Vortex Strikfire red/green Dot

http://www.opticstalk.com/vortex-strikefire-sparc_topic26189.html

I own a strike fire r/g dot, a sightmark red dot, and an aimpoint micro.

Truth be told, I am only marginally impressed with the strike fire. The buttons on the housing are too easy to turn the optic over to NV mode, which you can't really see, and NV mode slowly drains the battery since you think it is off.

I've also read multiple reviews where the control box actually busted off the red dot housing... and looking at mine, it doesn't look incredibly difficult to do. However, it also has a lifetime warranty.

With the Vortex Strike Fire Red/Green dot, the brightness is really poor. I love vortex customer service, but with the poor brightness on my dots, I tried calling vortex to swap this out for a red dot since I had so many issues trying to see my dot during the day, and they wouldn't swap it out  without $50 bucks and the purchase of an ARD. (This isn't entirely a negative because most companies will NOT swap out an optic for any $).

The 2x magnifier is almost worthless because it destroys your field of view. Basically, it takes your view, and cuts it in half. That would be a worthy loss if the magnifier was 4x or 6x, but at 2x, its not worth the loss of FOV for only 2x zoom.

If you are absolutely stuck on getting the Strike Fire, I would also push you towards the Red Dot only.

I first started out with a SightMark red dot on my AR and promptly put the Strike Fire on my AR after reading a bunch of *rave* reviews about it. Once I got it, I wasn't overly impressed and could barely see the dot during daytime use.

With all this being said, I pulled the Strike Fire off my AR for my carbine course, and put my Sightmark back on it... and the sightmark was only like 80 or 90 bucks and is an aimpoint Comp clone and you can get the beefy rubber armor for it. This thing held up to dives, drops, 1000+ rounds, etc and it held a perfect zero.

http://swfa.com/Sightmark-Tactical-Red-Dot-Sight-P47076.aspx
Granted, there is no lifetime warranty, and the Vortex lifetime warranty is great.

Were I in your shoes, and I *had* to have an optic knowing i'd eventually upgrade - I'd buy the sightmark for now, and then save up for an aimpoint or trijicon, and then sell the sightmark later on. I'm selling mine and taking almost no loss because its such a cheap red dot to begin with.

If you're not planning to upgrade ever, get the Vortex, because even if it does break, you're covered under warranty. Toss the 2x magnifier because its worthless. DM Optics makes a really nice flip to side 3x and 4x magnifier on a samson mount for an ok price if you need to magnify your view.

I was in your shoes buying budget red dots for my AR's, and when I got the $ i upgraded them.  If you're addicted to upgraded like most of us, eventually you're going to end up with a better red dot.

The dot worked - that wasn't the issue at all - but the brightest setting was lacking compared to my aimpoint or even my sightmark. Like i said, I had difficulty running the R/G strikefire at a carbine class during the day (full sun), and ended up putting the sight mark back on because I could better see the dot in normal daylight.

For me, the dim dot gave slower acquisition times.

OP, if you're worried about it - find a local seller and test one out. The design for the pure red dot is a bit improved over the version I had, which is why I'd steer you clear of the Red/Green version.

I sold both my Sightmark and my Strikefire to the same guy just yesterday and I'm sure he'll love them both. The R/G dot is neat, and my only real complaint is the brightness when in direct sunlight. At any other lighting, it was fine. Dimmer than the Sightmark, but usable.

with all this being said... i'd steer you towards starting to read up on SPARC reviews. I love my aimpoint micro, and if the sparc is anything at all like that, you'll appreciate the smaller size. Even my Strikefire was a bit bulky.