Varizone vs. Red Dot

[Deer Dave]

Someone recently told me that the Varizone scope by Excal has poor light gathering during early mornings or late evenings....meaning that it is difficult to see the fine crosshairs and especially the 30-40 yard ones....that they sort of blend into the gray light.

I was told that the red dot scope was much better in low light conditions. And it offers a brighter field of view. Is this true?

Thanks, Dave

[Partikle]

Wrong. With my varizone scope I can shoot in much less light then my buddy with the pin sites. As for the red dot, I find if anything, the red dot is all you can see in low light and it's hard to see anything else in the tube.

[Ben S.]

I shoot a Red Dot (Bushnell). I zero mine in at 20yds. The reason is because if I miss judge the distance my bolt will tend to be a little low which would still be a heart shot. For example, if I shoot at a deer that I think is 20 yds but is really 25 yds my bolt will hit a little low. If it is really 15yds it will still be pretty close to the mark. If i'm sighted in at 25yds. that 15ys shot is going to hit high and possibly miss the vitals. Since all my shots are for the most part are from 10-30 yds I think it's best to sight in between the 2 extremes which is 20 yds. It leaves a little room for error on distance judgement. That's what works for me anyway.

[Ben S.]

Sorry that was the wrong post .

[Ben S.]

My red dot has a brightness adjustment for low light conditions ( the dot can get really dim if I want it to). but Partikle is right. The varizone is much easier to see through in low light conditions.

[terry-1]

I use a eotech halo sight most of the time which works well in all legal shooting light conditions. I do also agree a "good scope will tend to help you right at dusk see more detail. I have a leupold 2x shotgun scope which I use sometimes mounted with QR rings so I can switch back and forth from the leupold to eotech sight no resighting needed. Both scopes and red dots have pluses and minus depending on your use nothing is perfect.

[wabi]

I used a Vari-Zone for the past few years and it does very good in low-light conditions. (at least in legal hunting hours ) I'm usually reluctant to shoot one late in the day, so evenings aren't much of a concern anyway, and most of my hunts are evening hunts because of my scheduling. That being said...... I did switch to a red-dot this year. I found a 2X magnification red-dot with a 4 minute dot and decided to try it because I have missed a couple deer because in the excitement of the hunt I used the wrong yardage mark in the Vari-Zone. Terry has me thinking strongly about a holo-sight as he showed me a pic through the sight on the target, and it's awesome! The red referance circle actually appears to be on the target, not in the sight! I sighted in with a 25 yard zero, so any shot out to 30 yards should easily be in the kill zone even if I forget to hold over/under, and if the red-dot proves to be good for deer hunting I will probably own a holo-sight before next season.

[terry-1]

Here is that picture of the halo sight in action Wabi. And yes, I agree on the one pin or dot theory. I sight in at 20-25 and its a touch high at 10 yards and just a touch low around 30 which is as far as I shoot on game around here myself. I aim center lungs behind the shoulder. Takes alot of guess work out of aiming something I don't to need to think about when a nice buck is standing in front of me. I use to shoot a single pin on my compound bow also.

[GaryL]

Man that sure looks super, I think I will play follow the leader and like wabi might have one by the next season if not sooner....

[TNhunterKMC]

I'm not sure how the Varizone is compared to other optics (scopes and red dots) but I can tell you one thing for a fact - my Leica LRF 900 range finder is quite a bit brighter in the low light conditions of the last part of the day and the that of first light. I've always used a single pin on my Mathews MQ1 for the reasons stated above. I'm seriously debating on going to a red dot as for this reason. If I do - I'm going to put a Tacpoint (knock-off Aimpoint) on it.

[TNhunterKMC]

Speaking of red dot scopes - that Tacpoint uses a single ring for attachment - hence only a single weaver style slot base is needed. Has anyone found a single weaver style base that will fit the rear peep sight hole pattern so it can be used for this type mount without having to use the Excalibur scope base?

[wabi]

Speaking of red dot scopes - that Tacpoint uses a single ring for attachment - hence only a single weaver style slot base is needed. Has anyone found a single weaver style base that will fit the rear peep sight hole pattern so it can be used for this type mount without having to use the Excalibur scope base?

I made one from a weaver base blank for a peep sight. Very simple to make, any good gunsmith could handle the job easily.

[pntfrmr]

One thing about red dots is you MUST shoot with both eyes open. Also they are very good in incliment weather as you don't have too see thru the site to be able to hit the target. In fact the first red dot sites you could not see thru, you saw the target with the off eye and the dot inside a closed tube with the other eye. Just a little tidbit for those that may not have known. Good hunting and yall have a good day.

[Boltshooter]

I ordered an Ultradot red dot for my exomax last week, it should arrive soon. (I will give a product report when it does. ) 30mm, $129, includes mounting rings and polarizing filter for bright days, lifetime warranty, MADE IN JAPAN. It seems to be about the best deal for the money from what I can see. (I could be wrong of course.) However, I have heard that some red dots have problems with parallax; if they are not aligned with the eye correctly, the point of impact changes. Not sure how big of a problem this will be.