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Old June 22, 2018, 11:51 AM   #1
riffraff
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what's a decent compact laser?

I'd like a laser for a lightweight upper - was about to buy a truglo micro-tac in green, originally reviews looked pretty good and it's the size/weight/profile I want, but then other reviews were so bad was inclined to hold off until I sought more advice - maybe it is gonna be the one, see what I get here.. For anything good you read someone else says the opposite, very odd and hard to decipher.

Anyway - so what I want is a compact laser that is in the pistol-sized ballpark, ie say weight budget < 3 ounces. I don't want one that is part of a light or is heavy & bulky because it throws the whole rifle purpose off, basically have a short range rifle made to be low profile and easy to handle and want the laser to match. May put a light on the rifle but will be a separate add/remove accessory and not something that permanently lives on it.

Budget could go up to say $300 but would be happy if I could keep it under that.

Thanks in advance!
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Old June 22, 2018, 04:15 PM   #2
imashooter
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I have that laser sitting in a drawer. Great size but absolute junk; especially the batteries and it's underpowered. Though they recently pissed me off, The Crimson Trace CMR-206 is an excellent green laser w/ paddles, good battery, easy battery access, full legal power (5mW), and a wide window of az/el adjustment. Larger than the other but not a giant by any means. Here's mine on a 15-22.



I also have a Streamlight TLR-8 on an AR pistol. It's compact and is a 500 lumen tac-light / red laser combo. Very good quality.



For the most part I'm good with TruGlo which is a kissing cousin company with Holosun and Primary Arms optics. Love the mini-laser but as I said, it has issues:

Under powered.

Worthless, near-proprietary "mini-batteries"

Very cheap / weak battery cover screws.

Very little adjustment windows for az / el.

Shipping weight for the CMR-206 on Amazon is indicated to be 0.8 ounces.

Shop around a little bit. There are good deals on this and of course we have the 4th sales around the corner.
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Old June 22, 2018, 07:12 PM   #3
riffraff
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thanks for that - gives me some stuff to look into..

Ebay, which already has a lot of that stuff cheap, has a 15% off at the moment so I may be able to get a very decent deal on any of the mentioned models.
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Old June 23, 2018, 06:53 AM   #4
imashooter
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I purchased two Crimson Trace Lasers from ebay. Both were good deals. Good luck.
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Old June 30, 2018, 08:51 PM   #5
riffraff
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Got it in today and holy chit is this thing powerful. Tried it in the early evening when the sun was not direct briefly and was very clear at the 20 yards I beamed it around (didn't try further) then after installing it tonight I shined around off the deck and as far as I can shine (50 yards easy) and appears to be very effective at that range and longer..

No idea how it holds up or works, mounting I gotta say is kinda stupid - obviously one of those "one size fits all" things where if it was designed for a standard rail it'd be simpler and better, but it does seem to work just fine. I mounted it upside down, don't know if it matters but after lots of simulation I like it there - easy to reach, not in my view when I use the red dot, and all the fragile stuff is in one place - for instance if I rest the guard on something I'm not resting atop the laser. Thinking a small flashlight will go on the left side of the rail someplace for easy reach (and I don't care if putting down the rifle rests it on a flashlight)..

Anyway - very happy with this purchase so far, will likely buy a few more - if they work anywhere near how it looks like it's gonna - hard to resist not setting up a few more guns with these!
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Old July 1, 2018, 05:07 PM   #6
imashooter
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206?
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Old July 2, 2018, 05:50 AM   #7
riffraff
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Yep CMR-206 mounted upside down.
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Old July 2, 2018, 06:18 AM   #8
imashooter
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That's a good visible laser imo. Plenty of power. As long as you have az/el adjustments, the laser doesn't care where you mount it. Hope it works for you.
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Old July 2, 2018, 01:19 PM   #9
MTT TL
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Don't go cheap. You will end up with a box of worthless lasers.
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Old July 2, 2018, 03:48 PM   #10
imashooter
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He got a good one.
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Old July 2, 2018, 04:30 PM   #11
riffraff
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So far it works better than I thought, visible even in direct sunlight very reasonably at 20+ yards, once you get anything other than direct sunlight seems to go forever.

Now one thing I would say though is although green is supposedly more viewable in almost all conditions, if you live someplace where everything else is very green it's kinda hard to pickup . I guess if I really cared I could mount a red one too - dual lasers haha.

Unfortunately it was so hot and nasty yesterday my Sunday shooting was cut short so never even got to sight it in but power-wise and function-wise I'd say it's usable tool, well worth the ~$100.
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Old July 2, 2018, 04:40 PM   #12
imashooter
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Outdoors bright sun ain't too good nor was it meant to be. Of course if the objective is in the shade it'll illuminate just fine. Different materials, substances, textures, colors, etc impact the dot quality. They have great utility if you get a quality device but like anything they have their own inherent limitations.
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