Red dots are rapidly becoming one of the most popular sighting systems. While they won’t overtake iron sights in the near future, they already outnumber prisms, scopes, and LPVOs. The reason is simple; their versatility.
They can be used on rifles, pistols, or shotguns; mounted directly over the bore or offset; positioned as near or far from the user’s eye as necessary; and, as we’ll explore, used effectively in any lighting conditions.
What Is A Red Dot Sight And How Does It Work?
While “red dot” is often used as a catch-all category for nearly any form of electronic sight, it’s technically a distinct category from other electronic optics such as mini reflex sights and holographic sights. In discussing their low-light performance, though, the distinction is functionally moot; they all share the same advantages and attributes in this regard.
What matters is this: a red dot or reflex sight is an electronically powered sight that uses an LED or laser to project a reticle onto a lens, resulting in a low or no parallax aiming point with unlimited eye relief. These are the primary characteristics that will come into play when trying to aim a firearm in limited light.
Can Red Dot Sights Be Used At Night?
Unequivocally yes. In fact, red dots are one of the best (if not the best) optic choices for low-light use.
The primary reason is that they are self-illuminated. Traditional sighting systems like iron sights and unilluminated scopes or prisms rely on ambient light to be able to see them, making them close to useless if there is not enough light to discern the front sight post or reticle. Because the reticle of a red dot is made of light, there is no environment too dark for it to be seen. The amount of ambient light is irrelevant; the red dot itself emits the light required to use it.
Of course, illuminated scopes and prisms also share this attribute, as do tritium-illuminated iron sights. But, each comes with its drawbacks as well.
Scopes and prisms, even when battery-illuminated, both have limited eye relief and a fairly constricting eye box, at least compared to a red dot. They require a relatively precise head position to use effectively. In the daylight, acquiring this head position is easily done, aided both by muscle memory and by using the body of the optic as an index to adjust your head position, whether consciously or unconsciously.
However, when used in near-darkness, the inability to index off of the optic can make it considerably more difficult to acquire a sight picture.
Tritium iron sights suffer from a similar challenge. While the tritium is effective at providing visible illumination, without being able to see the body of the sights, it can be challenging to properly line up the tritium vials and achieve an effective sight picture. There’s no indicator of which dot of glowing light is the rear sight, and which is the front.
Here the simplicity of a red dot proves its worth. They’re exceptionally forgiving of head position and do not have any variables to line up or navigate to use. Just put the glowing dot on the target, and pull the trigger.
Moreover, of these options, red dots provide the most consistent performance when used with a flashlight, whether handheld or weapon-mounted.
Most illuminated scopes and all tritium iron sights lack the power to produce a glow bright enough to be visible when backlit by a modern flashlight. This means that the moment you activate your light, your sight picture changes. Your reticle shifts from red to black, or in the case of tritium sights, changes from glowing balls of light to the standard profile of metallic iron sights. This shift can cost you precious seconds, particularly if you are not well-trained in navigating it.
Red dots, again, triumph through their simplicity. Whether your light is on or not, you just put the dot on the target. A high-quality weaponlight with a charged battery will be strong enough to provide a clearly visible aiming point even with powerful flashlights.
Some dots even have auto-adjusting capabilities, allowing them to adapt to be brighter or dimmer depending on the amount of ambient light available. This means that certain dots will automatically increase their brightness when a light is activated, keeping your sight picture consistent.
Red Dot Sight And Night Vision
Red dot sights are without question the most practical sighting system for use with night vision. Scopes and other magnified optics tend to be difficult to get behind and find a sight picture when wearing NODs. It’s particularly difficult to get your head into a tight eye box with 5 inches of technology hanging off your face. In some cases where optics have very short eye relief, it can be impossible to get a proper sight picture.
This issue is entirely eliminated by using a red dot. The infinite eye relief means that it can be mounted as far as necessary to allow clearance for your night vision device. Eyebox constraints are similarly a nonissue, as red dots don’t really have one; If you’re aligned enough to see through the tube or window, you’ll be able to see the dot. Certain dots, such as those with our ACSS® reticles, even have tools built into the reticle to help you correct when misaligned.
