NB13-3 - ArniesAirsoft - Review Archive

Author

rallymad_nad

Registered: January 2005
Location: Sussex
Posts: 561

Review Date: 12/2/06

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �39.00 | Rating: 9

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Great build quality, nice operation
Cons:	On knob is too exposed

Why a Red Dot Sight?

A Red Dot Sights primary purpose is as a fast target acquisition sysytem. Reflex sights can be used with both eyes open, and without any magnification, allows for a full field of view and normal depth perception. Also the sight can be placed at any distance from the eye and doesnt affect the accuracy or distort the image. This also allows plenty of space for the use of NVG's if your rich enough to own a set!

Red dot sights are common since they are easy and fast to use, and also because they work in a great range of light situations due to the adjustable brightness settings of the dot. This makes them equally useful for day and night, woodland or CQB. Very bright dot for when the sun is out, down to very low for use in the dark so as not to ruin your natural night vision or with a night vision unit.

Most Red Dot Sights available today are either full tube or open designs. The Guarder one is Full tube. It looks similar to a normal telescopic sight, but obvisouly without any magnicfication. The tube isnt really needed as it only needs a single reflective surface, but the benifit of the tube is that there is more protection for the lens, and that various filters and shades can be fitted easily.

The open designs consist of a flat base with a single frame to support the lens. Regardless of type the actual viewable range of the red dot is the same. The open sights are lighter but may be more susceptible to damage as very few have lens covers like the full tube designs.

The Guarder RDS looks very well made, many say its hard to tell the difference next to the real Aimpoints. Hopefully the build quality is up there as well. The main difference is the battery life time. Mine run down very fast if its accidentally left on. The Aimpoint units can run for over 40,000 hrs!! As they say, you get what you pay for. I bet if you worked out the battery consumption, you'd be better off buying the real thing!

There is the option of having one of 3 mounts, this version came with the Lowmount, although I didnt think it was low enough and have purchased an ARMS Inc replica which is specifically designed for this design of RDS. Saying that there is nothing wrong with the mount itself. It comes with spacers for the ring mount which is joined together with a Torx type bolt, the key being supplied. To affix to the gun, there is simple Nut arrangement which tightens a clamp, with a raised section on the underside of the mount to key with with rail.

This scope came with the rubber cap holder, which should stop you losing the caps when changing the batteries or zeroing the scope. The caps simply unscrew which allows access to either the battery compartment, or the two elevation adjusters, which can be adjusted with a screwdriver. I think the rubber cap holder also looks a lot better than the wires. The design of this rubber part on the real Aimpoint has changed slightly to reduce the chance of snagging, and hopefully Guarder will update their product in time.

The dot on this version has five brightness settings, which is plenty enough. I use mine mainly in woodland and tend to leave it on the brightest setting. It is adjusted at the opposite end to the battery compartment, a simple turning knob assembly with two dots which line up so you know when it is off. The one problem is, that because this knob is prominent in a bag it can turn itself on accidentally.

There are two spring loaded caps, which work very well and when opened keep clear of the lens. Some caps on other scopes dont tend to spring open so well. I have mine angled down so that when they open they fold into the gun and dont stick out which saves them from snagging on stuff. That doesnt stop idiots running from the enemy lassoing the whole scope with their sling!

I for one dont fancy shooting the lens just to see how strong it is. The lens caps are there to protect it when I'm not using it, and if your worried there is a honeycombe filter available which should protect it, and also make the light reflecting off the lens less visable to the enemy.

I feel this scope sits towards the upper end of the price/quality scale behind the real Aimpoint scope. I'm sure the cheaper versions work just as well. Its just a matter of longetivity at the end of the day. The difference between a cheap and expensive car, they both do the same thing, its a case of for how long and how well.

The other benifit of using the RDS for me, is than when using black ammo it helps and is a lot faster than using the iron sights, or just following the line of white bb's, because you cant see black bb's, and neither can the enemy!

UrPeaceKeeper

Bring it on!!

Registered: May 2005
Location: USA
Posts: 3,403

Review Date: 12/2/06

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 9

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	All Metal, Non Fogging
Cons:	Weak Anchoring Bolt Metal

I have the NB-13(A) which is basically the same thing except a differnt mount.

Most People know these sites as the Guarder Aimpoint Version X (Advanced,Standard,etc where X is the version Number) Mine being the Version 1 Advanced.

I Purchased mine from Redwolf Airsoft for 60 USD and when it came I must say I was quite enthused to open it. I ran into a problem figuring out which way the batteries went in, but after a little fiddleing around with it I finally managed to get everything put in correctly. Turned it on and the Red Dot is quite nice! Outside it makes a clean circle and inside its a little bit blurred at the edges but nothing big.

I noticed one thing after mounting it onto my TM M14, the bolt that goes through the base to mount and hold it in place on the RIS/RAS is of a very poor metal. After using the provided hex key for about 3 times tightening it (because it was coming loose)the key would spin freely. After some serious consideration I took my dremel to it and made a line through the entire head of the bolt to use a standard flat screwdriver. So far, no issues with the bolt causing me greif!

As mentioned above, the battery usage is absolutely obsurd, but the batteries are cheap to comeby here in the USA

I gave it a 9 out of 10 for the sole reason of the bolt being poor quality, its a key part and should have been made just a tad bit better, but everything else is superb! I love mine to death and it stays accurate even after taking it off and putting it back on (I change between the 4x32 and the Aimpoint quite frequently)

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