So I picked up a 2nd AR-15 a month or so back for around $470 ( Bushmaster sale for Law Enforcement/Military) Figured It would make for a good target gun. I been thinking of some optics for it but cant afford to buy a 2nd Eotech or Aimpoint. Maybe someone with some experience with a few budget optics can help me out here.

I Have been looking at a few, such as the Lucid HD7 and Vortex SPARC. I see great reviews on both companies, just cant decide what is best. If anyone knows of better brands that are around $250 or less and can co-witness with magpul flip up sights I'm all ears.

The new primary arms micro dot with the Fortis mount looks good. I'm going to get one of those. On sale now for 159



ETA: This one, they have a lower 1/3 as well.



https://www.primaryarms.com/Fortis_F1_Optics_Mount_p/fortis-f1ab-md-ad.htm

That one does looks nice. Are they pretty reliable?

If you're on a budget, https://www.primaryarms.com/Primary_Arms_30mm_Red_Dot_p/primary-arms-30mm-red-dot.htm is only $70 with a free mount.

I've got a Primary Arms MD-06 and so far it's working fine. Haven't beat it up too much though. Looks like the microdot prices jumped big time; I paid less than $100 for mine including the QD mount.

I recently purchased a Burris AR 332  3X scope with illuminated reticle at Sportsman's Outfitters for $259 shipped. Burris has a $100 rebate going on for this and a few other scopes which puts the price of this scope at $159, a screaming deal for this scope. I like mine so much I bought another one. Pretty decent both eyes open glass for the money, some think the reticle is small but it works fine for me and I have 60yo eyes. Green/Red illumination is bight enough for bright sun use and a black reticle if you turn the illumnation off or the battery fails. I don't know how battery life is as I haven't had them long enough to tell but I prefer the black reticle for daytime anyway.  Some people have complained about the reticle being canted but that isn't the case with mine but I'm changing the mount over to an American Defense AD-B3 Acog mount which works on the Burris as well, mostly for the quick detach ability.

I like idea of the black reticle , my PK-AS is like that

HD7.  Or its microdot little brother, the Lucid M7 on a one inch riser for lower 1/3.  I have both.  Two M7s.  Both versions are rugged and have a lot of advanced features, especially the auto illumination, the tethered turrets and battery caps, and run on a single AAA.  The HD7 has four useful reticles.  The little 4.7 ounce M7 only has the EOTech type circle dot (25 MOA circle arounfd fine 2 MOA dot), but it is the most versatile of the four.  I run one of the M7s on a 12 gauge shotgun, so durability is not an issue.

how is the M7 compared to the vortex sparc gen 2? I'm pretty set on either the HD7, SPARC, or maybe even the M7. I love how the sparc gen 2 comes with the mount to co-witness with my sights.

I can't compare to the SPARC, since I don't have one.  Specs indicate that it is bigger, heavier and has only a dot reticle. The M7 is 4.7 ounces, runs on a single AAA, has the auto illumination on the dot, has the tethered turrets and caps, has the really useful EOTech type circle dot reticle, and 2 hour autoshut off.  All I can say is that I liked it enough that I bought a second one to run on the shotgun.  The first one is in a rather pricey ADM QD mount.   You do have to spend maybe $10-20 dollars more for a 1" riser to co-witness, but that is a very minor expense.  Here is how the M7 looks in the lower ADM QD mount for essentially an absolute co-witness and sitting on a cheap 1" fixed riser for lower 1/3.

So i decided to just go with the Vortex SPARC gen 2 after seeing one in person.  I will be ordering it soon and will do some testing to see how it holds up.

I love my Primary Arms 4X prism.  Awesome optic for the money!