The best kept secret in optics?

[cr5]

I can't believe that I read through the entire thread, but I did. All I read was people criticizing others for different opinions. So here is my opinion.
First, we are in shooting sports for fun although some seem more concerned about end of the world scenarios. Unless you are in the military, or a LEO, you are not betting your life on your equipment. If you compete, sure you want the best you can afford, especially if you aren't very good. If you don't practice to improve, I guess that maybe high quality might make up for your short-comings, but I'm not sure.
As a licenced motor vehicle mechanic for more years that some on here have been alive, I'd like to share the following. I met technicians that insisted that you had to buy Snap-on if you were going to be any good, anything else and you couldn't fix vehicles, I never owned a single Snap-on tool. They told me how Snap-on had a life time warranty, I figured I'd rather have tools that didn't break leaving me without the tool while warranty was processed. My tools had a good warranty but I never had to use it. I watched guys almost take out a mortgage for a Snap-on toolbox, and watched them cry the first time it got scratched. Me, I bought a fully functional tool box, not Snap-on, and filled it with the specialty tools (also not Snap-on) to allow me to get the job done. Early in my career, I bought a cheap air chisel for a job, I used that air chisel to make money, and after it had paid for its self many times over, I replaced it with a brand name air chisel that did the same job, but it did last a lot longer. As a matter of fact, I still have that air chisel to this day, and I also have some of the "cheap" attachments that came with the first one.
I would use the money I saved by NOT buying Snap-on to continue to buy more specialty tools as vehicles evolved, and I also used that money I saved to take courses to improve my skills.
So how does this relate? Simple. Start with a basic gun and practice until you have the skills required. You start with a 22, cheap ammo, and keep practicing. No one starts out as a marksman, but once you have learned how to aim, how to get that proper hold, learned how to squeeze that coarse trigger with all the excess travel, now is the time to practice some more. When you have the skills, then is the time to upgrade. But until you have the basic skills, no amount of money that you spend is going to make any difference. When starting out, even a piece of junk can out shoot you until you have the basic skills.
So now you buy a better gun, put optics on it, now you practice some more. As time goes on, and your skills improve, that is when you start looking at higher end equipment But I don't care how much you spent on the gun and optics, highest price match ammo, if you don't have the skills, it will be no better than the single shot Cooey with iron sights.
And as your skills develop, and you are hitting the bulls-eye at 200 yards every time, don't look over at the guy next to you with the old Cooey and start to criticize him, he knew where to start.
Remember, when the house falls down, it is a poor carpenter that blames his tools.

My brother is a journeyman tech and has been doing it for 20+ years. Your story is exactly what I've been telling him since he started. Of course he fell into the same trap many of the guys on here fall into. He went straight to Snap-on and Mac, had a monster Snap-on toolbox and was always complaining he was broke.
He's in the middle of a divorce right now and finally realized he has nothing to his name other than his tools and that his being a tool snob is to blame (his and his ex's spending and financing crap they didn't need was another big contributing factor).

The problem I see today is that no one wants to start at the beginning and learn, they just want to go straight into non restricted black guns and it drowns them in expensive ammo and gear. The learning curve is also so steep they have no idea and fall for all the hype about upgrading your trigger to make your gun more accurate (it doesn't), they spend a pile of money but don't know how their gun works so can't troubleshoot problems.

How many times have we read the guy saying he bought an ARish NR rifle and wants a budget optic and can't afford anything but Norinco white box?

How many times have we read from the guys saying their gun isn't accurate? I usually ask how many sub moa groups they've shot with any rifle at any distance, I usually don't get a response from them on that one.

You're 100% right, people need to start at the beginning and learn the basics before moving upwards but in todays world of instant gratification and finance everything we've ended up here. Now those of us that did it the way we think makes sense just get frustrated with all the guys trying to jump into the middle even though they can't actually afford to do it right and want all the answers spoon fed to them.

No one should criticize others because they can't afford top end gear but I do get frustrated when guys who obviously have never used top end stuff try to tell others their mid level stuff is just as good for half the price. Do we need top end gear? No, you're completely right, it's overkill for range play but as you said with tools, high end stuff lasts longer, breaks down less frequently and just works better all around. If you can afford it, I think it's worth it even if we don't really need it to get the job done.

I'm not even going to go into those beta cucks that let their wife tell them how many guns they're allowed to have

 

[84wh1]

Fork it all, this thread details like a CP train!!! Lol

In all seriousness, I have experience with the EG1 from Di optical and it's solid. It's far above entry level and is priced accordingly. I noticed now that they seem to have several offerings of the EG1 so I can't speak for those models, however the one I have retailed for about the same price as an aimpoint PRO (give or take a few bucks). It has NV setting and am ADM QD mount.

It's a nice alternative to the usual

 

[90vette]

Fork it all, this thread details like a CP train!!! Lol

In all seriousness, I have experience with the EG1 from Di optical and it's solid. It's far above entry level and is priced accordingly. I noticed now that they seem to have several offerings of the EG1 so I can't speak for those models, however the one I have retailed for about the same price as an aimpoint PRO (give or take a few bucks). It has NV setting and am ADM QD mount.

It's a nice alternative to the usual

I have no clue how such a simple thread could go so far off the track. Haha. People talking S&B's, Sightron,Swfa. How people should be shooting this or that.... People making clear assumptions on the red dots without ever seeing one in person solely based on price. Haha. It's a weird world we live in. Assume everything, and always assume your always right. And most importantly get offended if someone disagrees with your assumptions.