Two things decide a red dot and only one of them is on the box.
Dot size, quoted in MOA, is a deliberate trade. A 2 MOA dot covers about two inches at 100 yards and is precise; a 6 MOA dot covers six inches and is faster to find. Neither is better — you choose based on the distance and target size you actually shoot. For general use, 2 to 3 MOA is the right answer.
Zero retention is the thing nobody advertises and the reason optics cost what they cost. A red dot that shifts point of impact under recoil is worse than iron sights, because you trust it. This is the specification a twenty-dollar budget has to sacrifice, and it is why the cheapest optic in every search result is on this page as the skip.
A note on scope: everything on this page is an accessory. There are no firearms on this site.
Choosing and mounting a red dot
Dot size by use
| Dot size | Covers at 100 yd | Suits |
|---|
| 1–2 MOA | 1–2 in | Precision, longer distance, small targets |
| 3–4 MOA | 3–4 in | General purpose, the sensible default |
| 6+ MOA | 6+ in | Close range speed, shotguns, moving targets |
Get the mounting height right
For a rifle, a lower-third or absolute co-witness height lets you see your iron sights through the optic — absolute puts them on the dot, lower-third puts them in the bottom third of the window. This matters because it gives you a fallback if the optic fails, and because a dot mounted too high forces an unnatural head position.
Shake-awake versus always-on
Modern optics either run for years on a single battery with the dot always on, or use motion activation to switch off when still. Both work. What matters is that you never wonder whether the optic is on when you pick it up — either approach delivers that, and a manual switch does not.
Torque the mount properly
Loose mounting screws are the most common cause of a "defective" optic that will not hold zero. Use a torque driver at the manufacturer's stated value and a thread locker. Then confirm zero after twenty rounds — mounts settle.
Confirm zero, do not assume it
Check zero after mounting, after any impact, after any temperature extreme, and at the start of each season. Zero drift is silent, and finding it at the range costs nothing while finding it in the field costs everything.
How these were picked
I haven't handled these. Here's what I did instead.
Everyone in this category says they tested twenty of these. I haven't tested any, and I say so. What I do instead: read the manufacturer's manual and published specification, compile the numbers that decide the purchase, do the arithmetic in the open, check the live price, and name one product to skip. The scores above are judgments from that research against a published rubric — they are not measurements I took, because I do not have a lab and I am not going to pretend otherwise.
