Red dot sights

[Sacco583]

What makes a good red dot sight?

I've been looking at the Trijicon (is that how it's spelled?) red dot sight. They seem very popular. But are they good? I'm new to the world of red dot and don't know much. I've only used one once and it seemed easy enough. Kinda fun. However, The glass was tinted. Are they all like that. It seemed to me that in the middle of the day someone could stand in the shade of a tree wearing anything but blinking christmas lights and be hard to see. Maybe that's an exageration. The guy trying to sell it to me said there was no problem and didn't know what I was bitching about. I wear contacts and thus struggle with a little loss of vision in low light conditions - night blindness. Maybe the problem is my eyes and the tinted glass actually aids somehow. Why would it be there if it was an impediment, right?

 

[krept]

Not sure. Perhaps the tint is the result of the lens coating process?

 

[PatrickS]

It's a necessary evil

I too wear contacts, and would prefer if the dot sites could be completely clear, but the way I understand it, the lens has to have a special reflective coating put on the back side to reflect the dot. The dot is beamed forward from the rear of the site and then reflects off the lens and back to your eye. If you go to http://www.bullseyepistol.com/ and scroll down to "Facts about Dot Sights", there's some good diagrams and info.

Patrick