eotech xps vs. ff3

[SWAMPFOX]

turkey season is approaching fast. have a ff2 mounted on daughters 20ga. 870 and like it. wanting to hunt with my mossberg ssi-1 project gun ive been working on steadily{paint,grid to fit limbsaver,etc...}. any thoughts or experience with eotech xps sights? would get the ff3 if it was available now. leaning towards that eotech but is it worth it (money wise and performance wise)? south carolina is coming quick and would like to leave the 870s at home and run the mossy.
thanks,swamp....

[SWAMPFOX]

well.......

[sugarray]

For me it would be the XPS b/c of the reticle only.  I just love the circle with a dot over the single dot.  Cost is a big difference, XPS twice as much as the FF.

[BurrisOptics]

You can't go wrong either way. 

The Eotech sits much higher but a very good optic.

[BOFF]

I have the XPS and love it.

However, for my daughter gun, due to her being smaller, I'm wanting to put a FF on it.

I just hate to buy the FFII with the knowledge of the FF III coming out.

Kind of a dilemma as the youth season starts on March 10.

I don't own a FF yet, but your not going to go wrong with either one.

God Bless,
David B.

[jscrapmetal]

Opitcs Planet has the FFIII for 239.00.

[BOFF]

Opitcs Planet has the FFIII for 239.00.

They are taking orders for it, but don't have it in stock. 

God Bless,
David B.

[busta biggun]

Ok, I will weigh in on this if it isn't too late. Years ago, when I got my gun drilled down to a very tight choke, I decided I really needed a scope of some sort to avoid misses at close range. I put a TruGlo red dot on my gun. It worked just fine, until I ended up cracking the glass as a result of the shot impact. No biggie, it was off-season and TruGlo stepped up and replaced it. Next spring I was out on my hunting trip in the middle of nowhere and was shooting at a bird when the glass shattered again. I was done hunting. I decided to spend more money on a Nikon red dot. The glass broke on that one the first time I tried to sight it in.

So I decided I needed the most dependable, durable scope I could find. It is just too important to risk, and when it happens to you when you are out on a trip, you will vow to do everything you can to avoid this. So I looked at all of them. I took into consideration form factor, size, reticle, variability of reticle brightness, optic coverings, etc. I ended up going with the Eotech XPS.

This is (the only, I believe) a holographic sight. That means you will not have a colored coating on the target end of your scope. Some people love the cool looking orange, red, green, or blue coverings but not me. I want to minimize the number of things that may spook a bird. I also love the way the Eotech allows you to EASILY and QUICKLY adjust the reticle brightness to adjust for quickly changing light conditions. I also don't put much faith in these "automatically adjustable" reticle brightness. I tried taking a Burris and quickly moved from indoor targets and then outdoor targets through the window and it didn't seem to be as quickly visible as I prefer. I do not think that this is a very scientific way to test this, but I did read (lots) of reviews and other users found the brightness sometimes frustrating. Some users had to use tape over the sensor to trick it into being brighter, but then having to take the tape off when they were in darker situations. Keep in mind my process and the reviews I read were from last year at this time so these issues may have changed by now. Lastly I evaluated the "durability" factor. The Burris is much smaller, which I actually prefer, but I was worried that it may not take the banging around, uncasing, recasing, dusty, rainy, brutal conditions I hunt in. There are TONS of very happy Burris users out there that have claimed that durability and battery life is just fine. I liked the Eotech because it is definitely more durable. I figure if it is good enough for military personell who bet their very lives with it, it should be more than satisfactory for turkey hunting.

So that is the question. Is the Burris a great product? It sounds like it based on the users on this site. Is it durable enough for turkey hunting? Again, based on what I see on this site it probably is. But in every category that was important to me, the Eotech won out. It should, because it is more than twice as expensive as the Burris, but I wanted to get something I will be happy with for a long time, and hunt with a great peace of mind. Is the Eotech overkill? Probably, but again, I want to buy the best I can afford and eliminate any worries I can.

So wrapping up: I went with the Eotech XPS over the 512 because of the batteries. There is one single "123" battery that is mounted sideways. This is considered better than the 2 AA's on the 512 because they claimed that earlier versions caused the battery contact springs to get squished as a result of recoil, causing them to go off. That is unfortunate because the 512 comes in camo. So I got the XPS and had the cover and thumb screw camo dipped to help out. I think it looks great. (picture attached) The scope works excellent! The reticle is so easy to adjust as the light changes. Again I don't trust auto adjusting optics. The reticle is also VERY easy to pick up in the sight window. I had two shots last spring and had two clean kills. It was a double in Kansas, so the second bird was moving when I switched over to him but no problem for a quick sighting and shot. The thing is a stinkin' TANK, so I have no concerns at all about durability. The battery lasted an entire season of heavy hunting, so I was happy with that.

