bushells new red dot

[Lloyd Smale]

I see at the shot show bushnell announced a new redot. the trs 26. It has as much battery life as an aimpoint and can be left on for 7 years on one battery and is going to be priced well under 200 bucks. that should send aimpoint and even vortex scrambling to justify the cost of there products. I have a few of the trs25's and there good little rugged units and the only complaint I had with them is battery life. You have to be real careful with them to not leave them on because battery life is in days not years. I also don't like vortex redots on serious guns because they time out and can go off when you most need them. they have a new redot too. the crossfire. It stays on all the time and has a 7000 hour (slightly less then a year) battery life but costs as much as the bushnell which has over 7 times more battery life. Could be a game changer.

[Electric88]

I have seen the new Vortex red dot (and consequently ordered one). Haven't seen the new Bushnell one though. Might need to look into that one...

[Lloyd Smale]

is it the crossfire red dot you bought and what do you think of it. Ive got sparc's and strikefires and there good reliable units but like I said I hate the auto shut off. Vortex finally listened with the crossfire and got rid of the auto shut off. I just ordered something new to me too. Its the sig sauer romeo 5. It was a 180 bucks and has a movement switch. It goes into sleep mode in a couple minutes and at the lightest touch or movement it comes back on. It has aimpoint like battery life because of this feature. It doesn't sacrifice dot size like the new bushnel and vortex to save on batterys. It also uses a AAA battery instead of a coin battery which I like. I guess time will tell though how reliable it is. I have a couple aimpoints a comp 2 and comp 3. both have been dead reliable and have great battery life but to be honest my vortex's and Bushnell's have been just as reliable and now that they have addressed battery life its going to be hard to justify paying the 600 buck price of an aimpoint.

[NSB]

I had two of the trs-25 sights and they both had a lot of parallax. The newer ones after mine weren't quite as bad in that regard. Price alone is not a good reason to buy one brand vs another. Batteries are cheap also. I've owned cheaper red dots where the batteries lasted for a couple of years even when I shot a lot as long as I turned them off. Vortex has a lifetime warranty, what does the Bushnell have? In the world of red dots you kind of get what you pay for. I've owned well over a dozen over the last twenty-five or more years. Even the Burris FF2 and FF3 are a very good sight at an affordable price. Not a cheap price, but an affordable one. Guess it just depends on what you're satisfied with and what you use it for.

[Electric88]

I did order the new Crossfire red dot, but it was through Optics Planet and shows as not being able to ship for a couple weeks. I have a strikefire and I like it quite a bit, never really worried about auto shut off. It's pretty much for range fun. If I needed something that stayed on, I would definitely lay out more money for a different optic, though it sounds like with the Crossfire that isn't necessary.

I haven't heard much on the Romeo 5, but Sig Sauer usually puts out good stuff. Even though I've not had to use the Vortex warranty, I've heard from others who have that they are easy to deal with. Lifetime warranty and good customer service are pretty high in my book. Won't make up for the features of the better optics, but I'm not going into combat so I don't worry about those as much.

[NSB]

Re: Vortex Venom. It has two modes of operation. There are Auto and Manual. It WILL NOT power down in the manual mode, but it does in the Auto mode after 14 hours. In other words, you can usually hunt all day and it won't power off. In the manual mode you can control the brightness and shut it off yourself when done. It doesn't just shut off on you while you're hunting. Most people use it in Manual mode so that they can control the brightness themselves. In Auto, it's just a bit too bright for experienced users.

[Shingle]

If the TRS 25 had auto shut-off it would be the only one I would own. I have 5 two of which have suffered more abuse than I care to admit to and they still work fine. Water doesn't seem to bother them either.

[Lloyd Smale]

yup for under a 100 bucks (last one I bought new cost 50 bucks) there is no competition for them. About any other less then a 100 buck redots are imported junk. Don't know what they will ask for this new one but it doesn't even need auto shut off. battery life is 7 years left on! warrantee is only one year or redots but that said I had a 3 year old bushnell sight (copy of the fastfire) that quit holding zero. It was on a take down 10/22 and I found out later then redot wasn't defective. From the factory the barrel lock up was to loose and the barrel actually was moving. I tightened up the adjustment on the barrel and it was fine after that. So there was nothing wrong with the sight I sent into them. But first guess I had was the optic was bad so I boxed it up and sent it in and two weeks later a brand new one arrived at my door.
If the TRS 25 had auto shut-off it would be the only one I would own. I have 5 two of which have suffered more abuse than I care to admit to and they still work fine. Water doesn't seem to bother them either.

