Feagle sent me their new M40 3x red dot magnifier to test out. I was a but hesitant because I’m not a big fan of red dot magnifiers. I don’t think they have enough magnification for the weight they add to a firearm and their eye-relief is less than I’d like for anything larger than a 5.56mm or other light-recoil rifle. That said, I was impressed with the build quality and features of this magnifier.
It came in totally plain brown cardboard box. Inside is an owners manual, Picatinny side-flip mount, 1/3 co-witness riser plate, and a bag of screws and an allen wrench. The tube/body design looks like an oversized red dot. Even including turret caps with adjustment tools in the cap, which function like flathead screwheads. This allows adjustment to recenter visual position of the red dot in the magnifier’s field of view.
The 3x magnified image seen through the M40 was good with no noticeable color shift, though the image was not sharp from center to edge. The extreme outer edge of the image was soft with slight distortion. While I would not consider this durable enough for LEO duty or combat use, for action shooting, this should be perfectly usable.
With the growing popularity and acceptance of pistol red dots aka RMR’s (Ruggedized Miniature Reflex sight), it’s an unfortunate truth that the majority of pistols were not designed to mount them. This is all the more true with the Glock, with over 20 million produced in various models.
You can purchase an after-market RMR cut Glock slide but these cost almost as much as a new pistol and still require the purchase of an RMR as well. Leupold saw a need and developed a simple add-on RMR for the Glock and S&W Shield, that replaces your rear sight. Leupold was kind enough to supply me with a Deltapoint Micro to test and review.
Installation was as easy. After knocking off the factory rear sight with a punch, you slide the small mounting plate in the dovetail sight grove. The Deltapoint Micro screws into the plate and the tension between the plate and the Deltapoint locks the RMR onto your slide.
The unit is very low profile with a small tube approximately 7mm in diameter. The tube contains the lens and emitter, providing a ghost-ring like sight picture. The unit is powered by CR1632 battery which overhangs the back of the slide. The screw-on battery cap also functions as a clicky switch, turning the unit on/off and cycling through 5 different brightness, projecting a 3MOA dot.
I was dubious at first, thinking any RMA with a sight window this small would be less than useful. I was surprised to find that I had not trouble presenting the dot because the top of the unit visually functioned like traditional rear sight, with the small lens window occupying the traditional gap.
It only took me a mag and a half for me to get a hang of using it. I can usually get my shots within a 6″ bullseye ring at 10yrds with iron sights. With the Deltapoint Micro I was readily able shoot even better, getting most of my shots in the same ragged 1″ hole! I was a doubter no more.
Despite the Deltapoint Micro’s demonstrative ability to make me a more accurate shooter, the unit is not without faults. Those used to typical RMRs will probably hate the tiny sight picture of the Deltapoint Micro. The other big negative factor is the price of $399 for this tiny red dot. That makes it only marginally less expensive than buying an after market slide and a new RMR.
But for those compact or micro-compact CCW pistol, the Deltapoit Micro is the smallest, lowest profile RMR available. It is only a few millimeters taller than the original rear sight on a Glock. As such, it is likely far more comfortable to wear than any RMR.
My biggest pet peeve is that the designers at Leupold failed to take into account the height of the battery cap blocks you from removing your slide during normal disassembly. You must first remove the battery and cap from the Deltapoint to allow you enough clearance from the Glock’s receiver rail. If the battery cap was just 1mm or 2mm thinner, this wouldn’t be necessary. It seems like just a glaring mistake that should have been corrected.
When Feyachi offered to send me a budget red dot to test and evaluate, I was a little puzzled when one arrived the next week. The box I received was a red dot but it did not have any Feyachi branding at all on the exterior graphics. Nor did the red dot inside. Fortunately the brand appeared in the user manual to let me know it was indeed from Feyachi.
The red dot itself looked fairly generic. This model looks identical to a Marmot red dot I reviewed over a year ago. But this box included a 1″ Picatinny riser. The red dot itself looked well made. The same could not be said for the riser, which had casting pits and a gauge when exposed the aluminum under the black oxidized finish. Whoever was making the riser mounts wasn’t as good at QC as the scope maker.
The red dot had 11 brightness settings. At its brightest setting the 4MOA red dot was visible in broad daylight. The dimmest setting was nearly invisible in all the but the darkest background. The red dot is powered by a CR2032 coin battery. The box came with two.
At the range, I was easily able to zero the scope and it retained zero throughout 20rnds of fire. To simulate years of use or heavy recoil, I banged the unit with my ammo can for about 30 seconds. I found that the red dot dit not lose zero despite the physical impact and abuse.
The poor QC and construction of the riser gave me serous doubts about its overall quality. The unit surprised me, passing my requirements for a basic red dot that could hold its zero. Time remains to be seen if it durable enough to survive long term use and abuse or just a heavy downpour.
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.
It appears to be a near-exact copy of the Bushnell TRS-25 but at half the price. It passed all of my use and abuse tests and the only negative I have for it is a bit of a nit-pick; the mounting screw is too long and pokes out. Seriously, they couldn’t afford to put in a 2mm shorter screw?!
It’s available on Amazon for about $39 https://amzn.to/3mh3g8P