[Barred-Rock-or-Brahma]

LVPOs are apparently the new hotness, but unless the ELCAN counts, I haven’t got around to trying one out yet (2 of 5 stars, would not recommend).

The strength of red dots on rifles is faster and more clear target aquisition and reacquisition for follow up shots and follow on targets compared with irons. If you are comfortable enough with the fundamentals of marksmanship to effectively shoot with irons, then a red dot essentially allows you to break shots as soon as you have a good sight picture (sight alignment can be assumed or else you wouldn’t see your dot). The 2-5 year (50,000 ish hour) battery life is cool too. Apparently, Holosun has some great offerings, but I love my Aimpoint M4S for rifles and the Trijicon RMR for pistols.

ACOG- Great for offense in wide open and well lit spaces, less awesome for MOUT and short range defence in the dark. I have one, and I’m happy that I do, but guys with EOTECHs run circles around me on every flat range. They’re great for getting PID, range estimation, and hitting targets at 200+ meters, but they’re expensive and slow to acquire short range targets (especially if they’re moving).

Holos: Where a red dot overlays your dot on a target (a 2 MOA dot appears to be 6 MOA under 3x magnification), the EOTECH almost makes it look like the target is wearing your reticle (with a 1 MOA dot) on his shirt. This is important because your eyes can only focus on one distance at a time. Holos reticles allow for quick range estimation and hold using the ring. Battery life for the EXPS3 is around 1,000 hours, and they are more astigmatism-friendly than red dots.