Laser vs Red-Dot vs Holographic

jperodeau · Post by **jperodeau** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 9:14 am

As budget allows, I am considering improving my ability to sight on a target (old eyes and bifocals are limiting factors). I’ve been researching sights, and there seems to be some ambiguity in catalog descriptions. Some places call red-dot sights laser sights, othes call them red-dot holographic sights, and others call them laser sights.

To me, a laser sight is one that projects a laser beam, and a red dot, which can be seen by anyone, actually appears on the target; a red-dot sight uses an LED to superimpose an image (dot, cross-hair, etc.), which can only be seen by the shooter, on a lens. A holographic sight uses a laser to project an image which appears to the shooter to be “floating in space”, superimposed on the target. Red-dot sights will have parallax, holographic won’t.

It appears to me that while laser sights (by my definition above) are easy to identify in ads, red-dot and holographic can only be differentiated by price – less than $200 = red-dot, more than $300 = holographic. Another differentiator may be battery life, if it is mentioned in the ad – due to the high energy requirement of a laser, batteries in a holographic sight do not last as long as those in a red-dot.

Have I analyzed this correctly?

KAZ · Post by **KAZ** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 10:12 am

You have done your homework. I have the combo laser/light on my 870 and a Glock 19 that is a bedside protection item. They both work really well for that purpose. For target shooting I love the red dots. The very best is an Aimpoint T1 that is built to mil spec and has a 50,000 hour battery life and is $600. Bushnell has a copy that looks just the same and at $139 has a 5000 hr battery life. They both have a 3moa dot which works for most things. The best all round target red dot is the Ultra Dot with four different dot sizes to choose from at $200. I have a Millett SP1 compact red dot ($79) on a Henry lever action that I can hit with from zero to 100 yds. Most today will do the job and battery life is not a problem unless you forget to turn them off. Regards

Post by **Bullseye** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 1:27 pm

I agree with you - A 'Laser' sight is one that emits a visible or invisible light beam externally from the device. A 'Holographic' or 'Red Dot' scope just projects a image onto a lens within the device that can be viewed by the operator.

R,
Bullseye

blue68f100 · Post by **blue68f100** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 3:53 pm

You say aging eyes, I'm there too. The question you need to answer is can you see the target clearly? If so the holographics (reflex & red-dots) will work good for you. If you need magnification you need to go to a scope. I'm using a 2x scope on my MKIII 678. I picked off a rabbit at 70yrds with it earlier this week. But I could had used more magnification.