Just like the title says: how have your thoughts about optics changed over time?
I personally followed that stereotypical journey of people who get into shooting as carbine/pistol shooters:
1. Got into shooting, bought some cheapo trash Chinese optics because I didn't know better. (Hey, they put a dot up and didn't die under recoil!)
2. Became a good enough shooter where I realized they sucked; one was so awful that I threw it in the trash because I felt I couldn't ethically sell it to someone.
3. Spent a few years with Primary Arms optics. They got the job done. Some drama with the mediocre mounts the reflex sights come with, but did some decent work with them, especially the prism sights.
4. Bought my first quality optics: a used Aimpoint (CS), ACOG (TA01NSN), and a new Mepro (Tru-Dot RDS); discovered that quality optics make a real difference.
5. Stopped buying cheap optics. Started slowly upgrading my "serious" rifles to at least mid-range optics. Lots of used and discounted stuff purchased.
6. Got into dot pistols; the RMR and I became friends.
7. Started shooting precision bolt guns and splurged on a couple of Tango6 scopes; finally started understanding how all those high-end $2000+ MSRP scopes are worthwhile, and why some reticles are better for certain things than others for certain use cases and platforms. Discovered some earlier purchases of some good scopes were not necessarily appropriate for how I wanted to use them.
8. Became a low-level optics snob; I'll graduate to high-level when I start buying S&B scopes.
Further notes:
1. Chinese and Filipino optics have gotten MUCH better than when I started shooting more than a decade ago. I'm still trying to avoid them, especially the low-end Chinese and Filipino stuff, but there are certain niche use cases where they are simply the best fit for the money.
2. I have not changed my opinion about BDC being a good thing for rifles that are going to be used when dialing is not an option; I am, however, a lot more careful about running those reticles through Strelok Pro with my loads to assess fit.
3. I used to be somewhat down on magnifier + reflex sight setups. I still think LPVOs are better overall, but I like having magnifier setups more for carbine classes, where you're not shooting far and access to a straight reflex sight for weird positions can be helpful.
4. I also used to hate SFP; I've changed my mind slightly with regards to the Mark5HD and Whiskey5 fiber optic LPVOs, which are just stupidly fast to shoot with. Still wouldn't choose SFP for anything with a top-end magnification > 6x, though... fixed, FFP, or DFP, every time.
I personally followed that stereotypical journey of people who get into shooting as carbine/pistol shooters:
1. Got into shooting, bought some cheapo trash Chinese optics because I didn't know better. (Hey, they put a dot up and didn't die under recoil!)
2. Became a good enough shooter where I realized they sucked; one was so awful that I threw it in the trash because I felt I couldn't ethically sell it to someone.
3. Spent a few years with Primary Arms optics. They got the job done. Some drama with the mediocre mounts the reflex sights come with, but did some decent work with them, especially the prism sights.
4. Bought my first quality optics: a used Aimpoint (CS), ACOG (TA01NSN), and a new Mepro (Tru-Dot RDS); discovered that quality optics make a real difference.
5. Stopped buying cheap optics. Started slowly upgrading my "serious" rifles to at least mid-range optics. Lots of used and discounted stuff purchased.
6. Got into dot pistols; the RMR and I became friends.
7. Started shooting precision bolt guns and splurged on a couple of Tango6 scopes; finally started understanding how all those high-end $2000+ MSRP scopes are worthwhile, and why some reticles are better for certain things than others for certain use cases and platforms. Discovered some earlier purchases of some good scopes were not necessarily appropriate for how I wanted to use them.
8. Became a low-level optics snob; I'll graduate to high-level when I start buying S&B scopes.
Further notes:
1. Chinese and Filipino optics have gotten MUCH better than when I started shooting more than a decade ago. I'm still trying to avoid them, especially the low-end Chinese and Filipino stuff, but there are certain niche use cases where they are simply the best fit for the money.
2. I have not changed my opinion about BDC being a good thing for rifles that are going to be used when dialing is not an option; I am, however, a lot more careful about running those reticles through Strelok Pro with my loads to assess fit.
3. I used to be somewhat down on magnifier + reflex sight setups. I still think LPVOs are better overall, but I like having magnifier setups more for carbine classes, where you're not shooting far and access to a straight reflex sight for weird positions can be helpful.
4. I also used to hate SFP; I've changed my mind slightly with regards to the Mark5HD and Whiskey5 fiber optic LPVOs, which are just stupidly fast to shoot with. Still wouldn't choose SFP for anything with a top-end magnification > 6x, though... fixed, FFP, or DFP, every time.
