in the box was the sight with rubber cover, micro fibre cleaning cloth, two tools (a sight adjustment tool and Torx key), a poker chip with discount code, a Fridge Magnet and a heart sticker.
It comes ready to mount (picatinney) but sadly no battery (shipping restrictions). It shares what appears to the mounting pattern of the Vortex Viper (so Doctor and I believe EOTech)… It will be going onto the CZ Shadow 2 once the plate shows up (and 2 M3 .5 x 6mm screws).
My first impression is that it is the same profile and size as the Vortex Viper (which I have mounted on my Canik TP9 SFx and I actually swapped the sights on the plate (course never thought to record that event). If this sight pans out I just might be buying a couple more,First impression is that it shares the same footprint as the viper but the “dot” appears to be smaller (Vector vrs Vortex). It does share the same annoying feature of having to remove the sight to change a battery but if the battery life is okay than this should not be an issue (since I do not know if zero will be retained when swapping batteries). Unlike the Viper the Frenzy does not have locks on the sight adjusters, which if I recall was an issue with zeroing the Viper (conflict with rear sight requiring to be removed and locked on something with a higher rear sight.
So far I am happy with the purchase and this sight does come with a Lifetime Warranty. There are people out there that feel because it is made in China and the warranty only means it is crap however the popular Vortex red dot sights with their Lifetime Warranty are also made in China. .
Would this be a good sight for a defensive handgun - so far I would say yes, but since I also bought this as gift for the wife, I am not about to beat the crap out of it to see if it will survive but general use can also be just as hard.What they do offer is a quite good and relatively cheap optics (as in inexpensive). They have three lines - T-Vip Lifetime Warranty Line (lifetime Warranty and a bit more expensive), Five year warranty line and the Victoptics (budget but still a 5 year warranty), plus a full line of firearms accessories ( everything from cleaning kits to spotting scopes).
It’s not so much ‘Made in China’ that is the issue. iPhones and much more are made there. The problem is the <$100 price tag. With all things ‘Made in China’ you pay a premium for QC. That brings us to…
For a plinker or an introduction to pistol red dots where you don’t have to worry about it dying, OK. For a SELF DEFENSE firearm??? You haven’t even run any rounds through a gun with it mounted. It could S#!+ the bed halfway through the first mag. The first good bump it takes(and you WILL take bumps in most self defense situations) may shatter the window so bad it looks like frosted glass.
But, but, but it’s got a warranty.
I can see it now…
BANG! PEW! BANG! PEW!
“Time out mister intruder/rapist/hatchet wielding psycho. My red dot crapped out and I need to send it back for warranty.”
However not to defend this sight but from what I have seen to date there isn’t real true choices for a CCW pistol mounted optic. The trigicons RMRs and Leupold Deltas are way to expensive for pretty well anyone out there and they have their issues too.The Aimpoint Acro also shows some potential but when priced at 2-4 times value of the handgun it is going on, again puts it out of the reach of pretty well everyone.
The sight appears to be the same as my Vortex Viper but with a better smaller dot. And all I can compare it to is what I actually have and use. The deciding factor for any active sighting system for a defensive firearm should be it’s battery life and a shake awake feature (which Holosun has). As to battery life on the Frenzy - well it is the wife’s and like light switches every where she does tend to leave them on…
Even ones touted as made for CCW such as the Shield Mini (either the RMS or heavier SMS) both have had issues and documented failures (but I do like the notch cut in the body for co-witness of the shield mini). And as to failure - it should be something that one trains for - shooting the pistol with a mounted active sight turned off. As with anything electronic what are you going to do when it fails.
If an RMR is too expensive for someone, odds are the ammo needed to become proficient with it are going to be in short supply as well. Switching from irons to holographic/red dot optics, particularly on a pistol, requires a good deal of re-learning. One would be better served becoming highly proficient with irons rather than buying ‘budget’ optics.
The ACRO is $600(The Type 2 RMR can be had for as little as $480). What $150 pistol are you putting it on? More importantly, what $150 pistol are you betting your life on? I get that Aimpoints and Trijicons are expensive but there is a reason for that. They are proven designs that take abuse above and beyond any competitors(RMR’s due to their patented shape) and can command a premium.
I would put durability and ‘NOT $#!++!ng THE BED’ when needed most far above something like battery life which can be easily mitigated by keeping track of battery age. Simply because the Shield is touted as a CCW sight does not make it so. Its failures are largely do to an inferior design and materials that can not handle rough use. I have a hard time believing a <$100 pistol red dot will fair any better than the RMS.
The biggest concern is not about an electronics failure, ie the dot not coming on due to battery or emitter problems. That requires nothing more than suppressor sights to overcome. It is the physical weakness of the design and materials that should be concerning. Shattered glass in a damaged pistol optic can cause that precise little dot to become a vision obscuring blob. That makes your ‘back up’ irons useless no matter how many times you trained with them and the red dot turned off.
This is where the majority of ‘budget’ red dots suffer the most. They have proven to fail miserably, actual physical failure, under conditions RMR’s and other simply shrug off. This is not to knock ‘Chinese’ optics. The Holosun 507c and 508t(manufactured in China) have proven to take a pretty good beating where RMS’s, Leupolds, Doctor Optics and similar basically fell apart.
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Thanks for doing the review.