I am wondering if I could get a good optic(besides irons) for the flattop I am planing on building. I am looking for under $100, I know this is really cheap but I am not rich!

Thanks
     Justin

However long you saved up to get the $100 you have, keep saving 4 times longer and get an Aimpoint, EoTech or Reflex. Sorry I can make no other recomendations!

I agree with New-ARGuy, you are better off with those optic, but you might be able to get away with a nice range optic by looking into the OKO or the Bushnell Holosight.  

Keep practiciting with iron sight and do yourself a favor. Save up and buy a quality glass.

I am actually thinking of getting the KOBRA sight! what do u think?

Justin

I will slightly diverge from the above statements, to mix things up a bit.

I own an OKO, Eotech 512, ACOG, and a Tasco Propoint.

The Propoint has never failed me (except it died when I was shooting at 10 degrees below zero, because the lithium battery couldn't handle the temp).

My OKO broke. This is probably rare, but none-the-less it happened to me. It broke at the mounts, where I believe is a very poorly designed part of the sight.

The Propoint does every thing the Eotech does it puts a red dot on the target and maintains zero.

The Propoint works great for everything I use it for. Pinking at the Range and blasting ground squirrels.

If I was doing any kind of competition or High profile shooting. I would definately go with a high quality sight. Mostly because they have been tested and abused and are proven rugged and reliable.

But for plinking the Tasco fits the bill and was less than $100. Plus it outlasted my $200 OKO (The OKO was sweet though, because it was extremely light and the battery lasts forever).

Well...i am currently going through a similar experience, although not with my AR.  Wanted to put a reflex optic on my "social shotgun", so i pickd up a bushnell trophy red dot for $75.  Held together for less than 100 rounds, then self destructed.  Sent it back (15 bucks), got a new one in today, and wouldn't you know it?  Darned thing won't turn off when in the "0" setting unless i leave the battery cover really really loose.....
Bottom line, i'm $75+15 in the hole with nothing to show for it...i'm going to have to spend over $105 bucks on a scope that *may* work next time I get another sample (can't very well return it, it was off of ebay)  
Next time i'm getting an OKO!!!

I knocked one of my Kobras off my workbench onto a concrete floor...twice (you'd have thought I'd have learned the first time)...without even scratching it.  I doubt you could do that with an OKO, hood or not.  

There are some design issues with putting a Kobra on an AR...it was designed for an AK, after all...but it does work.  I had one on my M4 for a while, and shot some very nice groups with it.  If you can live with the hump in the back, which sort of forces you to look over it, then it will work fine, and they're tough as nails.  As Troy says, though, a BUIS is out of the question though.  

I have a ProPoint3 Plus on one of my ARs now.  It has a much brighter dot than the Aimpoints I've looked through, under the same conditions.  (I've shot with a guy a couple of times who owns every optic you could put on an AR: Elcan, Aimpoint, Eotech, you name it).  

I shot the rifle with the Aimpoint, then he pulled that off and put the ProPoint on...I had to turn it down, the dot was so bright.  

Now, with the ProPoint, you obviously don't get the parallax free sight you do with an Aimpoint.  For casual plinking, though, I'm sure you can live without it.  Plus, in the old Eotech vs. Aimpoint debate, everyone creams over the 4moa Aimpoint dot for CQB.  Well, the ProPoint 3 has a 10 moa dot, so there! [:D]

My only bitch with the ProPoint is the mount...the rings are cheap, and the Plus model is a 33mm tube...so nothing else works on it that I'm aware of.  

I also just got an Aetec 3.8x12 scope.  I paid about $135 for it, but I've heard Wally World has 'em for $100.  The scope is crystal clear, very bright, and although it doesn't have target turrets, the adjustments have tactile and audible clicks that are better than ones I've seen on much more expensive scopes.  

I had a Simmons Pro Hunter 6x18 on my Armalite for a year and a half, and never had a problem with it.  That rifle shot so many 1/2" groups in that time that I still use it as the standard to compare all my other ARs to.

Now, I absolutely agree that there are cheap POS out there, no question.  But there are also some inexpensive optics that will certainly do what you need them to, and won't break or fall apart.  Finding those while avoiding the POSes is the trick.  That's where experience REALLY pays off lol.  
 

You guys are great! But I bought my OKO second hand so I don't expect any warranty applies.

Although, I tried to explicitly follow the instructions. I might have messed it up, you have to be very careful when mounting, unlike other sights (the mounts are very fragile). The sight worked great for about three months then the mount broke.

You could probably get by with a cheap optic, but it will break, and wind up costing you more in the long run. Put togeither an EOTech fund and drop your loose change in it every day, you will have enough before you know it.

So what would be better EOTech or AIMPOINT?

Thanks
    Justin

Eotech or Aimpoint-LOL Read the 138 posts on the subject "Eotech or Aimpoint-distance shots". I saved for 3 months to get one or the other. Both are great. But if you can not wait and find yourself with just having to buy a dot sight other than the 2 mentioned above, I would go with the OKO for sure. I do know several that own them and have had zero problems and it really is a fairly tuff sight. But try and hold off just a little longer