Ade Advanced Optics RD3-002 Compact Red Dot Sight with Integral Weaver-Picatinny Mount

Zero complaints for $30 This is my first optic, and was purchased to add to my 22/45 lite to see if I like to use optics at all. Worked great our of the box, feels surprisingly solid. Extra battery and tools included. View is lightly tinted blue. From moving my eyes from one extreme to the other, I had a parallax shift of about +-.25" at 20ft. The shift decreases at further distances. More than close enough for my purposes. Appeared annoyingly fuzzy at first, but cleared up after a wipe on the rear lens with the included cloth. Didn't look dirty so I was surprised it made a difference. Took it entirely apart because I'm an engineer and its cheap. Its certainly not beautiful on the inside but I didn't see anything which made me worry too much. The dot is a thin piece of perforated mylar glued onto an led with black silicone. Brightness is controlled by a switch which adds 3.8Kohm for "low" power. It wouldn't be too hard to mod this with a lipo battery and better brightness controls if you really wanted to. Sensitive parts are mostly covered by silicone. I wouldn't call it water resistant, but probably wont break if it gets lightly damp. Cons: The height adjust has a large dead-zone where if you change directions of adjustment, the screw rotates 120deg before the adjustment starts. Also, the alignment pins for reattaching the housing after a battery change are not precise enough to ensure proper realignment of the sight. I'll update after sighting in and determining battery life. I don't expect any problems on my 22/45.

I have a 22/45 Lite and wanted a small red dot that would allow me to use a standard holster. I looked at Burris and Vortex but didn't want to spend upwards of $300. Based on reviews from other 22/45 users I went ahead and ordered this ADE sight. Out of the box the quality looks great. It mounted easily on my factory rail and was very close to being on target right out of the box. I really like the way I was able to mount at the rearmost slot on rail. It slightly overlaps my factory rear sight but doesn't touch it and I am still able to switch it off and on. I like the lower brightness setting and the dot size is just right for me. Great value!

Pros: - Low-profile, small size - Cover snaps on relatively securely and provides great protection - 2 great brightness settings, that is good for everything from direct sunlight to pitch darkness. Some say it's too bright but I disagree. The real key to any parallax-free "heads-up" sight is to keep both eyes open so that your off-hand eye can adjust to the darkness, and I suspect it seems bright to them because they are testing it in dark areas with one eye closed. - Locking screws for elevation and windage adjustments. - Mostly metal construction - Comes with CR1024 battery installed, an extra battery, and the exact size flathead screwdriver you need to make adjustments. - The switch is on front and seems sturdy. This prevents any accidental activations, while still allowing it to be activated conveniently. - The price! Cons: - Judging by the internals, I would only recommend this sight for .22lr, .22 mag, and similar calibers. It might be able to handle 9mm not mounted on a semi-auto pistol slide, but I would not rely on it. Then again, you must be nuts to think a $30 sight can withstand any calibers larger than that... I noticed some other reviewers using it on a shotgun or a .44 mag, and are actually surprised when it doesn't hold up, lol! - Mounts with only a single screw. Not a biggie, but does increase risk of losing zero.

Thought I was purchasing this to sit on a glock 19 D1 mount plate but this comes with a picatinny mount under the site. The mount contains the power switch and the site doesn't work without it. So I mounted it on a S&W .22 target pistol and it looked so good, the dot was so easy to pick up that I left it mounted and ordered the proper site for the Glock. This site is exceptional. Fit, finish, functionality and compactness were excellent. Can't wait to shoot it

At first, this sight seemed pretty good especially considering the price. I was able to zero it and tear up some cans. As I used it for a few months, it gave me more and more problems and now is nearly useless. It is worth noting that I have it mounted on a .22 pistol so it is not in a high stress environment. Agree with other reviewers that the screwdriver fits poorly. The allen head screw that holds the top half of the sight to the mount stripped out the first time I tried to turn it with very little force. I had to use a dremel to cut a slot in the screw head so i could just use a flat head screwdriver. After a few range sessions, I noticed that I could no longer see the dot in the bottom half of the glass. Inspecting it I found that he hood holding the glass in place had some slop in it. I tightened all the hood in place, but it did not eliminate all the wiggle. I think the drifting of the glass also caused the dot to disappear in the bottom half of the glass (which has gotten worse, now I can only see it in the upper third of the glass). The wiggle in the sight hood also prevents a repeatable zero. If I was still in the return window, I would definitely send it back. The primary arms reflex red dot is vastly superior. I've also held one of the NCstar reflex sights. It seemed more robust and the owner said he had a good experience with NCstar as a bargain optics brand.