Comsoon J25 Bluetooth Receiver allows you to add Bluetooth audio to your old wired headphones or earbuds or your car through its AUX audio port, for less than $20. Far less than the cost of a new pair of Bluetooth headsets or even the cost of a J25 and a new pair of non-Bluetooth earpro.
It’s small enough to mount directly onto your earpro and with the right connector cable, you can get the firing tucked away and even make it look like original equipment.
AT3 ARO (Adaptable Reflex Optic) is a micro red dot optic and mount system. For those who aren’t familiar with the AT3 brand (which up to this point included me), AT3 is an AR parts maker and retailer based in Minnesota. They sent me an ARO to review.
I found the fit and build on the ARO to be excellent. There was a slight blem in the paint job of the co-witness mount, it was not visible when the red dot was mounted. It was designed to fit Burris Fastfire/Vortex Venom compatible mounts and slides (check their website for a list of compatible pistols and slides).
The ARO retails for about $150 with the co-witness mount. The Sig Sauer Romeo Zero is about the same price but doesn’t come with mounts. Unlike the Romeo, the ARO lacks any printed markings or design on the rear of the unit, which would allow it to be used as a rear iron sight when mounted on a pistol slide.
The ARO has 6 levels of brightness. While plenty bright for indoor range or CQB use; in mid-day outdoors, the dot is not bright enough. If AT3 could double or treble the max brightness, they’d have a serious competition to the Sig Sauer Romeo or Vortex Viper.
THE GOOD Upon testing at the range, I found the ARO to hold zero even after banging it up with a plastic ammo box. On the riser adapter, it co-witnessed to my KAC flip-up sights.
THE BAD Even at its brightest, the red dot was hard to see in bright daylight. With only 6 levels of brightness, it is too dim for outdoor and seems better suited for indoor range or CQB.
A marketing Rep with SANAG contacted me and offered a pair of sports headphones for me to test out. They appeared to be bone-conductive headsets but the Rep said they were not. Oddly the box says they are but my tests seem to indicate that the Rep was correct.
My first impression was positive. The box made it look like a piece of electronics that you would spend +$50 on (MSRP $80).
My initial impression upon taking it out was also positive. The headset appeared well made and completely covered in a rubber-like coating which would be expected from a “sweat-proof” headset.
Bluetooth pairing was easy. It also comes with 32GB of onboard memory so you can play music directly from the headset by loading up songs from your PC or phone via the included USB-C cable. It came with about 40 pre-loaded Mandarin songs (ummm ok).
Its audio quality was disappointing. The sound was thin and distant, like when you pull your earbuds out of your ear and hang them. The sole positive feature is that as over-the-ear headsets, these allow you to hear your real-world environment while listening to tunes. But for the price, I’d want better audio fedelity.
Missouri Tactical sent me two of these grip plugs to test out. It allows you to convert any Ar15 MilSpec A2 grip into a handy storage space. It features a storage holder for a CR2032 or similar sized coin battery and a hole for a small allen/hex wrench. This is very useful if you run illuminated optics or red dots because it’s all too common to forget to turn them off and you end up with a dead red dot.
I needed to get a new cleaning rod after I bent my 25 year old Hoppes aluminum cleaning rod. I opted to get a brass rod and I wanted a segmented rod that I pack away more easily than a 1-piece rod. I found the Baby Bore Rod Kit.
I was honestly surprised at how small the envelope was. And when I first took it out, I still couldn’t believe it could form a +30″ cleaning rod. But it turned out to be the perfect packable cleaning tool. I’ve since bought a second kit to put in my range bag in case I need to clear a squib or to clean my bore between ammo tests.
I’m sharing coupon codes and deals from some of the products I’ve tested and reviewed this year. This is by no means an exhaustive list and I hope to be updating in the days up to and after Thanksgiving as deals pop-up. Let me know if you find anything better or have updates.
SPORTSMANS WAREHOUSE
In store deals. $239 for Savage Axis rifle and Bushnell 4-12x scope package, and Aguila 22LR is reportedly $15/250 box?
My go-to local gun store and sporting goods. Throughout the pandemic, lines regularly form on their “ammo delivery” mornings and popular calibers usually sell out that day. Aguila Super Extra HV will be on sale for $20/250rnd box https://www.big5sportinggoods.com/store/ways+to+save/Weekly+Ad
AliExpress is kind of like the Amazon of China. Yeah, that’s not as bad as it sounds. Or maybe it is? It’s a step up from buying from Wish.com. If you’re not above directly supporting CCP affiliated companies (Chinese Communist Party), and don’t mind +30 day slow delivery from China. Here are some discount codes: Black/Super Friday Fest
On Sale: 25th Nov 00:00:00-29th Nov 23:59:59 PST Codes have been effective already (limited quantity, please hurry to promote). Promo Codes all products on Aliexpress (valid for 25.11.2021 PST – 29.11.2021 PST) $7 OFF $50 with code: BFCM7 $12 OFF $100 with code: BFCM12 $18 OFF $150 with code: BFCM18 $23 OFF $190 with code: BFCM23 $30 OFF $250 with code: BFCM30
COMSOON
This company contacted me directly with a coupon code for the Bluetooth Adapter that I used to add Bluetooth connectivity to my range earmuffs. 10% discount code for the J25: UXB5555T valid through 3rd December.
We had twice as many competing at this match. Still plenty of room for more next month. If you’re an experienced or competitive rimfire shooter and would like to compete at next month’s match, reach out to the Rifle Executive at the Coyote Point Rifle and Pistol Club website. https://coyotepointrpc.org/cprpc-board
SVBony sent me a SV28 70mm scope after seeing my review of the 50mm SV28. The model they sent me wasn’t pre-inspected as it had some minor defects in the alignment and assembly of the sunshade and a bump in the action of the focus knob when focusing at 50mm objects at 45x.
Despite these defects, the overall resolution and sharpness were good for a budget spotting scope. There was good sharpness from edge to edge. It was able to resolve lines down to Element 6 in Group -1 at 100yrds using the USAF 1951 resolution chart.
A street price of about $60 makes this a good value. Be sure to keep your receipt.
I review the Missouri Tactical Recoil Pad for the KelTec KSG/KS7 shotguns, filmed at the Santa Clara Field Sports Park rifle range. Thanks for SoloFettR2 for letting me use his KS7 for this evaluation. He actually bought the MoTac pad on his own before I was contacted by MoTac and asked to review it.
You can bid on this brand new unopened Missouri Tactical Recoil Pad shown at the beginning of this video. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to middle-school students fundraising for their school trip to Washington D.C. in 2022.
I recently discovered that if you rub an aluminum gun cleaning rod with a cleaning patch, it leaves “faux” fouling marks on the patch. Why? I assume it’s the metal rubbing off on the cloth but far less staining when rubbing a brass cleaning rod.
It begs the question, have we mistakenly thought our guns were dirtier than they really were? I honestly don’t know. I’ve switched to all brass rods from now on.