[winelover]

Bushnell "Strike Fire" didn't last 300 rounds, mounted on a BH in 45 LC, before the lens cracked. They only have a one year warranty. I picked this one up cheap, @ $69, when Natchez had a special price on them. It sat for more than a year before I got around to mounting it.

Vortex "SPARC" was on the same BH for a while. What I didn't like was the sight would turn on, in the "across the chest" holster and sometimes shut off when I laid the un-holstered across my lap, up in the tree stand. Bad location for the on/off button. IMO Another snafu, is that when the battery gets low......unit won't turn off. I called the factory about this and that's normal.:rolleyes:

Recently purchased a Sig 320 RX Compact. Comes standard with their Romeo 1 mini reflex. It's motion activated. Battery included with the factory new firearm. Installed battery, sight wouldn't turn on......bad battery.:mad: Finally, got it to work and it's pretty neat set up. However, the battery cover will loosen up after a shooting session, must be constantly checked or it will loose it's connectivity. :eek:

With optics, you get what you pay for. I'll stick with my battery less Trijicons.

Winelover

[Electric88]

Bushnell "Strike Fire" didn't last 300 rounds, mounted on a BH in 45 LC, before the lens cracked. They only have a one year warranty. I picked this one up cheap, @ $69, when Natchez had a special price on them. It sat for more than a year before I got around to mounting it.

Vortex "SPARC" was on the same BH for a while. What I didn't like was the sight would turn on, in the "across the chest" holster and sometimes shut off when I laid the un-holstered across my lap, up in the tree stand. Bad location for the on/off button. IMO Another snafu, is that when the battery gets low......unit won't turn off. I called the factory about this and that's normal.:rolleyes:

Recently purchased a Sig 320 RX Compact. Comes standard with their Romeo 1 mini reflex. It's motion activated. Battery included with the factory new firearm. Installed battery, sight wouldn't turn on......bad battery.:mad: Finally, got it to work and it's pretty neat set up. However, the battery cover will loosen up after a shooting session, must be constantly checked or it will loose it's connectivity. :eek:

With optics, you get what you pay for. I'll stick with my battery less Trijicons.

Winelover

I'm not aware of a Bushnell Strikefire. Was it a different model?

[winelover]

My bad...... it was a "First Strike"

Winelover

[Electric88]

My bad...... it was a "First Strike"

Winelover

Ah, that makes sense. I've got a Vortex Strikefire that has been awesome, but I have never seen them for $69 haha.

[Lloyd Smale]

I just ordered a sig sauer romeo 5 to try. Pretty good reviews on line for them. It has that same motion activation. Its the main reason I bought it over a vortex. but this new trs26 and the new vortex crossfire have battery life just as long and don't need to shut down.
Bushnell "Strike Fire" didn't last 300 rounds, mounted on a BH in 45 LC, before the lens cracked. They only have a one year warranty. I picked this one up cheap, @ $69, when Natchez had a special price on them. It sat for more than a year before I got around to mounting it.

Vortex "SPARC" was on the same BH for a while. What I didn't like was the sight would turn on, in the "across the chest" holster and sometimes shut off when I laid the un-holstered across my lap, up in the tree stand. Bad location for the on/off button. IMO Another snafu, is that when the battery gets low......unit won't turn off. I called the factory about this and that's normal.:rolleyes:

Recently purchased a Sig 320 RX Compact. Comes standard with their Romeo 1 mini reflex. It's motion activated. Battery included with the factory new firearm. Installed battery, sight wouldn't turn on......bad battery.:mad: Finally, got it to work and it's pretty neat set up. However, the battery cover will loosen up after a shooting session, must be constantly checked or it will loose it's connectivity. :eek:

With optics, you get what you pay for. I'll stick with my battery less Trijicons.

