Holosun HS403C - Micro solar powered sight

So, I was looking for a good optic for my Glock 17 SBR setup, and decided to try something different:
http://www.holosun.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=77

The Holosun HS403A (auto-turn-on-and-off) has gotten reasonably good reviews on ARFCOM and the like, so I was curious to see how their new solar-powered version performed. Something with SRS-like capability in a Micro form factor sounded very good to me. Price was $250, with free shipping.

First: build quality is real good. Buttons feel nice and clicky, finish is excellent, and the glass is very clear. (Note: I own an ACOG, an Eotech, and an Aimpoint, so I am passingly acquainted with good glass.) Even came with a bikini cover, which was a nice touch. I don't know how durable it is for the long term, but it seems promising off the bat.

Second: the solar power feature worked as expected. You can't be in the shadows, but even a room with a moderate light source will work. I took it out into a dark overcast day, and the dot was lit up really well.

I had to swap mounts (comes with "low" and "1/3" mounts, not Aimpoint-mount compatible), so I took the opportunity to pop the battery out to see how the sight would perform without it. Just as advertised, the sight worked fine without the battery.

Obviously, the dot also works fine in battery power mode. Battery mode supposedly has 50k hours of battery life. It goes very bright at the upper end (with some tube glare, alas), and they start you with a good default brightness level. Powering it off is just hitting the two brightness adjustment buttons simultaneously, much like other reflex sights.

Key difference between this power system and the SRS' power system: the SRS uses battery and solar simultaneously, whereas the HS403C uses them separately (you're in one mode or the other). The SRS is therefore a lot more resilient when you're running from light-to-dark-to-light - the dot doesn't change at all. OTOH, if your SRS battery dies, you're screwed completely. I don't think one is better than the other, per se.

I was able to get co-witness with my Troy Micros using the low mount and a half inch YHM riser. Haven't had a chance to take it to the range yet, maybe next week. Pictures after Shabbos when I can get my wife to dig out the camera.

Very interesting red dot! I've been looking at their HS407 for my Glock SBR. Please come back and let us know what you think after a few outings with it.

-Jim

Alright, some pictures. Here's the dot attached to my Glock 17 SBR. How fetching! BUIS are Troy Micros, as stated before. Riser is a YHM half inch riser. Co-witness appears to be absolute, or close enough.





The box is a bit of a cut and paste job - literally:


One of my big complaints about many optics, especially cheaper ones, is the use of "coin turn" turrets. These drive me insane, mostly because I never seem to have the right tool/coin on me. Holosun did a very clever thing here, and made the cap itself become the tool. You can see the indentation on the second photo. Clicks were not audible, but they're not too hard to feel if you're paying attention.


The instruction manual is a weird blend of surprisingly useful information and terrible English. I'm going to contact them to see if I can't edit their manual into something approaching readable.

Going to try to do some durability testing early this week. Note that 9mm is not the hardest-kicking caliber out there, but this is also a very light gun... I expect a lot of force to be transferred into the optic anyways.

It looks really good on top of the KPOS! Can you see any difference in the coating vs. anodized aluminum? The PEO layer should be exceptionally hard (PEO turns the outside layer to carbide), I wonder how good it actually is.

It is conceivable that you'll never change the battery. Given that it works in moderate shade, and the 50000 hour battery life, you need to use it at a dark range or at night for decades. In thinking about the mode comparison between the SRS and the Holosun, I'd prefer the Holosun. If you will be transitioning between light and dark, just turn it on. Transition problem solved. I'm really liking this thing.

-Jim

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Kingjamez said:

It looks really good on top of the KPOS! Can you see any difference in the coating vs. anodized aluminum?

Click to expand...

Not really. It's at least as good as a high-quality anodizing job. Ask me again after a range day.

It is conceivable that you'll never change the battery. Given that it works in moderate shade, and the 50000 hour battery life, you need to use it at a dark range or at night for decades.

Click to expand...

The manual claims that the battery life should be greater than the device life. I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.

