Opinions on the Vortex Crossfire?

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Fjorden

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Hi,

I mounted a vortex crossfire on a VZ-58, I'm using a rear sight rail, I needed a very short optic so I could still remove the handguard for cleaning the piston and gaz tube without having to remove the red dot from the platform and also because an integrated riser doesn't really do it for a non-AR platform. I do know it's not a very expensive red dot, but size was very important for this ''project''.

I must say I had some issues with the crossfire red dot, the battery cover had pressure problem which would affect the connection and making the red dot unusable, because it was a Vortex, I send it to Vortex Canada and they contacted me two weeks later and sent it back with a newer improved battery cover, which seems to be ok.

But I realised that when turning the brightness dial/wheel/turret (whatever you name it) it sometimes clicks but the dot doesn't show and I have to play with it to get it ''geared in'' . I wonder if other crossfire users have experienced this situation or maybe my unit is dysfunctional?

** Outside that, I had great grouping at 100m with it and fast and effective customer service with Vortex.

(Im a french speaker, so excuse my english).
 
Great red dot for the price. I have two, one on a .223 and the other on a .22lr and they have performed well.

The dot disappears between intensity settings. If you're between the numbers the dot won't show. If you're on a number and the dot is still not showing or you need to play with it to get it to work correctly then it sounds like you have a defective unit and I would contact Vortex for a replacement. I know if I'm not paying attention I sometimes don't turn it on fully, but it's definitely not something that I need to mess around with to get to work.
 
Your english is just fine. And my french is terrible, so I use google translate.

Votre anglais est très bien. Et mon français est terrible, donc j'utilise google translate.
 
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First things first - your English is quite good, and it's very easy to understand the specific questions that you're seeking to answer. You have zero reason to be self conscious about it. I only wish that my French was anywhere near as good.

I'm glad that Vortex took care of you on the battery cover - their warranty is a definite plus when looking at Vortex products. Also, I think you are "doing it right" by choosing a small, light red dot for a rifle. A lot of folks that have truly "been there, done that" choose similar optics for their fighting carbines. I know that was what Larry Vickers was running on his carbine when I took his carbine course.

As far as the dot turning off between numbers, I have a TRS-25 that operates in a similar way. I find that to be a positive, since I can move the dial between 5 and 6 (for example) and then when I'm ready to use the sight, just switch it to 6 instead of dialing all the way up from 0. If it's not turning on when you engage, then yes it might take a bit of fiddling to get the contacts aligned. You may be able to send it to Vortex to see if they can improve that problem....but it may not be worth doing, since you're likely to turn it on at the beginning of a range session, and just leave it alone for the duration of the session.

If you are looking for an alternative (upgrade?) that is similar in size and function, I believe your options are the Bushnell TRS-25 (which a lateral move, not an upgrade), some of the Primary Arms/Holosun offerings, or the Aimpoint Micro. Trijicon does make the MRO....but I believe that it's somewhat larger in diameter if not length. I think that length is probably more significant than diameter in your application, so the MRO might work? Just be careful when you are looking at mounts, as you will probably want a very low mount.
 
It's ok for a cheap RDS. Wouldn't go with anything cheaper....

That said, may be worth the extra money to go to a SPARC AR series or a comparable Holosun. I have had a lot of success with the SPARC series.

TTYL
 
**Updates, I am waiting for a new rail mount which would allow me to mount bigger optic, I have contacted Vortex and I will send my unit back for the second time, doesn't want to have it back, it seems dysfonctionnal.
 
Phat Eagle said:
It's ok for a cheap RDS. Wouldn't go with anything cheaper....

That said, may be worth the extra money to go to a SPARC AR series or a comparable Holosun. I have had a lot of success with the SPARC series.

TTYL
Click to expand...

I have a sparc AR, but the integrated riser makes the red dot too high in my taste for this rifle.
 
w squared said:
First things first - your English is quite good, and it's very easy to understand the specific questions that you're seeking to answer. You have zero reason to be self conscious about it. I only wish that my French was anywhere near as good.

I'm glad that Vortex took care of you on the battery cover - their warranty is a definite plus when looking at Vortex products. Also, I think you are "doing it right" by choosing a small, light red dot for a rifle. A lot of folks that have truly "been there, done that" choose similar optics for their fighting carbines. I know that was what Larry Vickers was running on his carbine when I took his carbine course.

As far as the dot turning off between numbers, I have a TRS-25 that operates in a similar way. I find that to be a positive, since I can move the dial between 5 and 6 (for example) and then when I'm ready to use the sight, just switch it to 6 instead of dialing all the way up from 0. If it's not turning on when you engage, then yes it might take a bit of fiddling to get the contacts aligned. You may be able to send it to Vortex to see if they can improve that problem....but it may not be worth doing, since you're likely to turn it on at the beginning of a range session, and just leave it alone for the duration of the session.

If you are looking for an alternative (upgrade?) that is similar in size and function, I believe your options are the Bushnell TRS-25 (which a lateral move, not an upgrade), some of the Primary Arms/Holosun offerings, or the Aimpoint Micro. Trijicon does make the MRO....but I believe that it's somewhat larger in diameter if not length. I think that length is probably more significant than diameter in your application, so the MRO might work? Just be careful when you are looking at mounts, as you will probably want a very low mount.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed answer, I love the vortex warranty, but the sig romeo5 series and holosun for a little more money offers better features IMO, I must say I prefer buttons than the wheel/dial, mostly caused by the failures I have experienced with my unit, which made me look for alternatives, Im waiting for new parts to change my set up and I'll see with vortex what they'll do with my unit.

But I'm planning on using the same dimension red dot if Im not keeping a crossfire on it.
 
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