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Posted: 3/29/2005 3:57:24 AM EDT
| I've been searching for a TA31F for awhile. I found a dealer that has an amber reticle TA31F. Is the amber as good as the red or should I keep searching? |
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Paul covered it pretty well. About the only things I would add is that amber can be handy if you are red-colorblind and that most people see amber as "brighter" (meaning if you take two reticles of equal intensity, one red and one amber, the amber reticle will appear brighter). Also, it is worth remembering that your individual eyes play a big part in the color choice as well. Some people will find amber easier to use than others. The problem with amber is that there are a lot more amber colored objects in nature than red colored objects. In addition to that, most of planet Earth is lit with yellowish-white light. In most cases, you won't have a problem with the amber reticles and they can be very easy to see and often provide better contrast than the red. Where you run into a problem is when you are aiming from a dark area into a better lit area or have a brightly lit amber colored background like those described by Paul. Normally on an ACOG, if the target background is more brightly lit, it just overpowers the tritium and fiber illumination and you see a black etched reticle that is still very usable as an aiming point. Sometimes you get marginal lighting though where the ACOG is lit at almost the same level as the background. With a red reticle, you will still see the reticle but contrast will be poorer. However, since most lighting has a yellowish-white hue (sunlight, sodium lights, indoor lamps, flourescent lights, etc.), the amber reticle can gray out or even disappear in the same conditions if the background has a lot of orange/amber/brown color in it. To get an idea of what I am talking about, imagine using a very dim red reticle in a red-lit photographer's dark room.. Forest had a good discussion of this phemnomena with brown IDPA targets and flashlights used in conjunction with an amber compact ACOG. |
Yup....I know the threads about the TA31's....but as another option to toss around, the Accupoints have an incorporated shade that rolls over the fiber optic, turning the amber to black, should washout ever become a problem. As it turns out, I like to keep mine blacked out all the time unless I specifically WANT the lit reticule. 
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| I'm experimenting with an amber triangle reticled Mini ACOG TA47-2 to see which color I like better. At the moment I still favor the red donut and triangle of the TA11 and TA11D, but the amber triangle is quickly growing on me. To be fair I haven't had the Mini ACOG out for any type of professional instruction yet, so I presently have know idea how it would fare in a more realistic training environment. |
+1 for Amber. It just seems brighter to me in all conditionds. Tack |
+1 Buy what works for your eyes, not what everyone else buys. My choice is red. And if amber doesn't turn out to be the icing on your cake, you can always sell it for the same (or more!) than you paid. _________________________________________ |
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