In thinking about the mode comparison between the SRS and the Holosun, I'd prefer the Holosun. If you will be transitioning between light and dark, just turn it on. Transition problem solved. I'm really liking this thing.

Click to expand...

The SRS is also heavy and huge. It's just not a good choice for an application like my KPOS setup. And, frankly, I just couldn't see spending double the money on an H-1... the value proposition is just not there for me for this gun.

(I am also growing increasingly suspicious of Internet fanboyism towards Aimpoint/Triji/Eotech, as it seems to be based off the state of the art of 10 years ago, not today. I keep seeing impressive torture tests on other stuff, far in excess of any punishment I'd ever dole out on an optic.)

I'm getting together parts for a lightweight AR build and this might just make the short list... Keep us updated.

erwos said:

The manual claims that the battery life should be greater than the device life. I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Click to expand...

Very interesting. Marshall at primary arms said that they put in the 8 hour shut-off in order be able to offer a lifetime warrantee. A lot of folks wanted to keep the dot on all the time like you would with an aimpoint. Apparently, the LED isn't able to be on for very long times without degrading. I think this would only affect the solar model if for some reason this was on a "truck gun" and the solar panel got more than 8 hours of light per day.

-Jim

That's a fascinating question about whether the solar powered bit ever auto-shuts-off. I haven't seen any documentation to suggest it would. My gut feeling is that it wouldn't work well by moonlight, so it'd still be off for 8 hours a day (or however long you tossed it in your safe).

One other thing: keep in mind that Holosun is offering a lifetime warranty, whereas Aimpoint is five years. I'm not necessarily convinced that the Holosun LED is all that much worse than the Aimpoint LED. For all I know, Aimpoint figures that if you burn out their LED after leaving it on for more than five years, it's just not their warranty problem. When you hand out a lifetime warranty, you have to approach it a little differently. For all the talk about how durable Aimpoints are, it's not too hard to find dead 5-10yr old ones. Keep in mind that the Micro T-1 was launched in 2007 - you don't see a lot of them failing because most of them are relatively new.

For a home defense gun, I'd really recommend the HS403A, which has a shake-auto-on sensor.

Took it out this evening, and it performed with distinction. No problems getting it zeroed, either. Keep in mind that the KPOS is not quite rock solid stable, so I did have a slight bit of stringing. Nothing major.

The solar stuff needs a direct light source to work - ambient light isn't enough. Had to switch to battery power since my covered position wasn't getting sun. (OTOH, shade!)

So, I wanted to post an update to this review.

I requested an RMA of the HS403C due to the well-known "offset picture" issue that plagues some of the earlier Holosun sights. They made it known they were fixing them in the next production run, and that they'd replace any that bothered people. My dad was having some issues with it (I have no idea why - I ignored it easily), so I went in for the RMA.

I've finally gotten back my sight, and WOW, generation 2 of this optic is something else. They fixed every damn problem I could think of:
1. Mount screws are loc-tited now.
2. Aimpoint Micro mount compatibility!
3. Super-easy to change battery compartment (2032) that doesn't require removing the optic from the mount.
4. ALWAYS ON. Switches from solar to battery automagically.
5. Lifetime warranty appears to be far more expansive.
6. Offset problem is gone, or at least no worse than any other optic.

I still need to take it out to zero it and give it a bit of a recoil test, but I am optimistic that this optic is going to go the distance. Holosun clearly is listening to their users, and this new gen HS403C is excellent.

Erwos, thanks for the multiple updates on your evaluation of the Holosun. What's the view through the reticle? I see a text description of a 2 MOA red dot. Is there a circle around the dot option, for sizing at a distance, similar to an EOTech?

No circle, it's just a 2MOA dot. They have a separate line of optics that are apparently going to implement the circle-dot functionality, but those are in the future.

Incidentally, the clicks on the turrets seemed much better, too. It also runs without the battery on solar-only mode, as the previous generation did. IMHO, the solar feature now has no downside.

Merci beaucoup.

Everything else that you've described about the red dot, given its price point, is very appealing.