Reflex Sights VS Red Dot

Reflex Sights VS Red Dot: Nowadays the majority of people think that a reflex sight and a red dot sight are the same things. But they are a little bit different from each other, and only a few are aware of it. In the battle of these two sights, we need to know what they exactly are before discussing their differences. Let’s get started.

Red dot sight

This one is suitable for Modern Sporting Rifles. The AR shooters always need a means of getting on target quickly.  A red dot sight can help them out in this regard. It is an electronic sight that uses an illuminated red dot to mark the target.

Note that, it is not a sight itself, but a combined form of different sights. We have three types of red dot sight- prism sights, tube reflex sights, and holographic sights. The prism sights are a short optic that requires prisms for focusing the views.

They are costly than the reflex sight and best for the distance shooters. The main drawback is you have to take the eye closer to the optic for getting an accurate sight. Reflex sights operate with the lens, which works like a mirror.

Your eyes will see the red dot after the projection and reflection the aiming points on the lens. The most excellent benefit of a reflex sight is positioning the eyes positioned anywhere to get an accurate sight. Lastly, the holographic sight is precise, reliable, and pretty expensive than the previous two. It allows using fire bullets with both eyes open.

Reflex sight

The reflex sights contain red or green dots on their reticles. We have already discussed the working procedure of the reflex sight. As its lens reflects the projected dots to your eyes, it is named as the reflex sight. It can be either a tube sight or an open one. An open reflect sight doesn’t fall into any category of a red dot sight.

Differences between a reflex sight and red dot sight

Now we know the basics of these two sights. So, you might be eager to understand how they differ from each other. The most significant mismatch of these two sights is their field of view.

It refers to the dimension of the image your eyes can see on the lens. Reflex sights generally feature heads-up display design. So they enable the users getting a wider field of view. The field of view is how much of the image you can see in the window or objective lens.

As a result, you find the target accurately. Unlike the open reflex sights, red dot reflex sights don’t feature Head’s Up display style. It results in a narrower field of view. Unlike the reflex sights, red dots are less susceptible to their internal elements.

Because they have a protective coating around the internals. The reflex sights always aim the dots to reflect the image to your eyes. But the red dots don’t always do the same. All reflex sights don’t have any magnification power, while some prism red dot sights may provide a magnifying advantage.

Final Words

If you want to know which sight is better, it entirely depends on the application. In the military system, both are being used for different purposes. Usually, the shooters use tube red dot sights on the shotguns.

But they find reflex sights more suitable for the handguns. The reflex sights are mainly appropriate for hitting long-range targets. But go for the red dot sights if your main purpose is hitting accurately with the dot points.