Lucid 2x-5x Magnifier Review

I just purchased a Lucid 2x-5x Magnifier. Initial thoughts are that I'm very happy with it. I own a Vortex 3x mag ,but felt 3x just wasn't enough. I borrowed my buddy's Primary Arms 5x mag which was much better, but I could not mount it without removing my Matech buis or putting the aimpoint micro on the handguard, or having the aimpoint hang halfway off over the Delta Ring which is a no no if you want to maintain zero. There just wasn't enough room on the rail. The Primary Arms 5x also did not fit my Larue LT755 mount. The above pic shows what I'm talking about as far as fitting on the rail with all magnifiers lined up above for comparison. The Vortex is on top followed by the Primary Arms and the Lucid mounted on the weapon.

Ok. on with the review. The Lucid 2x-5x fit perfectly in my Larue LT755 flip to side mount. It is slightly longer than the vortex but everything fit perfectly on the rail. The glass is clear on par with the Vortex and the Primary Arms magnifiers but not acog clear if you know what I mean. There is both elevation and windage screws that you can use to center the dot in the magnifier, but I did not have to use them since the Boys at Larue make quality mounts that line everything up perfectly. You can adjust the magnifier from 2x to 3x to 4x to 5x and see the difference. The eye relief sort of changes from 2x to 5x. I do nose to charging handle, and at 2x I couldn't get a good picture. I had to move my head back a bit. At 3x on up the eye relief was perfect for me at nose to charging handle and I was able to still see if I moved back 3 inches. The site says that it is nitrogen purged for fog proofing, 100% waterproof but doesn't say to how many feet underwater, and shockproof rated to a .458 Socom. It also has a limited lifetime warranty. Whatever that means.....

Some may see a need for a variable magnifier. I do not. I just leave it on 5x and flip it out of the way and flip it back when I need it. I see no use for the 2x or the 3x or the 4x, but I ended getting this magnifier because I wanted a 5x, it fits my larue mount and you just can't beat the price compared to Aimpoint and Eotech magnifiers which are way too expensive in my opinion, have the same glass quality, and most importantly are underpowered. I got the Lucid for $229 at mylucidgear.com.

nice, how much?

He said $229. Nice write up. I've been keeping an eye on this one too, but was waiting on some feedback. How forgiving is the eye box on it? Do you have to keep your head at the exact right place and distance or does it offer some wiggle room as far as eye and head placement?

Is that including the mount? If not, does it come with a mount?

Great review! Mine's still going strong, although I'd only pair the 5X with an EOTech BDC model (557/EXPS3-4). Without a BDC, magnification above 3X isn't that helpful IME.

thanks, oh and he also said:

I was more wondering of how forgiving the optic is about keeping your head right behind it. For example, some ACOG models, and the Leupold Prismatic have very forgiving eye view cones behind them of "eh close enough" with respect to distance and side to side/up down placement of the eye while other scopes have very rigid eye boxes of "your eye must be exactly in line with the scope." Basically how forgiving is the scope of non-standard shooting positions. Although he does mention eye relief, he makes no mention of the actual eye box, or cone of view behind the optic.

Eyebox is average but won't be as good as a 1-4X variable scope.

The eyebox is okay. Nothing spectacular. If I do not have a proper cheekrest on the stock, you get those black rings that move around the edges, but it is good enough in my opinion. For my purposes, it suits me just fine as I always bring the weapon to the exact place on my face each and everytime and get a good sight picture. It does have slight room for error still giving you a good sight picture.

It does not come with a mount. I used a Larue LT755 flip to side mount which I got years ago. It goes for $150. There are cheaper ones out there. If you google flip to side mount under the shopping tab in google there are ones for about $50. The good thing is that if you get a cheaper 30mm mount that is slightly off in alignment, you can center the dot on the magnifier with the adjustment screws. The aimpoint and vortex magnifiers have the same adjustment screws. I believe the Primary Arms does not, but don't quote me on that since I have since returned the Primary Arms mag back to my buddy.

I love mine....I keep it at 4X in a larue flip behind an EXPS.
As a previous reviewer stated, eye relief is best at 3-4X, but I like the 5X for precision sighting in at 50Y.

Update....

I suffer from astigmatism. Outdoors, I see a perfect dot on a sunny day when using a magnifier. Indoors, I see a cluster of grapes. A few days ago, I went to an indoor range where normally with a Vortex magnifier or any magnifier for that matter, I see a cluster of grapes and have a hard time picking which dot is the actual one. With this Lucid Magnifier, the cluster of grapes was still there. However, the main dot was clearly visible from the rest and I was able to differentiate it and shoot with accuracy. I noticed that switching it from 5x to 4x with the adjustment ring really cleared up the dot. YMMV.

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