Red Dot Sights

It doesn't have to be a dot to be a "red dot"

Dot sights are popular for AR’s. Dot sights are easy to use at medium and short ranges and they  eliminate the need for precise sight alignment at medium and short ranges. Iron sights and scopes require that you precisely align the sight line. Dot sights do not require this while providing acceptable accuracy.

Dot sights are often called “red dot sights”. You will also hear them simply referred to as “red dots” just as telescopic sights are referred to as “scopes.” They are called red dots because the most common reticle in this family of sights is a simple red dot. See the image above. That reticle is from a Vortex Strikefire Red Dot sight[1]. The dots can be red, green, or other colors like orange. No matter the color – it’s a red dot sight.

Dot sights use one of three technologies. Those sight technologies are reflex sights, prismatic sights, and holographic sights. The reticle or aiming image may be a dot or it may be a more complex reticle. Some sights allow you to choose the reticle.

A reflex sight is a telescopic sight that uses an LED (light-emitting diode) to project the dot or reticle onto a lens that the shooter looks through to the target.