If you have read the best red dot sight reviews online recently, you must come across some good red dot sights. By now you must have learned enough about the functionalities and features of red dot sights. But I have noticed one thing – even the best red dot sight reviews forget to mention the battery life properly. So, I decided to talk about the battery situation and break down the power consumption of red dot sights.
The battery life of red dot sights will vary
Red Dot Sight
Before I talk about the battery life of red dot sights, there is one thing you should know. Basically, we cannot talk about red dot sight as a whole because red dot sight is not a type of gun sights. It is actually a common term for all the gun sights that use red dots. All the best red dot sight reviews will tell you the same.
Now, the red dot sights are can be divided into 2 major types –
- Reflex Sights
- Holographic Sights (Holo Sights)
If we want to talk about the battery life of red dot sights, we need to acknowledge the power consumption of both reflex sights and holographic sights and we will do just that.
1. Battery life for a reflex sight
First up, we have the reflex sights. These are the most common type of red dot sight available in the market. As for the usage go, reflex sights are mostly used by hunters. And for the source, it used LED to illuminate the reticle.
Remember the LED lights you use in your home? Yes, these are the same type of LEDs. But they are smaller size.
Similar to how the LEDs use less energy compared to other sources, these LEDs in reflex sight consume less energy to illuminate the reticle than other illumination sources. Since the LED sources in reflex sight consume less energy, the battery consumption rate is much lower for reflex sights. That’s why the battery of reflex sights can last more than 1000 hours. This means reflex sights are undoubtedly a reliable option to carry with you all the time. Once you buy and install one, you can forget about the battery issue and concentrate on target acquisition.
2. Battery life for a holographic sight
Next is the holographic sight. While reflex sights are mostly used by hunters, these holo sights are used by military personnel.
They are more tactical, usually. And due to the claimed higher efficiency, they are slightly more expensive. However, the source of illumination is different from the reflex sights. While reflex sights use energy-efficient LEDs, these reflex sights use more expensive and efficient lasers. These lasers use more power to illuminate the reticle. As a result, holographic sight’s battery doesn’t last nearly as much as red dot sight batteries.
Wrapping it up
So, to wrap it up – the reflex sights use LED that are more energy efficient. On the other hand, the holographic sights user much more energy-consuming lasers. And in regards to battery life, reflex sights are a better option.