EOTECH 512 Holographic Weapon Sight

Was skeptical about holo sights on my 5.56 AR-15 carbine, having been brought up on peep sights and some scope work. Leery of battery life. Easily installed this on my AR-15 top rail, and like the turn off/on buttons. No interference with the charging handle or other buttons, including a Magpul BAD lever. The reticle in the screen is bright, and brightness can be increased or decreased. My eyes had some difficulty putting the center dot on the front post (my eyes' focus), so obtained some dayglo white paint, and put a tiny dot on the rear-facing top 1/32" of the front post. It helped me a lot. Both target aimed and rapid (semi-auto) fire allowed me to use both eyes, and at 70 yds. my groups were 4" or less initially. Have gotten them down to 3" or less with about 10% centered bullseyes. Not bad for an old geezer like me, but I want to go to 100 yds. in my next session. Adjusting the sight was quite easy (well-marked knobs!), and in 2-click increments, took 12 shots (2 shots per segment) to zero in. Recoil (62g) didn't disturb the reticle, and windy dust didn't bother it either. The "coat" I got for it helps protect it and keep it clean in carry or storage. So I can recommend this slightly expensive item, and research indicates its type is battle-tested and rugged, as well as being a popular model. The price isn't bad: about the same as a good scope. But no telescope "wobble" when you fire. I still like peep-and-post shooting some of the time, but the holo sight is a useful aid to improving sighting and scores. Too early to tell about the battery life (two inexpensive AA batteries). So I'll keep the EOTech 512.A65.

Since writing my initial review - I have taken this sight to the range 6+ times. I can actually shoot groups @ 50 yards (150 feet) where the holes in the paper are actually touching each other. I am not talking about just doing this once and a while - I am talking about actually shooting out the bulls-eye on my target. I swear to God, it feels like my rounds are guided to the target by a magnet! I haven't had to adjust my sight since I sighted it in the first time - I just instinctively shoot high (aim a tad higher than the target) when shooting at targets beyond 100 yards or more. I am very satisfied with this purchase: the HWS really is the gold standard when it comes to red dot sights.below is my initial review: it covers everything from my experience buying the cheap EOTech knockoffs to co-witnessing your sights (the right way) to the rail adapter on the HWS. Please read if you are considering purchasing the HWS because I present you with a lot of specifics about how to set this sight up the proper way.*******I made the mistake of purchasing one of the mislabeled EOTech clones for my 6.8mm SPC M4A3 only to realize that the old adage, "you get what you pay for," applies specifically and directly to weapon sights.What this experience taught me is that I really like the EOTech design. You can't get a better sight for an AR-15/M-4 design than EOTech because these sights were specifically designed to work with that platform/firearm. The Chinese knockoff was a disaster - it couldn't stand up to recoil and had a cheap plastic battery compartment. I sent it back, grew a pair and bought the real deal (512 HWS).I couldn't be happier with my purchase. I paid $365 for mine, new, right out of the box. I took it to the range yesterday and the thing was already sighted in for my rifle (I had to make some fine adjustments for targets at the 100 meter range but I was impressed). The EOTech sights do come looking a little grainy compared to other reflex sights that use LED projectors. I called the company (just to make sure I didn't get a defective unit - very good customer service by the way) and they said the granular look of the reticule comes from the lasers in the sight.This was their (L3's) explanation:LED's are good BUT they are not as good (in terms of accuracy, durability and exactness) as lasers. Most cheaper units (like ATN, the EOTech knockoffs, AimShot and NcStar) use LED reflection to produce a sight picture - the trade off is that there is no compensation for the angle of reflection (producing an image that does not adjust or reflect evenly). This is why the red dots on those sights often look like an oval or have edges that look blurred and distorted. This is also why those red dot sights are notoriously difficult to sight in (and remain sighted in after several hundred rounds are put through your weapon).Aimpoint and L3 have corrected this problem by using lasers but the trade off is that this design is more expensive. A lot of people say the price difference is due to the little sticker on the side of these products - they don't know what they are talking about. Let them find out the hard way. If you are a serious shooter - L3 and Aimpoint should be the natural choices you gravitate towards.I've been involved in the sport (competitive shooting) since I was honorably discharged from the military. Over the course of that time, I've purchased Barsaka, Bushnell, ATN, EOTech Knockoffs and some other cheaper brands. If I had ponied up the money right from the jump - I would have actually saved money and time because I wouldn't have wasted the expense, rounds and time sighting in 6 other sights (all costing around $100).Co-witnessing your sight:Many people talk about co-witnessing their red dots with their Iron sights. This seems redundant and pointless. The entire point of a red dot sight was to reduce the amount of time it took to accurately sight-in on a target. If you are still using your Irons (both back and front in conjunction with a red dot in between), you take the same amount of time to sight in as if the red dot wasn't even there (because you are doing the exact same thing). True Co-witness with a red dot is using the front sight as a lower referent point (meaning the pin of the front sight) to center your red dot both horizontally and vertically.L3 built this sight with that exact purpose in mind. This sight is built 1.6 inches above the rail, which means you can still see the front sight in the sight picture but it appears exactly low enough to not obscure your target (you want to be able to see above and below your point of aim - this is the main problem with "irons"). This consideration is something most amateurs don't account for when they "Co-Witness" their weapons the wrong way. With EOTech sights, your front sight pin should line up with the "tick" at the 6 O'Clock position on the reticule circle. That's why I described your front sight's pin as a reference point, not as a point of aim. It's an easily (and quickly) referenced position to place your aiming reticule when shooting so you can instinctively shoot your zero every time.Another Consideration:Lastly and maybe most importantly, there is a huge difference between the rail adapter on my EOTech and that of the rest. The attachment profile (when you take it off and then put it back on) leaves a 1 MOA differential @ 100 yards. This means - at a 100 yard target - your error in point of aim will be 1 inch off your original sight in. On most of my other sights, due to defects in the design of the adapter, I had as much as 20 MOA in differential - meaning my shot was almost 2 feet off when I reattached my Baraska sight. Consequentially - cheaper sights mandated that they stay permanently attached to your weapon in order to remain accurate (and even when I did this - I would lose zero if I dropped my weapon or "nudged" the sight the wrong way). You really don't have to worry about this problem with L3 products or Aimpoint red dot sights - you can take them off and reattach them without losing zero (within 1 MOA differential).In conclusion:Look, I know this review has gone on forever. I am trying to help you avoid the mistakes I've made (and save you some green). These are considerations and conclusions I've come to after several years of experience with all different types of reflex/holo/red dot products. L3 designed their weapon sights to survive shock, explosions (within reason) and the tender loving care of combat. The ringing endorsement of the Special Operations community in the US military should seal the deal with all reasonable people because green berets and navy SEALs know how to put products, like a weapon sight, through it's paces. If these weapon sights are good enough for the Special Operations Community - they are good enough for anything I could possibly use them for.I hope you make the right choice.Sincerely,Mat

