
Ultradot Match 30mm Red Dot Sight
I've been shooting this red dot sight both days now that I had this gun for two weeks. I have found that the image of the dot in the sight is flawed, unclear and there are reflections and imperfections in the dot.
I have been using this dot at the lowest setting of 1 on the rheostat turret at the smallest dot size.
Dot Problems
The dot in the sight is not perfectly round since it has lines of aberration directly below the dot and also to the right side of it. The lines make it difficult to determine the center of the dot when focusing away at distance. Sometimes the dot splits in half on some shots creating a half-moon and I have even noticed that it split three-ways every so often. Very rarely is the dot a perfect circle.
Brightness Problems
The brightness of the dot at the lowest setting of 1 on the rheostat is also a problem because the dot is so bright that it blocks out the image of the target behind it and the strength of the dot creates a little star-burst effect blocking and warping the image of the target around the dot itself.
In the other red dot sights that I have, like the Millett 4 MOA dot and others that I have seen, the rheostat functions correctly and at the lowest setting the dot is only barely visible allowing you to see the image of the target behind the weak dot. The other scopes allow you to change the brightness to a setting of 3-5 to give you a nice dot indoors without any aberrations or star-burst effects. This sight is just too bright at the lowest setting not allowing you to go any lower.
Smallest Dot Size Is Not 2 MOA
The smallest dot size on this sight that is listed as 2 MOA is not actually that size. My Millet 4 MOA sight is the exact same dot size as the 2 MOA dot on this sight. Additionally my friend's
Aimpoint CompC3 2 MOA sight that is listed as 2 MOA is
half the size of the smallest dot on this sight. It appears to me that the 2 MOA size is only a marketing embellishment to make this sight "Match" name worthy.
The design of this Ultradot Match sight is almost identical to the
Millett Multidot that it is likely that both were made by the same OEM in the same factory and just branded differently when being resold in the states. Even the little ornamental wing around the rheostat knob is the same. The Millett Multidot was listed with 3 MOA smallest dot and the Ultradot with 2 MOA dot.
The main and only reason why I decided to buy these Ultradot Match sights is because I wanted the smaller 2 MOA dot. I am unsatisfied with my current Millett 4 MOA dot size because it is too big and was covering too much of the center of the bullseye making me guestimate the center of the dot to align with the center of the bullseye.
So the main reason for me to get this sight turns out to be not true.
Eliminating Causes
Battery Power Not A Cause
At first I thought that the battery that came with the sight was too strong and was sending too much juice into the laser LED that was causing too much light and optical dot aberrations caused by reflections in the tube. However, I changed the brand new battery for a very old and used one and there was no change in the intensity of the dot nor did the dot image problems lessen or disappear.
The new CR2032 battery was 3.17 V and the very old battery that I got from a friend at the range was only 3.01 V. I had a fairly old battery also in my Millett red dot slight at 3.08 V that tried but no difference.
Shooting Safetly Glasses Not The Cause
I thought that there was some interference with my shooting glasses and I tried shooting the gun with different glasses and even a few test shots without any glasses but the same problem persists.
My Eyesight Not The Cause
I had other folks shoot this gun with this sight at the exact same settings and they have all commented about how they don't like this red dot sight. They all see the dot unclearly so it seems that my eyes are not the cause of the problem.
Second Sight On Revolver Same Problem
The second sight that I bought at the same time as this one that I put on the revolver has the same problem. This could be a manufacturing problem with this lot of sights that were produced or it could be an issue affecting all the sights, but since I don't have any other sights to compare I can't tell.
Return Imminent
After dealing with this sight for the past two weeks I am going to contact Larry's Guns about them to arrange a return and refund for them because these sights are not good and the advertised 2 MOA dot is not true.
My guess as to the real cause of this problem is that the rheostat is putting out too much juice to the LED making the dot too bright and the brightness is causing the image to refract on reflection from the surface on the inner optic or that the LED is just too strong in the first place no matter the voltage it receives.