Iron sights, likewise, are difficult to use with night vision, particularly in the case of rifles. Scopes and red dots can make use of extra tall mounts to create clearance for your NODs—red dot mounts in particular are available in extremely tall heights for use with night vision—but extra tall iron sights are not easily found, and for many platforms, don’t exist.
Even with handguns, where there is no stock to impede your ability to get your head and NVGs behind the sights, you’re still going to be lining up three pieces of dusky metal. With a high-spec white phosphorus tube, that may pose no issue; but, for those with less than top-of-the-line night vision, it can often be a challenge.
It’s also worth noting that tritium sights are generally incompatible with night vision. The glow they emit is too bright to function properly under the amplification created by NODs and tends to overpower the surrounding image. As such, if you want to rely on iron sights for your nighttime aiming, you’ll have to choose between being able to use them with or without your night vision, but not both.
Red dots, on the other hand, are often fully compatible with night vision and perfectly functional without it; you only need to take care to buy a dot with night vision settings.
How To Use A Red Dot Sight In Low Light
The actual use of a red dot in low light is the same as in any other lighting condition–put the dot on the target and pull the trigger. That simplicity and consistency are one of the primary selling points of the design.
Using a red dot in low light is mostly about setting it up properly.
First and foremost is finding the correct brightness setting. Too bright, and your dot will be a massive starburst mess in the dark. Too dim, and you won’t be able to find the dot at all when you activate your weaponlight.
To find your ideal setting, take your firearm into a dark room and activate the weaponlight. Look through your dot at a light-colored wall and dial down the brightness until you find the lowest setting at which you can easily find the dot.
Then, turn out the lights. If your dot is too bright, it will appear large and irregular, typically in a starburst pattern that can make it hard to find the precise center. The edges of your sight window may also be red-rimmed with reflected light. If so, dial the brightness down until your view is no longer obscured and you can aim easily with the dot.
Next comes the hard part: finding that happy medium. Activate your weaponlight again and try to find the dot. Depending on how low you turned down the brightness setting in the dark, it may be dim or entirely invisible in the light.
The goal now is to adjust the settings to somewhere in the middle and find a compromise where the dot is not too overpowering in the dark, but still discernable in the light. This will often take a few cycles of trial and error, turning your light on and off again on different settings to find the one that works the best in all conditions.
If you plan to use your dot with night vision, you’ll have an additional step to take. There’s no one setting that will work in darkness, light, and under NODs, so there’s no point in trying to strike a compromise here.
Instead, make note of the ideal brightness setting you found using the previous steps, then turn your dot to night vision mode or dial it down to the lowest night vision setting. Again, in a dark room and facing a light-colored wall, peer through your NODs and dot. Adjust the night vision settings of your dot until you find a brightness level at which the dot is clearly visible and easily acquired, then make a note of that too.
You now have both of your ideal settings, both with and without night vision, and can switch between them as needed.
Best Red Dot Sights For Low Light Conditions
Red dot sights (And holographic or mini reflex sights) all work more or less the same in terms of low-light performance. The advantages for low-light use are inherent to how red dots work and don’t vary much between make or manufacturer.
Still, there are a few attributes that can make some dots easier to use in the dark than others.
Chief among them is night vision compatibility. Without it, your dot cannot be used with NODs without blinding you, so if you plan to use night vision, that compatibility will be essential.
A large objective window can also make it slightly easier to find and acquire the dot in the dark–but even a microdot can still be fairly easy to use in limited light.
Lastly, if you have astigmatism–an ocular condition that can affect your ability to use a red dot–consider choosing a holographic sight instead of a red dot. Low ambient light can exacerbate the distortion caused by astigmatism, but for many users, holographic sights remain clear and crisp even in darkness.
Conclusion
When it comes to low light capability, red dots are the reigning champ of optics. No other sighting system can match their simplicity, speed, and compatibility with both night vision and white light illumination.
As long as your brightness is properly configured, you can trust that your red dot has you fully covered, whether in darkness, dusk, or daylight.
Still confused about which red dot to get for your low-light needs? We recommend checking out our guide to Things to Know When Buying a Red Dot for a comprehensive look at the shopping process.
