OP: Don't go from one extreme to another. There are many excellent and durable mini red dots on the market priced well below the combat grade and outrageously priced stuff.
I really like the dots of Lucid. The full size HD7 is built like a tank. I've run one for over a year. It takes everything I can dish out, even 12 gauge shotgun slugs and full power buckshot. Then Lucid released the little M7 microdot. It is amazing. I now have two of those after finding that it would handle the shotgun recoil, too. One is now in a QD riser mount to swap out with a QD mounted midpowered scope, and the other is permanently mounted low with no riser on the tactical 12 gauge.
Each of these Lucid optics are priced at $189 or less with discount coupons from lots of vendors. They both have a lot of really good advanced features, including automatic dot intensity with manual override, automatic shutoff after two hours, run on a single AAA battery that ought to last perhaps years with the auto shutoff for most of us, and a very effective EOTech like donut dot reticle. The bigger HD7 has a separate reticle turret with three other dot choices, all useful, and they all shoot to the same point. Turrets on both models are capped and along with the battery cap are securely tethered with a sturdy covered wire. Amazing value and performance. I don't think you'll find a bad review of either anywhere.
Forgive my enthusiasm, but this is really good stuff. I tried some of the cheap stuff and was disappointed. I don't mind spending $1,000 or more on a good scope and $200+ on a high quality QD mount, but I see no reason to spend $400-600+ on a red dot.