get 3x the life on IR setting or more. Due to the auto shutoff feature, I am comfortable using a rechargable coin cell battery with this sight which only has about 1/3 the life of a normal lithium CR2032 battery.The sight has two buttons on the left side (from shooter's perspective) of the sight. One activates night vision setting, the other is your normal visible. Again, this is a very poor design when coupled with the auto shutoff because if you want to activate the sight from the draw, you could easily hit the wrong button causing nothing if aiming down your eye, or causing extremely bright blooming that burns your night vision tube if not autogated.Clicking one of the buttons automatically turns it on at the last brightness setting used. Clicking it again will cycle through brightness with each click, there are 5 brightness settings for visible and 5 for IR. It cycles from low to high, then back to lowest. Holding down either button for 3 seconds will turn off the sight, which is a pointless feature due to the auto-shutoff.Sight adjustments have tactile clicks and are not mushy. Zeroing is solid. Recoil durability seems solid, but I don't have many rounds through it yet. Glass is tinted in order to have good dot brightness, but the clarity is very good despite being tinted. You will have no trouble seeing objects in low light through the glass, or seeing things through your night vision. The glass does have about 0.5x magnification which is not a big deal, but may look a little odd if you never used LPVO. Most will not notice this.The sight comes with a picatinny rail adapter so you could use it on a long arm, however if you don't need the night vision setting, again, there are other red dots that fit the bill. Ade sells a much larger version of this sight for about $10 less which only has visible dot functions.My big complaint about this is the auto shutoff feature. It turns what would be an amazing optic into an "okay" optic. This sight would not be good for most serious use simply because of that feature. It is perfectly fine for range use though. Additionally the optic is bulky which is fine, but they made it wide rather than tall. A wide red dot glass window does not help you as most of your vision is outside the window. You want a tall glass window however in order to help keep the dot in visibility during recoil. Again, this is another bad design flaw, but not deal breaking.If you got night vision, I strongly recommend buying this sight, even if you have name-brand options. You can always throw it on a spare gun. If you don't have night vision, I would recommend a cheaper sight due to the mounting plate costs and the auto-shutoff feature. You are way more likely to engage the NV setting by accident during presentation, causing you to lose the dot.

I recentley bought a freedom ordanance fx-9 ar pistol.(awsome gun by the way.check em ) it came with a cheaper reflex.i figured i would give it a try..it was a turd.would work great on a .22 maybe.anyway i bought this wanting a reliable optic but not wanting to pony up for a vortex etc..when i got it i was impressed by the box alone.it looked like something from leupold.upon opening i found it was in a electro/static resistant package which once again surprised me and came with a nice soft latexish cover already on.the quality is very nice,barrel faceing side is glare resistant coated aswell.it has two buttons.a night setting seperate from the main used to cycle thru the brightness stages which is the on/off aswell.battery is on top which makes it nice not to have to unscrew the clamp to change.my placement above the ejection port on the rail with no riser..anticipating to dial it in a smidge i took the box with me outside.by the way very detailed directions for the care,warrenty,clicks for L,R or up down etc where in the box underneath the foam.my first shot was at 50 yards and to my surprise dead on.aswell as the 149 after that.ill be getting another one of these very shortly.well worth the money and looks damn good too

Amazing product also came with a cover for it, clicks are true,extra battery, base is spring loaded, no shortcuts were taken in the quality of the product. lense is glue free, imperfection free. and red dot can be seen in sunlight on the highest setting.made of 6061 t6 aluminum. Spent 4 days trying to find a good micro red dot for my 590, and this is what i chose. All the hoods ive seen on these devices are so thin, this one is nice and thick, completely surpassed my expictations, even the burris has a thin lense hood in comparison to this red dot. Highly recommend this to anyone looking for a quality micro red dot well under 100.00. Save yourself those 4 days and the money you would spend, this is worth it! Found it on the 4th day of my search browsing pages of google when i was set on it and im glad i didnt settle for one of those 35.00 sights. Just make sure you hold the brightness button for 4 seconds to shut it off