Posted: 3/1/2007 11:21:53 PM EDT
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I was looking at Joseph's thread on the new CompM4's, and it got me to wondering. I have a CompM3, 2MoA. Other than taking a more standardized and readily available/cheap battery, what does this thing do? I know it has an integral rail mount, but does that justify the retail price on these? For roughly the same amount of money, one could buy an ACOG. I'm totally not trying to crap on JKiser's thread, or anyone who is selling these, I am just confused. They look neat, and are the latest and greatest from Aimpoint, but a CompM2 or M3 will last for what seems like an eternity when left on. Aimpoint's site says 50,000 hours - so if you buy a couple batteries, in theory it should last longer than the operational life of your weapon. What am I not getting here? Did I miss something? |
1. It's NEW, NEW, NEW!!! 2. Comes with integrated mount. 3. Being used by the military. 4. Did I mention it is NEW, NEW, NEW!!! 5. 80,000 hours battery life. P.S. My new shipment of M4's will be here on Tuesday and they will be at least $1 less expensive than his. 
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M2 = 5,000 hours M3 = 50,000 hours M4 w/integrated mount = 80,000 hours You are not missing anything here. If you have an M3 and mount then you are good. If you have an M2, you now have a great reason to get a new one. The price tag that I posted is MAP (i.e. I can't post a lower price). That being said, the price of the M4 is about the same as the M3 and a mount together. Give me a call and I will give you the MIL/LEO/ARF discount.  I reject the notion that "new new new" would be a motivation. That is to say, the price tag is just too damn high to warrant a "new new new" purchase. However, for the military folks who are driving an M2/5000 hour rig, the M4 is an awesome upgrade and well worth the dough. Think about it, in theater, you would NEVER have to change the battery and NEVER have to turn it off. Or, you could pull a dead battery out of your NVD's and still get 1000+ hours out of it. If the price tag gives you sticker shock, I have EOTech 512's in stock. JK |
I agree with your comments for the most part especially the LEO/military application, but there is a little "coolness" factor of having the newest, latest, and greatest technology. Some people like iPod's. I don't have a use for them, but that doesn't mean they aren't cool. Some people are standing in line the night before for the new 2 Terabyte iPod that is smaller than a credit card when their 1 Gigabyte iPod already holds 10 million songs. The same thing goes with Treo's. A guy buys a new Treo for $400 uses it for 6 months and the new one comes out but he's not eligible for the discounted upgrade price but has to have it, so he goes out and spends $599 on a new one. YMMV. Edited to add: I just did the math on these. 80,000 hours of battery life is over 9 years of continuous use! |
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I very much understand what BigDawg308 is saying. There is a huge part of the market that will always ditch last year's cool thing for this year's new cool thing. I've seen this happen with flip-up sights, stocks and rail systems the most. It's also happened a lot with optics mounts. Hell, I did the same ditching all my ARMS stuff for the LaRue mounts because I do think they are better. I've personally broken an ARMS throw lever and had one mount get VERY loose with little use. But, I digress. Personally, I think the new Aimpoints are nice, but I don't like that giant knob hanging out the left side. I really, really like LaRue mounts and hate mounts with a giant knob. But I don't dislike the knob enough to NOT buy one of these. I played with one at SHOT and think it is an awesome sight. I'm very much an Aimpoint guy. I'm sure I'll have one of these in the near future. A selling point for me is keeping the damn thing turned on. Since I use an AR as my primary home defense weapon, I like the fact that I can keep the optic turned on without worrying about batteries failing. Kiser is correct about the cost. You might at first glance think WOW! But when you factor in the cost of a mount (if you bought an older Aimpoint) the price isn't bad. Mark |
I didn't realize the M2's were only 5,000 hours. I know that's what the majority of the military that gets optics is using right now, so I see how that could be an upgrade. I had an M2 awhile back, but ended up selling it because I was using my TA01-NSN more, and wanted the cash for an M4-2000. I never went through the battery it came with. I guess the fact that it comes with an integral mount and a killflash makes up for the cost a bit. I'm used to running a simple QRP, so I have never dumped alot of money into Aimpoint mounts, and I know there are $200+ mounts on the market. Not really a big EoTech fan. I have tried 2 different models, and the reticle is very distracting for me - so much so that my shot consistency went to hell when trying to zero @ 25m. To each his own, though. I have a buddy that swears by his EoTech. |