Prismatic Optic Review
BY Herschel Smith4 years, 3 months ago
Ammoland has a review up of five different types of prismatic optics.
I don’t know anything about prismatic optics or how they compare / contrast with LPVO or HPVO. It would be nice if readers weigh in who have them, or not.
On July 24, 2020 at 9:52 am, Nosmo said:
Have one of the (original) Primary Arms 5X prism scopes on an AR, like it, need to look at the new one – there’s a green chevron option, claimed to be more visible in low light. Have a couple of the Gen 3 3X on backorder, hope to get them soon.
On July 25, 2020 at 12:39 pm, Ned said:
After my dot sights started going haywire and looking like little comets, I new I would have to do something. Then I learned it was my eyes – not the optic – that was the problem. If the dot is odd shaped, rotate the optic and see if the shape rotates with it. I my case, it didn’t.
Replaced several with Primary Arms Cyclops prism scopes. Nice thing is, the reticle is etched, and works without batteries. And my eye resolves it much clearer than a dot and seems just as fast to pick up. The ACSS horseshoe/chevron is fast to pickup close and the chevron good for fine work out to 300 yards. The ACSS reticle at 1x is viable even with my current vision limitations. This optic claims 3.7″ of eye relief, and isn’t picky about eye position like an ACOG.
Works fine at 1x to 300 yards, and the 1x Cyclops weighs under 10 oz.
If your dot sight is going haywire, give one of these a try.
Might try a 2 or 3 power for other rifles – like the one Herschel posted previously and reviewed by Garand Thumb. So far I have 5 Primary Arms optics and I’m satisfied with the price, quality and durability, despite the ones I have being manufactured in China.
I had a 3x Chinesium prism scope that I gave to a friend years ago. It is compact, easy and fast to pick up, and still works.
On July 25, 2020 at 12:53 pm, Matt Bracken said:
I’ve used Aimpoint 1X, Vortex 1X4, and EOTech, now I am using Burris 332 fixed 3Xs on my ARs. The field of view is great, the etched reticle works in daytime even with no battery, and maybe most importantly, the “eye relief box” is extremely generous. I can acquire the reticle and get on target very fast even with a less than perfect cheek weld or stock to shoulder. Anywhere from a half inch to about 8 or 10 inches away, and I can get a shot. This means fast snap shots are easy when you just have time to get the rifle squared away perfectly. Also, the elev/wind knobs are great, with very positive clicks. For about $350 bucks I think they are a great value. A fixed 3X works for me from close up to 400 yards. Just my dos centavos, YMWV.
On July 25, 2020 at 12:55 pm, Matt Bracken said:
when you just have time
TYPO, should be
when you just DON’T have time
On July 26, 2020 at 12:35 pm, Jorge said:
I got a Burris 332 after seeing Paul Howe recommending it for several years. I have some LPVO experience, but I ended up just leaving it on the lowest power setting all the time so I could hit close range targets, so I came to realize the ‘variable’ nature of the optic wasn’t all that useful for my purposes.
The Burris allows me to see the world at the same magnification level, which makes going from close to far targets a lot less difficult. For really close range use I just turn on the illumination and treat it like a red dot (Bindon Aiming Concept IIRC), and it works far better than I expected, it feels like it pops into your vision like an EOTech.
Seems like Sig and others are not just sitting on their laurels, but actively trying to improve the prism scopes. The Burris RT-3 is about the size and weight of the mini red dots, yet has the same FOV and eye relief as the 332. Once it’s actually back in stock somewhere it would be a really nice choice for a lightweight build.
On July 29, 2020 at 6:23 am, Matt said:
I have a spitfire 1x on a 10.5 pistol. Works well out to 200 yards. I was looking for the PA unit but nobody had one and I didnt want to fork out $250 for something I couldn’t physically check out. Paid $240 for the Vortex.