Winelover

[W.R.Buchanan]

Midway has TRS 25's on sale right now for $60 ! Best bang for your Red Dot Buck out there even at full pop.

I have 6 and almost bought another last week. None have ever moved zero, or killed their battery. Parallax has not been problem for me as all are mounted on rifles and if your cheek weld is in line with the sight the dot is round. if not it will distort.

The trick for remembering to turn off the TRS 25 is to paint a big white line on the top of the dial in line with the off position. (got that from "Nut n Fancy") That way it is easy to see if you turned it off. Also keeping an extra battery with you is a good idea. They are cheap.

Randy

With a 7 year battery life it would be even better. will wait for the TRS26 to come out and see what it costs.

[M-Tecs]

Was going to order some more TRES 25's but will wait for the TRS 26.

[Electric88]

Got the Vortex crossfire in the mail a couple days ago. Haven’t had a chance to test it at the range, but it is a solid little red dot. I can honestly say I like it way more than my strikefire. I’m looking forward to putting rounds down range with it soon.

[Lloyd Smale]

Got the Vortex crossfire in the mail a couple days ago. Haven’t had a chance to test it at the range, but it is a solid little red dot. I can honestly say I like it way more than my strikefire. I’m looking forward to putting rounds down range with it soon.

I'm in the process of putting together an ar15 9mm pistol. I think ill give the crossfire a try. I like this sig redot a lot but that crossfire lasts as long on a battery and is 75 bucks cheaper. Now if they would just make it in a aaa battery model like they did with a the sparc AR. Even so I have enough red dots and lit scopes around that take that same coin battery and allways have a half a dozen around. Only problem with the is they usually sit unused so long I don't trust them and toss them and by new. AAA batterys have enough uses I allways have fresh ones around.

[Finster101]

I sure did not see them at Midway for $60.00.

[Ben]

I found this at Midway and like you say, it isn't $60 ? ? ?

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/593456/bushnell-trophy-trs-25-red-dot-sight-1x-25mm-3-moa-dot-with-integral-weaver-style-mount-matte

Would be nice is someone could provide a link to the $60 version.

[Lloyd Smale]

this auction is over but at the bottom theres quite a few choices https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bushnell-731309-1x25-TRS-25-Red-Dot-Sight-Realtree-APG-Camo/122542242562?epid=166777737&hash=item1c88163b02:g:4YkAAOSwPWRZPCvO

[W.R.Buchanan]

They are in the new mailer that just came out. Sale started 1/25 and ends 2/28.

Sorry you guys can't find it, but it is there. Maybe out of stock?

I suggest looking harder.

Randy

[silhouette_shooter]

I have an Ultra Dot Match Dot II, it's been on a 22 LR target pistol for at least 3 years. Super reliable as long you remember to power down when you leave the range. I keep a spare battery on hand but so far haven't needed it. I treat the on/off knob like it's a loaded weapon, that way, I never forget about it.

[Lloyd Smale]

I guess the 25 costing 60 bucks is a good optic for a tight budget. the 26 price point is suppose to be right there 150-200 street price. I may seem petty but its a BUSHNELL and if I have a 150 bucks to spend on an optic for one of my ars I don't want bushel or tasco wrote on it. Id much rather go vortex or sig that's just as good.
Was going to order some more TRES 25's but will wait for the TRS 26.

[John Boy]

Midway has TRS 25's on sale right now for $60
Amazon has the TRS 25 for $49.99
* It is rated 98% in the 2018 Scope Reviews
No sure of any other differences between the 25 and 26 except the 25 is a 3 MOA dot and the 26 is a 3 MOA also
And as for battery life - a sleeve of batteries are cheap

[W.R.Buchanan]

Lloyd: those TRS 25's are way better than their price point would indicate. The reviews on everybody's websites are excellent, usually 4.8+ stars. I have 6 of them and everyone has performed perfectly for years. Best bang for your Red Dot buck out there.

For anything less that full on Combat they are more than adequate, and if that's all I had to goto war with, I wouldn't worry about it letting me down. I have one on all my Carbines my S2K and my 10-22. I have not had to rezero any of them unless I removed them from the gun.