Before buying this I was a little skeptical on if I actually wanted to spend that amount of money for an optic for a "toy". But I'll be damned not only do I love how it looks on my rifle I also love how well it works and easy to use. Changing the brightness settings is easy and fast, I have this mounted on my Smith and Wesson M&P 15-22 and have over 1400 rounds through it from me and around 10 different shooters. THEY ALL LOVE IT.. this sight turned my rifle into a "gun porn rifle", had some experienced shooters shoot with it and they love how easy the sight is to see and keep both eyes open. Had a few girls shoot for their very first time and with it and they were hitting the steel 10" gong out to 75 yards!I decided to use the Allen screw instead of the screwdriver bolt, just because I liked the flush look of it over the protruding bolt(Make sure you tighten it down till it can't be tightened without over tightening. The packaging for the EOTech 512.A65 is quality. I use the case it came in to carry all my .22 ammo (holds around 800 and then some). The sight is clear, crisp and easily acquired, this is really a sight that makes any gun easy to shoot with and easy for all skill levels to use. Anyone with poor eyesight will enjoy this over iron sights and even a scoped sight. Just might be harder to get the "elders" to go for a Holographic over Traditional. But man, there really is nothing you can hate on this sight for, it does everything you could want a sight to be and more! If they weren't so expensive I would buy them for all my buddies guns :) . If you are hesitating, like i was to buy this site, I'm just going to say !GO FOR IT! you will not be disappointed! Once you see how nice it is to actually use you will feel much better about dropping ~$400 for it. No "tacticool" rifle is complete without an EOTech. I am also thinking about switching it over to my shotgun for turkey and deer season this fall.