I do not make this decision lightly. I am not endorsed by any optics company, nor am I a product ambassador for any company. The Aimpoint T-1 did not exist when I was in Army Special Operations, so my first experience with them was as an instructor when they first started showing up in my courses over 3 years ago. The very first exposure I had to them was in the first Tactical Rifle course I taught. During the Tac Rifle course (which many think is more similar to precision rifle training, but I just call it fundamentals) I had a couple guys bring them. These students were excellent shooters and were easily laying sub-MOA groups at their zero distance, which was close to 50yds. During this training we will fire a 5-10 round group, focusing on fundamentals, then go downrange and analyze the group for possible fundamental errors, and then go back and fire another group throughout the day. However, when these shooters would fire consecutive groups, they would produce a significant Point of Impact (POI) shift. This shift was anywhere between ¼” and 2”. My immediate concern, of course, was to check the sight mount for loose mounts, barrel and muzzle treatment tightness, carbon buildup in the muzzle crown, ammo lot consistency, and a number of other factors. None of those possible errors were evident. After this issue persisted, I got down behind their rifle and sighted it towards a target. I immediately noticed that when positioning my head, the aiming dot moved. So, I grabbed a rifle vise, aimed it at the target and got completely behind the buttstock. I then carefully moved my head vertically up and down. The first student’s T-1 dot moved in a “C” that was significant enough at 50yds for the dot to leave the NRA 25yd bullseye at its apogee. I then checked the second student’s T-1 and his moved in a “U” pattern. Since then I have had many T-1’s turn up at courses. EVERY ONE HAD THE SAME PROBLEM. Referencing the aiming dot to the front sight post mitigated the POI shift to some extent, but it never eliminated it. This inconsistency makes precisely zeroing the T-1 and troubleshooting other fundamental errors very difficult. In most situations, I prefer students to see the problem themselves and arrive at my conclusions without just having them take my word for it. However, I feel at this point that students coming to my Rifle Fundamentals course with a T-1 means that they are not getting the full value of the training they are paying for. I know that many in the industry are emotionally attached to all things Aimpoint and will vehemently deny that this problem exists. Interestingly, this non-existent problem was fixed with the T-2, which does not have this issue. I think that many of these people deny the issue because they never do precision grouping work with their T-1 out to the distances we do in the Tac Rifle Fundamentals course. And before you say “red dots aren’t for precision grouping”, the T-2 (and other Aimponts), EoTech, MRO, and other optics have no issues with this process. So, sorry if this triggers you (not really)- but, it is what it is. Bring your T-1 to any other course you want (you’ll hate it at the Night Vision Operator course as well- but I’ll allow it there), but not the Tactical Rifle Fundamentals course. I highly recommend dumping the T-1 if you have one, and getting a T-2 if you are an Aimpoint fan. Maybe sell the T-1 to someone who thinks it is the greatest optic ever.