| Secondary Sights: Scopes, Red Dots, & Fiber Optics
Many people run into the same question when deciding on optics for their paintball marker. To answer the first question, yes they can help. It gives you a fixed point of reference to sight along so your first shot consistency improves greatly. With proper practice, you won't need to walk your shots in.
After deciding on getting a sight, the second question usually comes down to deciding on which type of sight to get. Here's a few things to keep in mind when making that decision.
Basic Types
You have three basic choices, here's a brief rundown on each type.
Scopes - Magnified scopes have been used for shooting for a long time and not much about them has changed. Generally you get a magnified picture of the target with a nice cross-hair in the middle. Larger objective lenses will give you a larger picture to look at while higher magnification powers will let you see more detail at greater distances. However no marker has any reliable accuracy past about 100 feet. And if you play in the woods a lot, you rarely will have a clear line of sight past 60 feet before some tree blocks your view. Basically, if you can't see it with a naked eye, you're not going to be able to reliably shoot it without using a lot of ammo and letting everyone within earshot know exactly where you are. So why get a scope on a paintball marker? Some people like having a magnified view of things for scouting and recon purposes. If you're in a large scenario type game, that definitely has its place. But for the average rec-baller that mainly plays pick-up games, it may not be worth it. You'll have to consider your own needs and decide if a magnified view is something you want and if so, how much magnification.
One big problem with scopes, other than their larger size, is that they become near useless when the front lens gets spattered, smudged, or otherwise impaired. A quick wipe off may not be enough to remove smudges and fingerprints that will leave a blurry picture. It's also easier for a shooter to develop tunnel vision with a scope since it's focused on a smaller area in front of the shooter. Shooting with both eyes open can be disorienting when each eye has a completely different image and focal length to process. And once the light starts to fade you won't be able to use it for anything.
Electronic Dot - I'd consider these the most common sights on markers these days. They come in many price ranges, qualities, and styles to fit nearly every player's need. Though often called a "red dot" you can actually get them in different colors ( green being a popular alternative, ) with many different reticle shapes. They all work in the same general way by projecting either a laser or focused light beam onto a front objective lens that you can see from behind.
The biggest advantage these offer is quick target acquisition. As you snap the sight up to your eyes you see immediately where the bright dot is in relation to your target. Also since most dot sights aren't magnified your eyes don't have to shift focus. Another great thing about dot sights is their near immunity to visual obstruction. As mentioned above it's not uncommon to collect dirt, moisture, or paint spatter on the objective lens of a sight. Unlike scopes the laser projected from inside the sight can often still be seen even if the objective lens is completely obscured from the front. If not, a quick wipe is usually all it takes to get it usable again. I've even played a few games where I left the front lens cap on due to bad sun glare and was still able to use the sight just fine. This effectively makes an occluded sight that is designed to be used with both eyes. One eye sees just a black sight with a bright dot while the other sees everything else. These two images then get superimposed in your brain. Electronic dot sights also excel in low light and no light situations, such as playing at dusk or at night. Since they operate on external power rather than sunlight you always have that nice spot to target with. At night games you can just line up your sights over that questionable silhouette and open up and know you've put your shots right where you want them.
Most sights of this type come in two different designs: reflex and tubular. Reflex sights are often the more expensive of the two. They have a single front lens with the light embedded in the base toward the back. Overall they're much smaller and sleeker than nearly any other secondary sight. Also since it only has a single lens I find that they don't promote tunnel vision so much, it just seems to overlap what you're already looking at without any distraction. The downside is that the light emitter is somewhat exposed at the back and can't collect grime or possibly become damaged. Also, reflex sights usually can't be easily covered from the front, like a tubular sight, to be used in an occluded manner.
Tubular dot sights may look like a very short scope with both front and rear lenses. The light is contained inside the tube and projected on the front lens. Most dot sights you find will be of this variety and also include the cheaper models. The advantage here is that everything is contained inside the tube so dirt and grime are kept out. And so long as you don't treat them like a scope and sight with one eye you likely won't get any tunnel vision with a tubular dot sight. They will be a bit bigger and bulkier than reflex sights though.
