Red dots and cold weather battery life

Hollow Point said:
Looking at getting a red dot to mount on a .22 lr for grouse / rabbit hunting. how well do the batteries hold up in sub zero temperatures?
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I wouldn’t trust any battery powered optic in cold/freezing temperatures. If you do decide to use one, make sure your rifle has backup iron sights that are co-witnessed or have a method of detaching the red dot quickly. Another option is a 1x prism sight which has an etched reticle that is visible even with a dead battery.
 
Depending on the model of red dot, the batteries work fine. The batteries will run low faster in sub zero temperatures though. Like it will take 6 months to run low instead of 12 months in warmer temperatures. I use plenty of Vortex red dots and never had a problem in winter although it's hardly arctic winter where I live, it usually only gets colder than -10 a week or two per year.
 
Not sure what your budget is but can’t go wrong with an aimpoint, they’re well proven in harsh conditions
 
buy a quality optic such as aimpoint and you wont have an issue, Battery life is measured in years and thats turned on the entire time. A little cold wont turn that lifespan into hours.
 
Lithium batteries perform the best of all the dry batteries in cold weather, and by a large margin. Both their output and working life will be diminished but they will still work in true cold down to below -30 C. However, the answer to the question is to never rely on a battery illuminated sight in actual arctic weather.
 
Just run Duracell and you will be fine. Dollar store and ImaKnockaOff brand barely work in ideal conditions. I've been running D for years in all my red dots with zero issues year round.
 
I'd suggest carrying a spare batt in your shirt pocket if you're out hunting. A few grams vs a xx-km walk 'wasted'. I keep spares in my range bag, too.
 
I have a Russian unit that uses a cr2032, good unit but surprisingly it sucks in cold weather and will not illuminate. So buy quality.
 
a modern red dot optic with fully charged, quality lithium cr123 or AA batteries has a much better chance of working in sub zero than an optic with coin cells. 18650 and AAA are less common optic batteries that I would also prefer over coin cells.
 
Battery life depends a lot on the optic. Holographic optics like Eotech use batteries up much quicker (about 20x quicker) than non holographic red dots like Holosun.

From personal experience I have an 8 year old Holosun with the original button cell battery and manual on/off switching. It’s been left on in minus 10 to 20 many times for 8-10 hours at a time. I debated changing the battery a few years ago but now it has become a fun experiment to see how many years it will last. I don’t recommend this, but it goes to show how ridiculously long they can last.

My Eotech on the other hand, regularly died twice a year as it was also often left on. I started changing the batteries once every month or two to make sure it was always good to go.

Ultimately, be aware of the rated lifespan for your batteries and replace them well ahead of schedule, with quality cells like Duracell or Energizer etc. and you should never have a problem in normal winter hunting conditions.

There’s other good brands of dots with great battery life, but we sell, and I personally run, Holosun.
 
One other thing that might be worth mentioning... Consider a Primary Arms 1x microprism. A little heavier than a red dot, but you always have a backup, with the etched reticle.
 
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