I am odd and I am comfortable (enough) with this.
My preference, handguns specifically, is a red/green dot turned off.
For me, I am most quickly and accurately able to get good slight alignment and picture when the target is framed in (the shroud & glass of the red/green dot). The dot itself, when on, causes me to become momentarily distracted by it. My second preference is to use just the iron sights.
Kicks box of holsters under the bed
I, obviously, have no woopsies in my choice of holsters. There is just holsters I am saving in case I ever get a .454 Casual, or a Taurus Judge, or some other totally not my fault pistol choice.
I keep thinking I’m missing something with red/green dot optics. I try to be open minded, and have tried them out a few times at my LGS/ range. For me, I have two different handguns that make up my EDC set, one a small revolver, which can’t take an optic anyway, and the other a pistol. I have practiced with each of them so much that it’s pure muscle memory. I bring the gun up to aim, and by the time my eye sees the front sight it’s already on target. I just don’t see what a dot would do for me.
I have a rifle that I set up for home defense but I also like to use for longer range target shooting. Again, I tried a red dot optic and couldn’t see distant targets easily. The rifle ended up with a streamlight light/laser combo for in-house defense. For longer range, right now it has iron sights, but I’m watching for a good deal on a traditional LPVO.
I know there are a lot of guys out there with way more knowledge, experience and insight than I, and they are using red or green dot optics very successfully, so I’m sure I’m missing something, and am open to learn. I like the laser on the rifle, but I don’t see wanting it, or a dot, on my SD handguns right now.
Good thread and an interesting topic for me.
Be careful with technology. Murphy is alive and well.
I have solar powered yard lights. They don’t last forever. The panels charge a battery that powers the lights, as does a solar powered red dot. The Chinese made batteries and panels in my solar lights degrade and fail over time. For example, one of my lights (about 6-8 months old) illuminates for just a few minutes after sundown and shuts off, which is an indicator that its batteries are failing. The last thing you want is for the red dot on your “bet-my-life” tool to give up the ghost in the middle of a dire emergency.
BTW, your red dot solar panels are not charging the batteries when the firearm is stored in a safe or nightstand or concealed under a shirt and there’s probably not an indicator of the remaining battery life on the sights like there is on cell phones or EVs. Your battery discipline should be to check for proper operation of the red dot whenever you pick up the firearm (Is the red dot on? Does it stay on? Is it getting dimmer?), keep the solar panels clean, and periodically expose your firearm to sunlight to fully charge the batteries.
For me, I couldn’t make the connection in my habits with a RDS. I was at the range and I don’t know why but it just finally clicked. What I was doing, was tryyto make the RDS co witness my iron sights and it was taking to much time. But I was trying to speed shoot one day and I realized the disconnect was me. I didn’t trust what the red dot was showing. Once I realized if the dot is on my target that’s where the round went.
Now, I love my red dot.
Fair points. I’ve had it over a year now with zero problems. And if it did, the cost was very reasonable and could be replaced fairly easily. As far as charging, I garden quite a bit, so once a month or so I place it under the grow lights I use for sprouting seeds. 20,000 hours is a LONG time. I’m old, and only recently started shooting. I was really struggling with being able to see the front sight blurry, even with bi and tri vocals). The dot made a huge difference in my confidence and accuracy. I didn’t have years of habit to change, this is what I learned with. YMMV.
Yep iron sites first then Go from there
My only concern with lasers is turning them on. They have grip switches but those can fail too. Relying on just one technology is a dangerous thing, but the advice so far has been awesome! Thank you all for weighing in on your perspectives!!! Definitely learning a lot during this journey ;). Keep it up!
True that!
I still don’t understand why lasers are a dead giveaway. Can you explain? All you can see on mine is a little green dot both on the gun and on whatever is being aimed at. Bright daylight may be a problem seeing the dot but that is what sights are for. Close encounters, cloudy weather, low light, and night seem to be the best for laser. No need to get the sight to your eyes. You can shoot accurately from any position. You keep your eyes on what you are shooting the whole time without having to get you eyes on the sights. To me they are a lot faster than any sight.
Yes, the laser does bounce around and shows what your aim is actually doing. It is something you can get distracted by if you haven’t trained with it very much but it really is no different than what you firearm is doing with any other sighting system except that you don’t need the gun at eye level. To me that is a plus if you happen to get in a gun fight.
This is a picture of a target I shot Sunday with only my laser. Never got the sights to my eye. Low ready to whichever target I wanted to hit. Don’t wait until it starts moving around. I practiced at home for a couple of weeks dry firing. I didn’t think that was too bad for the first time live firing. I love lasers. Oh yea, about 8 1/2 to 9 yards.
“for the most part”
Have you had them pointed at you? If there is any reflective material in the air (fog, smoke, dust, snow) and such, it’s a straight line back to you. Just my personal opinion, if you like them use them. 
I just put a laser grip on my wife’s revolver and we both like it quite a bit. She has a little black J Frame Smith and Wesson. It has a white dot front sight, but just the usual little mini groove in the frame for a rear sight. I’m very used to minimal J frame sights, but only on stainless/silver guns. In low-light, we both really struggled with her gun to see the sights, and my shooting was off in spite of my all my J frame practice.
The laser is nice for a dim house at night. I zeroed it in bright light to the iron sights then took the gun in a dim room. I did a lot of bringing up the gun, aiming with what I thought was good sight alignment, then squeezed the laser button and found I was pretty inconsistent with the dark iron sights in bad light.
It also seems to be a good practice tool for my wife. She did a lot of dry fire and it clearly shows how much movement she’s getting through the double action trigger press. We could see improvement just doing dry fire practice.
Overall, for her and her SD gun, it’s a solid positive.
No, I haven’t had one pointed at me. Thanks for telling me what can cause problems. I have shone mine in rain but haven’t tried it in really heavy fog. Smoke, dust, and snow is something I don’t have a lot of living in Eastern NC.
Mine is turned on by a good grip. It is great for dry fire. I used it to try point shooting up to 40 ft. and just lightened the grip until I got the gun up. It worked good for that. Plus any light that won’t wash out the laser without having to line up the sights. They work a lot better than what I imagined for a lot of things.
Red dot and to say it’s not even close is an understatement
Night sights on my CC.
Although, my home defense pistol has them all: Night Sights, Red Dot and Laser (with the weapon light.) Laser is bouncy. I don’t think that I would like to always aim with it, but it has a small benefit in certain situations. Going forward, I doubt that I will purchase Lasers unless there is some Tech “breakthrough.”
FWIW
Always be comfortable with whatever sighting system you use but remember that the laser is only showing you what your hands are doing. It’s not the laser that is bouncy. It’s the shooter.
You are absolutely correct.