As far as keeping the batteries in tact, you've got to shut them off when you are done shooting. I put a big White Mark on the dial on mine so I can easily see if it is on or off. Got that Idea from Nut-n Fancy.

Randy

[Hamish]

The only thing I would like on the TRS-25 would be the ability to install flip covers, but other than that, they are outstanding!

[Lloyd Smale]

I wont argue that. Ive got some on guns myself and haven't had an iota of problems with them other then forgetting to shut them off. I did what you said (I think at your recommendation) and put bold white paint on the off position that reminds me to turn them off. they are a great sight for a range gun or a gun your shooting in competition without breaking the bank. But in my house they don't get put on serious home defense guns. I don't want to get up in the middle of the night confused and half awake with an intruder in the house and try to turn on an optic in the pick dark of my bedroom.

With an aimpoint, sig romeo or this new bushnell a guy can just leave them on and check the batterys every 3 years or even longer. I know my old comp 2 aimpoint which was suppose to have a one year battery life has more like 3 years of battery life and even at that point all your really have to do is kick up the reostate one notch and its good to go again. The new vortex crossfire might fit in that category too as its suppose to be able to be left on for about 11 months on low settings.

Yes you can have a sleave of coin batterys. But if there lasting you more then a couple years there not going to be fresh batterys any more. then there is the prepper thing, end of the world silliness that says that if shtf batterys are going to be hot commodity's. AAA batterys are going to be much easier to find then coin batterys and a guy can even get rechargeable aaa's and a small solar panel. I was laughing at myself a couple years back. I decided to do battery replacement on all of my scopes, dots, rangefinders, flashlights and other battery things that I would want if something did happen and found id have to stock over a 1/2 dozen different batterys and some that you don't find at every convenience store. A lot of these tools would be about useless after a short time or even about immediately if someone left them on by mistake.

All that said I do realize that some (including me) cant buy aimpoints and acogs for every gun in the house and its also hard to justify a 500 dollar sight on a 300 dollar 22 that uses for rolling beer cans at the range. I really like this new sig sauer Its in the same price range as vortex strikefires and spacs and has just as good ratings on line and much better battery life. I paid 200 bucks for it but they have a cheaper model for 150 that uses coin batterys instead of aaa. But that is even about exceptable to me when your talking a 5 year battery life. even if shtf happened in the next couple year I doubt many of us old timers would have to be to conserned about 5 years from now and ALL my ars have flip up opens on them anyway so I guess I could get by with them. One question for you W.R. what the heck is that gun in your picture. it looks like an AR with a shotgun stock on it????
Lloyd: those TRS 25's are way better than their price point would indicate. The reviews on everybody's websites are excellent, usually 4.8+ stars. I have 6 of them and everyone has performed perfectly for years. Best bang for your Red Dot buck out there.

For anything less that full on Combat they are more than adequate, and if that's all I had to goto war with, I wouldn't worry about it letting me down. I have one on all my Carbines my S2K and my 10-22. I have not had to rezero any of them unless I removed them from the gun.

As far as keeping the batteries in tact, you've got to shut them off when you are done shooting. I put a big White Mark on the dial on mine so I can easily see if it is on or off. Got that Idea from Nut-n Fancy.

Randy

[TXGunNut]

I'm pretty fussy about my optics, lots of failed or questionable scopes on my "take-off" shelf and almost exclusively VX-3's on my serious hunting rifles these days. When I was looking for a spotting scope awhile back a Bushnell came out on top for my purposes and well under budget. When I wanted to play with a red dot I listened to Randy and bought the TRS-25. Then I bought another for my MSR/house rifle. I'm not a big fan of red-dots but this one works for my purposes. Good electronics don't have to be expensive to work.

