Vortex Venom 3 moa Red Dot Unbox and First Impressions
I have been wanting one of these little red dots for a while and decided it was time. I debated back and forth between the Vortex Venom and the Burris FastFire III - I read what seemed like one hundred reviews, watched prices, lost a little sleep (seriously, never read a hundred or so reviews on competing products right before bed, it spins the head like a top). After much internal debate, I went with the Venom. The deciding factor was the auto off function if left unused. I paid right around $204 shipped to me.
This is my first micro dot sight and I was pleasantly pleased with first impressions. I thought I'd share for those who might be interested. The size is much smaller than I had anticipated, so hopefully someone will find value in the size comparison below. Even the box was small, and light, looking inside everything was well packaged in foam. A place for everything and everything in its place.
It was well organized and I was impressed that they included both a screwdriver and allen key. OK, I expected the allen key, the screwdriver was a bonus.
Wow the Venom is small
I plan to mount this on my Airmax pistol using the included picatinny mount and a cheap dovetail to picatinny adapter from China.
Turns out that the Airmax dovetail rail is unusually narrow so I needed to modify the adapter.
It fit great after the modification.
A quick thumbscrew adjustment later and the Vortex Venom was ready to go.
The 3moa dot is a great size. It has 10 brightness levels and auto off after 14 hours. That will save a battery or two somewhere along the way. The dot out of my good eye is crisp and round. My other eye has an astigmatism that causes all red dots to flare a little (even the UltraDot). This effect is diminished in natural light so it is really only an issue shooting indoors at night. The buttons to control brightness and on/off are small but raised and rubber finished. The entire build and controls are top notch. I like the elongated view of the hood where the dot is presented. I am not getting any light reflecting off of the sides of the hood and the dot does not get lost like it is prone to do on me with tube dot sites. It appears white in the photo below but it actually is a red dot.
There you have it. Maybe a followup another time with some time on target.
As a side note, the Airmax was my best buy of 2016. A $200 pistol should not be this good. A little ugly, yes. But it's a $200 regulated pistol that has a good trigger, good shot count and is accurate. This one now also wears a Venom.
I have been wanting one of these little red dots for a while and decided it was time. I debated back and forth between the Vortex Venom and the Burris FastFire III - I read what seemed like one hundred reviews, watched prices, lost a little sleep (seriously, never read a hundred or so reviews on competing products right before bed, it spins the head like a top). After much internal debate, I went with the Venom. The deciding factor was the auto off function if left unused. I paid right around $204 shipped to me.
This is my first micro dot sight and I was pleasantly pleased with first impressions. I thought I'd share for those who might be interested. The size is much smaller than I had anticipated, so hopefully someone will find value in the size comparison below. Even the box was small, and light, looking inside everything was well packaged in foam. A place for everything and everything in its place.
It was well organized and I was impressed that they included both a screwdriver and allen key. OK, I expected the allen key, the screwdriver was a bonus.
Wow the Venom is small
I plan to mount this on my Airmax pistol using the included picatinny mount and a cheap dovetail to picatinny adapter from China.
Turns out that the Airmax dovetail rail is unusually narrow so I needed to modify the adapter.
It fit great after the modification.
A quick thumbscrew adjustment later and the Vortex Venom was ready to go.
The 3moa dot is a great size. It has 10 brightness levels and auto off after 14 hours. That will save a battery or two somewhere along the way. The dot out of my good eye is crisp and round. My other eye has an astigmatism that causes all red dots to flare a little (even the UltraDot). This effect is diminished in natural light so it is really only an issue shooting indoors at night. The buttons to control brightness and on/off are small but raised and rubber finished. The entire build and controls are top notch. I like the elongated view of the hood where the dot is presented. I am not getting any light reflecting off of the sides of the hood and the dot does not get lost like it is prone to do on me with tube dot sites. It appears white in the photo below but it actually is a red dot.
There you have it. Maybe a followup another time with some time on target.
As a side note, the Airmax was my best buy of 2016. A $200 pistol should not be this good. A little ugly, yes. But it's a $200 regulated pistol that has a good trigger, good shot count and is accurate. This one now also wears a Venom.