Fiber Optics - Sights based on fiber optic rods aren't quite as common in the paintball crowd, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't take a look at them. They're usually designed around a short rod of colored fiber optic cables surrounded by some sort of casing that runs inline with your barrel. When looked at from behind you just see one end of the cables which is just a brightly colored dot. Like scopes these also run off ambient light. However they don't need near as much of it as scopes to operate. In twilight it's not uncommon for a fiber optic sight to almost seem to glow. However, once night falls fiber optics are almost useless just as scopes. More often than not they don't have optics or other lenses, but it depends on what type you get. This gives them a great advantage in that you don't need to worry about the sight getting obscured by paint dirt, or muck. At worst you just give it a quick wipe with and the fiber optics can gather and focus the light back into the sight.
A common fiber optic sight that is most practical for paintball is that of an archery sight. These typically take the form of a ring with multiple sight marks inside, usually small fiber optic dots of different colors. These are sometimes adjustable, sometimes not, and are meant to calibrate the sight for different ranges. Since a bolt or arrow has a similar "muzzle" velocity as a paintball it has a similar trajectory. Having a sight with range increments can be a great boon to the paintball player. While some scopes and other electronic sights may have fall off range increments, they are likely designed for firearms and may not be suitable for paintball.
Durability
Whatever gear you play with, wherever you carry it, sooner or later it will take a hit with a paintball. And that may not even be the worst it can take. Running, jumping, sliding, and diving through trees, brush, and even across a field isn't the easiest on some stuff. So, a sight's durability should be paramount to you else you'll be replacing it quite a bit. Now, many optics aren't designed with the idea of surviving direct impact with something. Taking a ball right on the front objective lens can happen fairly easily. Many optics ( scopes or not ) just aren't designed to withstand the shock. Manufacturers just don't do it because generally speaking, when you go deer hunting, the deer don't shoot back. That's not to say that none can survive it, just that you ought to be selective. ADCO warrants their products against paintball damage for life. Armson occluded sights also are very tough. I also had a SWAT Force sight that survived many direct hits without any damage. Right now I have an NcStar that has also survived some pretty brutal hits. Check with other players when looking at a potential sight and see if you can find some first hand experience with how tough it is. Generally speaking, red dots and fiber optics are going to be more durable. Even if a scope isn't broken by a hit, it can slightly move a lens throwing the optics completely out of whack. The higher the magnification the greater any problems with the optics will be exaggerated. Here is one place fiber optic sights have a big advantage. Since they often don't have any optics or lenses, there's nothing particularly delicate to break. Unless the fibers are completely exposed with no protective case the worst you may expect is having your sights thrown off after a direct hit, but no actual damage.
Eye Relief
Any type of magnifying optic has a focal range, called eye relief. This is a distance range, for example between one to three inches, that marks where you can place your eye and still see a usable image. Outside that range the picture in the sight will bee too small or too "zoomed in" to be of practical use, not to mention a little blurry. This isn't too much of a problem, many players just forget to look for it. They'll get some nice optics then don't check whether it can be used with a mask. V-Force masks in particular, and I love my Morph, have some pretty hefty lens clearance requirements. Once you get your eye behind the lens, that 30mm objective might have shrunk to something more like 15mm picture. As electronic and fiber optic sights usually don't have magnification this isn't a problem with them.
Profile
Anything you add to your marker adds to the profile. That means having more surface area to break a ball on, snag in the brush, whatever. Now any sight will add some extra target area, but generally scopes tend to be larger than red dots. Yes, you can find exceptions to that on both ends, but for the most part a big red dot is smaller than a small scope. Fiber optic sights can be smaller than both.
Power
Here scopes easily win. They don't need anything to operate except for light. Fiber optic type sights also require no batteries and can be a big plus. Red dots and other electronic sights do. And trust me, it sucks when you show up for a game only to find that your sight has been turned on since last month's outing. If you get an electronic sight, it's just like owning an electro marker. Make sure you keep some spare batteries handy.
Wrap Up
Overall I'm biased toward red dot sights and fiber optics, I'll admit it. They're smaller, lighter, and generally speaking more durable. That's not to say that scopes don't have their place. If you play a lot of large games where a spotting scope comes in handy or if you want a particular mil-sim look, then go for a scope. Also beware of developing tunnel vision. If you're so focused on what you see through the sight you may ignore your peripheral vision. Regardless of the sight you get, practice using it else it's just an expensive paper weight strapped to your marker. It doesn't hurt to try a few drills of both moving and shooting with the sight.
Last edited by Jaron : 05-28-2008 at 03:28 AM.
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