[NineInchNails]

Amazon for $49.31 with Prime (https://www.amazon.com/Bushnell-Trophy-TRS-25-Sight-Riflescope/dp/B00200E0HM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519154571&sr=8-1&keywords=bushnell+trs25&dpID=51DWykemi-L&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch), but this one does not come with an AR-15 riser though they list one that comes with a riser for $71.99

[DDriller]

I just ordered a sig sauer romeo 5 to try. Pretty good reviews on line for them. It has that same motion activation. Its the main reason I bought it over a vortex. but this new trs26 and the new vortex crossfire have battery life just as long and don't need to shut down.
I got one of the SIG Romeos
a couple of weeks ago. Haven't used it yet but playing around with it think I'll order another one.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Lloyd: that is my Fight Lite SCR and it is AR from the mag well forward and Rem 1100 from there back. The recoil spring is in the pistol grip and the Bolt Carrier is cutoff right behind the Firing Pin Retaining Pin. There is a hinged strut that pivots on the Retaining Pin called a Rat Tail and that's how the gun cycles.

It uses any AR upper.

It is considered a "Featureless Rifle" here in CA and so it comes under the same heading as a Mini 14 or KT SU16.

It is by far my favorite Carbine and runs and shoots great. Points like a shotgun.

Here's some more pics or you can go to the website. https://fightlite.com/collections/scr-rifles

Brownell's has the Lowers complete with Bolt Carrier. for about $525. I used a PSA 16" Dissipator upper for mine and am trying to find out when they will have 24" uppers back in stock for my Long Range gun.

After shooting one you won't want your AR any more.

I would like not having to shut the sight off everytime I get done. If you have to grab and go having a Red Dot that was ready for action would be a plus.

I put a Tritium Front Sight on my HD Shotgun for just that reason. It's always on.

Randy

[Finster101]

Be careful on Amazon. Some of those are counterfeits . Don't ask me how I know.

[Lloyd Smale]

Ya I'm pretty impressed with mine too. I just got a glock lower to build an ar15 9mm handgun on. Right now another sig is at the top of my list to put on that one too. I find nothing in the 200 dollar range that compares to the features on the romeo 5. I'm also considering the new crossfire vortex but battery life is like 10 months instead of 5 years left on and the price is about the same if you compare the coil battery models. the sparcAR with AAA batterys compares to a my romeo 5 with AAA's but the difference in battery life is greater between those two models and the vortex times out if left on. I know that isn't a big deal to most but who wants to throw up there gun and and find out the sight has turned itself off. Id even put up with putting new AAA's in it every 3 or 4 months if you cold leave it on. the new bushel is still the unknown competitor. Only thing ive noticed is in the pictures ive seen of it its quite a bit bigger then the sparc or romeo and the original trs25
I got one of the SIG Romeos
a couple of weeks ago. Haven't used it yet but playing around with it think I'll order another one.

[Lloyd Smale]

seems like a cool setup to skirt the stupid CA laws. Now if you could only put a real magazine in it. I doubt id buy one especially with a lower that costs 3 times more then an ar15 and a stock that wont collapse but it sure looks better then those BUT UGLY thumbhole stock CA guns use. I thought you couldn't use a removable mag and had to top load? Is this model exempt from that stupidity?
Lloyd: that is my Fight Lite SCR and it is AR from the mag well forward and Rem 1100 from there back. The recoil spring is in the pistol grip and the Bolt Carrier is cutoff right behind the Firing Pin Retaining Pin. There is a hinged strut that pivots on the Retaining Pin called a Rat Tail and that's how the gun cycles.

It uses any AR upper.

It is considered a "Featureless Rifle" here in CA and so it comes under the same heading as a Mini 14 or KT SU16.

It is by far my favorite Carbine and runs and shoots great. Points like a shotgun.

Here's some more pics or you can go to the website. https://fightlite.com/collections/scr-rifles

Brownell's has the Lowers complete with Bolt Carrier. for about $525. I used a PSA 16" Dissipator upper for mine and am trying to find out when they will have 24" uppers back in stock for my Long Range gun.

After shooting one you won't want your AR any more.

I would like not having to shut the sight off everytime I get done. If you have to grab and go having a Red Dot that was ready for action would be a plus.

I put a Tritium Front Sight on my HD Shotgun for just that reason. It's always on.

Randy

[Lloyd Smale]

Yup I bought one marked Bushnell that had the rheostat square on the side at 9 oclock not angled at 2 oclock like the rest I have. Ive allways wondered if it was a counterfeit unit.
Be careful on Amazon. Some of those are counterfeits . Don't ask me how I know.