Greetings,

I just picked up a Vortex Strikefire for my new AK. It was delivered yesterday and I have some concerns. First of all, the dot is not crisp. I have no problem with the brightness but the smudge/star type thing that is supposed to be the dot is very annoying. My second issue is with the wierd reflection. For the life of my I can't figure out where it is coming from. It looks like a half moon in the 5 to 9 clock position.

I really checked the reviews on this before I decided on the purchase. It got slammed for the covers being tight (did not find that to be a problem) and several complaints on the controls ( I did not find these to be a problem either). Only a couple in all the ones I read mentioned the reflection or the smudge of a red dot. I was wondering if anyone else noticed the same issues, especially the one with the smudged dot.

I may have made a mistake on this one.

Thanks in advance,

cbreeze

Send it back to Vortex....I've heard all these great things about their warranty! Tell us how it goes, I bought 2 Vipers last year......I hope I didn't screw up too, I usually buy ONLY Leupold or Nikon and have yet to mount my Vortex.

This is what I found out about my Strikefire problem.

It is not the Vortex, the problem is with my eyes. It appears that as you get older your eyes change. If you have a astigmatism, you will not see a red dot as a circle. I called Vortex and they were happy to look at the scope but told me to take a picture of the dot with my cell phone camera. If the picture shows a dot, like it is supposed too, the problem is with the eye. I did what they suggested and the picture showed a dot.

I also went to Bass Pro who just started carrying the Vortex. I looked at the one on display and with my eyes, I saw a distorted dot. I also looked at the other red dot's that they had on display and I had the same problem.

Just for the heck of it I looked at a EOTECH. The center dot was a circular dot but the outer ring looked fuzzy or like it was composed of hundreds of small dots.

I played with my Vortex and found that if I turned the brightness down I got less distortion. When I pressed the NV button, I was able to still see the dot and that also minimized the distortion.

So, I guess I have to accept the fact that I am getting old and am going to keep the Vortex. It is a really great red dot for the money. Some of the reviews dinged it for the tight fitting covers and not too user friendly buttons but I personally don't see those issues as a big deal.

One final suggestion , before you buy a red dot physically inspect and look through it before you plop down any cash. I bought mine on the internet without looking at it first so this caught me by surprise.

Hope this helps,

cbreeze

look on the bright side of getting old...

at least you are still standing on top of the grass.

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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

yep, astigmatism.
It is your eyes, friend.

My problem also. Though I've noticed that if I focus on the target instead of the sight (what you're supposed to do), the reticle of my eotech sharpens up a bit.

I don't know if reflex sights will have the same issue or not. A 1-4 or other low power scope might also be better. I don't have any issues seeing the reticules of magnified optics.