Aimpoint PRO Update – 7 months later
OK, it’s been 7 months since I purchased and mounted the Aimpoint PRO on my AR-15. As you can see, I’ve painted the rifle and the sight using just a normal can of Krylon Camouflage series spray paint purchased at a local Home Depot. I know there are a lot of cooler options out there for coating / painting the rifle, but I chose the spray paint mainly because of cost. I just could not justify spending $200 plus on something that I could do for $6. Yes, a professional coating is more durable and comes in some awesome patterns and they are rad. However, I used plain spray paint in the military and it worked for me then, so I figured it would work for me now. It doesn’t last as long as say Duracoat, but I just respray as needed. Now, why did I paint the weapon?
First off, it helped break up the easily recognizable outline of a firearm. In most instances, there is a lot more tan/brownish colors in nature than there is solid black. Also, in general, lighter colors tend to be less attractive to the eyes than darker colors (again, the color black does not exist in most natural environments). This is why in the US Army’s Sniper School, nothing is left black. Infact, everything is painted tan / earth brown for good reason. Trained spotters in the military look for what are called “target indicators”. These are things that appear to be out of place (black) in the environment they are in. For example, in the desert or forest, it is rare to see any part of a perfect circle. When the observer see’s this in either of those environments, he can deduce (based on his training and experience) that the round object he is seeing is most likely an outline of something that does not belong there and therefore gets more attention. An unpainted rifle will stick out like a sore thumb and he’s going to identify you a whole lot faster. You may be thinking “well, what if you have to fight in an urban environment”? The same holds true here. Lighter colors seen at a distance beyond your eye’s resolution is registered in your brain as being “seen through”. On the contrary, darker colors are perceived as something blocking your vision and therefore catches your attention.
Second, less important reason for the paint is heat build up. Black heats up much faster in the sun than lighter colors. Those of you who’ve spent the day out in the desert shooting know what it feels like to handle a weapon that’s been baking in the sun all day. An argument can be made that the paint will retain more heat during an intense firefight. This is probably true, but unless your burning through magazines, the weapon should stay cool enough to handle even during sustained fire. However, I did notice the colors on the painted gas tube changing from coyote tan to a earth brown. I suspect this is due to excessive heat build-up. If this causes any malfunctions or some other failures, I will write an update and at that time, stand corrected. But for now, I’m leaving it painted. Now back to the scope.
Aimpoint PRO Battery Life:
From the time I first mounted the Aimpoint PRO, it’s been on with the intensity set to 7 and 7 months later, nothing has changed. The red dot still appears to be as bright as the first day and after several desert outings, the zero is still dead on. Speaking of zero…
Being used to large, finger adjustable target knobs on the M3A’s, I thought zeroing the Aimpoint PRO was going to be a pain in the butt with those tiny slotted adjustment dials. Anyway, before taking the Aimpoint out on its first desert trip, I decided to mechanically zero the Aimpoint PRO to my flip-up backup sites. I flipped up both my front and rear backup sights and used them to align the red dot. Let me tell you, adjusting the sight was a pleasure. Both the elevation and windage adjustments turned with very positive clicks. The tiny slotted adjustment dials appeared to be design for turning with a coin, however, with a little effort I was able to make the adjustments with my thumb nails.
A few days later out in the desert, I had a chance to test Aimpoint’s claims to co-witness with iron sights. To make a long story short, it was perfect. I had zero’ed my backup sights at 100m. With the Aimpoint PRO co-witnessed to the backup sights, it was “point of aim, point of impact.” I simply could not be happier. Next I removed the sight from the rifle then remounted it to test its ability to maintain zero. Again, perfect.
I remember a couple years back a friend of mine had bought and zero’ed an EOTech sight. When asked, he stated he spent the whole day at the range zeroing his sight. I asked why and he stated it was a difficult sight to zero. I remember this conversation with him because of what I did next. Without asking, I detached the EOTech from his rifle because I wanted to have a closer look at EOTech’s clamping system. When my friend saw this, he practically had a heart attack. In between his spasms, he was able to vocalize that his sight does not maintain zero when removed and that because I had taken it off the rifle, his day spent zeroing had gone to waste. I’m not sure if that’s true or if my friend just sucks at shooting but whatever.
A Word on 3X Magnifiers on the EOTech vs Aimpoint:
On a more recent trip out to the desert, I had an opportunity to use an AR mounted with an EOTech and the 3X magnifier. The magnifier was awesome. Optically, I was impressed by its clarity and surprised to see EOTech’s red halo undisturbed. The magnifier was very useful for identifying targets beyond the abilities of my normal vision and now I must get one. However, I did notice one major issue with the EOTech / Magnifier combo. When the magnifier was flipped into the operational position, it pretty much covered the ON/OFF switch on the EOTech, making it extremely difficult (and time consuming) to turn it ON or OFF or make adjustments to the reticle intensity once the 3X magnifier was in place. This, for me, IS a deal breaker. On the contrary, since the Aimpoint’s have their ON/OFF/adjustment dial towards the upper right side of the sight, the 3X magnifier did not get in the way of the any of the Aimpoint’s adjustments. A huge plus over the EOTech if you plan on using the magnifier.
Conclusion:
Aimpoint has certainly done it again: the Aimpoint PRO is a solid piece of equipment with amazing specs. Since mounting the sight, I’ve fired off 1,000+ rounds of Federal 5.56 and ran numerous drills without needing to rezero. The built-in front and rear dust covers have kept my optics in perfect condition (I haven’t had the need to clean either lens yet). My only beef with the Aimpoint PRO is the uncommon battery size. Why Aimpoint did that is is beyond my scope of understanding. I know some of the other models of Aimpoints use common AA batteries and I wish they had done the same with the PRO model. But in their defense, my sight is good for 3 years of continuous use so as long as I have a spare battery, it shouldn’t be a problem. Overall, I am certainly happy with my choice and if I had to do it again, I would still choose the Aimpoint over other electronic sights.