There is ONE downside. The scope sits up high so I had to slightly adjust my sighting plane and lift my head up a bit. It is absolutely no problem when I am against a tree with my gun propped on my knee, and in many ways it is better because I don't have to lower my head or raise my gun up to get my cheek down on the stock. However when I swung to shoot the second bird last year, it took a split second to raise my head up to see the reticle. Again I adjusted very quickly, and as a matter of fact, it forces you to stop just for a second and focus on the reticle, which is what we are supposed to be doing anyway. Overall I am VERY happy with the XPS. I just sit in the woods and stare at it when hunting, because it is so cool looking.

I will close by stating that I have not used the Burris fastfire in the field. I am not in a position to give opinions on it, so I am in no way disparaging this fine product. As I mentioned, there are hundreds of very happy users and from what I have seen, their customer service is excellent. I am only sharing my opinion and thought process as I evaluated these two products. I am sure you will be happy with either one. but if you have the extra cash to spend, I am sure you would never regret buying the Eotech. I am extremely meticulous and thorough in my purchases and spent days doing research on this scope. I read hundreds of reviews for these two as well as several other products. This is the result on my research. Good luck!

[SWAMPFOX]

thanks for all the info busta. i have a ff2 on my daughters 870 and we both like it . but i am a man who likes to shop around and also likes the best quality i can afford. i think im gonna try the eotech upon your reveiws.
thanks again swampfox

[pa b0whunt3r]

Do you think the red reflection coming off the optic is enough to spook turkeys? EOTech seems nice but very expensive. Does anyone know if Burris will ever offer the FF3 with the dot inside a circle reticle like on the EOTECH? I really like the reticle posted above

[busta biggun]

I have the XPS 2-0. That is the reticle you are seeing. You can go onto Eotech's website and see the different options. They even have a simulator. Regarding the red reflection: I assume when you are asking if the red glare will spook turkeys, you are referring to the red glare from the red rots, or Burris? Because there is no red coating on the Eotech. That has a holographic reticle which is a light shining on an etched glass inside the scope, so there is no need for any colored coatings. It is clear on both sides. The red glare on other optics does not spook them that often. I  had one for years and I can't say I ever knew for sure that a bird didn't come in because he saw the glare. He may have stayed away for any number of reasons so I will never know. I just try to eliminate anything I can and that is just a small "plus" for me in favor of the Eotech. You can check with Burris on their reticles as I am not sure. Good luck guys. As I said before, I am sure you will be happy either way. If money is an issue I would probably recommend the Burris as the difference between them is not huge but the price,...well it is quite a bit more for the Eotech. Keep in mind one thing. I would make sure you like what you are buying now, because if you feel you need to buy a newer version next year, the price difference goes away if you know what I mean.

[pa b0whunt3r]

What size MOA do you recommend for turkey?

[busta biggun]

For Eotech, the center dot in the standard reticle is 1 MOA across, and the ring is 65 MOA's across. No options other than that. I think a 1 MOA dot is the right size. Particularly with the outer ring. As far as other scopes and what MOA is best for you is subjective and each person has their preference.

[OtsdawaRidgeRunner]

How does the circle come into play?  can you use it as a visual range for example: turkeys complete body in circle= 60 yards away? I am going to buy an Eotech for my turkey gun but I also want to use it for an AR-15.  Not sure what I should get now.


I found this one:
http://www.topqualityscopes.com/eotech-m510-aa-65moa-1moa-dot-rtapg-camo-512-rt/

But you said to stay away from the 512? 

[busta biggun]

I don't use the circle as a range finding tool although I am sure you could. I use my experience, combined with pre-defined markers when possible to determine yardage. If you wanted to experiment, I am sure you could calculate this by using a jake decoy at different yardages to determine benchmarks. I just haven't because I trust my older methods more.

Regarding the 512, I never said to stay away from it. I searched everywhere to find as many opinions as I could. In doing my research I did read where some users of early versions of the 512 had the thing shut off after shooting. They determined that the recoil may have forced the batteries away from the contacts, causing it to turn off. I believe Eotech made some design changes and corrected the issue and newer models do not have this problem. I am sure that there are lots of hunters that are happy with the 512, and as I mentioned, it is pre-camo'ed so that is nice! I just figured, "why not go ahead and get the XPS just to be sure"? That is my obsessive mindset, not anything else.

If you had some concerns or want to comfirm that the recoil/battery thing is no longer an issue, you could do some research like I did. As I said I believe it no longer exists.

Good luck.