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Can someone explain the difference between the cheap red dots and the top end ones?
I'm presuming build quality will be better on the top end ones but what else as there is a massive difference in prices?
When I get the AR I was mulling over putting a red dot on so what would be an ideal sight for shooting mainly 25 -50 yards?

Thats when I actually find someone whos got an AR to sell

Having used cheap red dots... and even cheaper red dots(!) the main differences i've seen are the clarity of the dot, and whether they're parallax free.

The really cheap ones have a fuzzy dot, and when turned up to max (shooting on a sunny day) the dot become very indistinct. (thats if you can even see the dot on a sunny day, even when turned up full...)

The medium range (£50-100) sights do have a more distinct dot, and tend to be parallax free, so slight movement of your head doesn't move the dot on the target.

I find the tube ones are better if you're mainly shooting outside as the ones with the upright "screen" can get washed out in the sun, but you can lose some periferal vision.

And don't be temped by the cheap Eotech copies on amazon and the bay.... I speak from experience when i say they're a load of carp...

HTH

Daryll.

Thanks for that Daryll.
At what sort of money do the parralax free ones start at? I can imagine this is going to be the bottom line price wise and then compare from there on.

Just buy a second hand vortex sparc or similar, best value for money IMHO.

These cheap scopes from eBay are a false economy and don't always stand up to firearms use, lose zero and all that funny stuff you can't put your finger on and think you shoot like a bag of nails.

Like has already been pointed out above, you'll get parallax issues as well as bleed in the dot. Yes, tried one which for the money was ok ish £40 micro reflex. Have owned, trijicon ms04, vortex venom but now use a Vortex razor which is the best I've come across so far.

Having bought and owned most of the red dots out there, a few observations from my perspective.

Dot size is important, depending on the type of shooting you intend to do with it. 2 MOA seems to be about average, but remember that will cover roughly a 2" area at 100 yards. Closer its less of an issue, further out its more of an issue. You need to give some specific consideration to your application, 4 MOA or 1 MOA will make a big difference according to how you plan to use it.

Dot brightness is definitely a big area of concern. Indoor use tends to be fine, but I've had several red dot sights that were completely unusable outdoors in anything like good light. This is especially true of the cheaper end of the market.

Parallax issues can again be an area for concern, again especially for the cheaper sights and this will be exacerbated the further away your target is.

I really like red dot sights, for rapid target acquisition, speed shooting type events, and have even used them for woodland stalking, but remember that the lack of magnification does not lend itself to precision shooting applications.

As above plus optical clarity (cheaper sights usually have a green tinge to them), battery life (cheap sights normally burn batteries quicker), battery saving features (cheaper sights don't have things like auto-off/auto-dimming etc), recoil resistance (some cheap sights drop to pieces/just stop working if you used them on anything more powerful than a .22) and temperature resistance (cold weather can shut cheaper sights down).

There seems to be a plateau though of £2-300 in my experience and above that you're usually just paying for a name.

If you can rush to it the red dot on the Elcan Spectre DR is superb. Best of both worlds and works well simply for shot placement against a dark target as well.

Slight blind spots but if that is a worry engaging targets then you are in the wrong game.

Although you cannot really set windage, the Canadians use a technique of setting elevation dead centre so only have to allow for windage.

Excellent glass, robust, love mine to bits.

I assume your AR will be in 22lr & therefore mainly for gentle range shooting ?
If it is the case, Vortex Spark is cheap but should serve you well for shooting up to 50 yards. Mine gave me satisfaction on my M92 7,62x39 for that sort pf distances and it did take a bit of bashing around a little I think you can even screw a magnifier onto it, but I have not tried that.

Burris fastfire 3.

Cheap but well made.

Has stood up well to the recoil on my Vepr 12.

Easy, Eotech or Aimpoint with a x3 flip to side magnifier for those long shots.

You're getting a decent AR so put proper optics on it.