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.

Im really upset i wasn't able to us this on my 1911. If you so happen to not need the picatinny attachment or you want low profile then do not buy. the sight is completely useless because the picatinny mount/base literally has the on/off switch mounted there. so when you unbolt it the battery falls out and the switch is no longer in use. so its useless. works fine with picatinny and looks great. just really really poor design especially advertising as a pistol dot sight. GOOD TINY RIFLE SIGHT BUT DO NOT BUT FOR PISTOL.

The Ade Advanced Optics sight is small and light. Mine is 1.82 long x 1.11wide x 1.38 inches tall, and weighs 57 grams. I've only used it on a low-recoil airgun, so I can't say how well it will hold zero under more severe stresses. However, the two locking screws have a nice, solid feel to them and didn't move the dot much as they tightened. The sight only has two brightness settings: bright, and extremely bright. The dot is plainly visible against a clear blue sky. The description says the dot is 2 MOA, but mine is much larger, a bit over 6 MOA. It's nice and round. The current drain (with a 3 volt battery) measured 0.278 ma in the lower brightness setting, and 2.30 ma for the high setting. I'd estimate a conservative 600 hour battery life at the low setting, and 30 hours at the high setting. Given how bright the dot appears, I consider this excellent. I'm very impressed with this little guy. Especially for the low $30 price.

The positives: its sturdy, the red dot can be seen in bright sunlight, holds zero so far. Mounted to akm 7.62x39 using a small picatiny rail that replaces the rear iron sight. After 15 rnds to zero it in, I've put 100 rnds down range with it so far, and has held zero. So what's not to like? The glass. The glass has a slight blue hue I dont like, but more than that it's got a convex shape that distorts the view around the edges giving me a weird field of view when shooting with both eyes open, which is one of the purposes of a sight like this. Almost a "fisheye" effect. Other than that, it does seem well made.