Vortex StrikeFire - Broken?

[Lumber_Jack]

Call me Mac or PM. I'll come look at it. Mine is in JC but I can at least tell you if it looks normal.

[R1100R]

Maybe blurred was the wrong word other than I see the dot out of focus. I have Presbyopia in both eyes. Thought it was a astigmatism. This was what the Doctor told me before I ever wore glasses. I got hooked up with a perscription for shooting because at the time I had to quailify with a red dot on my weapon.

 

Might want to look it up.

 

I bought a used SIG red dot at a local GS for $20.00 yesterday and the dot looks perfect to me. Go figure.

Edited January 1, 2014 by R1100R

[Oh Shoot]

Update: Garufa and LumberJack both have looked at it now, and both said the dot and the brightness controls are aberrant. G has the red dot version and LJ has the red/green same as mine.

 

I'll contact Vortex again tomorrow.

 

- OS

[Lumber_Jack]

The dot looked more like a shotgun pattern of mini-dots. And the brightness control only worked sporadically. Definitely not the way mine operates or looks. Sent from my iPad using Voodoo magic

[Oh Shoot]

The dot looked more like a shotgun pattern of mini-dots. And the brightness control only worked sporadically. Definitely not the way mine operates or looks. Sent from my iPad using Voodoo magic

 

Sure do appreciate your dropping by, man. I think I'll actually just mark it as broken and return to Cabela's for a swap as they still show them in stock at regular full price now.

 

 

- OS

Edited January 1, 2014 by Oh Shoot

[SingleStack]

I had one , my first and only red dot. My problem was the the dot was iregular shape more likle a line . it was actualy acurate for close range plinking.

might be ok far a kids 22.  i got it for 99.99 at bob wards in hamilton MT. paid 20 bucks for a higher mount then sold it for 70 bucks to a pawn shop in missoula MT.

Ill stick to my irons till i can afford a decent red dot.

[Garufa]

Sure do appreciate your dropping by, man. I think I'll actually just mark it as broken and return to Cabela's for a swap as they still show them in stock at regular full price now.

 

 

- OS

 

I think that's the best thing to do.  Let them send you another and hopefully it will be right. 

[Lumber_Jack]

Agreed. It's totally worth the price if it's working correctly. I'd request cabals send a prepaid postage since it's defective. May not, but I'd request anyhow

[Oh Shoot]

Agreed. It's totally worth the price if it's working correctly. I'd request cabals send a prepaid postage since it's defective. May not, but I'd request anyhow

 

Yeah, I'll call and see what the deal is. Already have return label, all orders come with them, but seems they want to charge $7.95 for it for any reason; or maybe they don't if it's marked defective, dunno. Will check it out.

 

- OS

[TrickyNicky]

 
They also said that yes, you have to hold down up and down brightness buttons rather than punch them (unlike one response here) but they seem to be very sluggish and finally "jump" to full brightness or dimness
 

Wierd, they told you you couldn't cycle through the settings one click at a time?

Has that been the experience for others? Mine will cycle through with the button held or by clicking through them?

Maybe I'll give them a call tomorrow as well, it would be interesting to see if we get conflicting reports from different CS reps.

[Oh Shoot]

Wierd, they told you you couldn't cycle through the settings one click at a time?

Has that been the experience for others? Mine will cycle through with the button held or by clicking through them?

Maybe I'll give them a call tomorrow as well, it would be interesting to see if we get conflicting reports from different CS reps.

 

Everything I mentioned to lady I talked to, it was like, yeah that's normal, must be you. Definitely said that holding down button was way brightness changed. But of course Garufa and LumberJack's work click by click.

 

I had a feeling if I had told her the thing sang Dixie she'd have said, yeah, that's a feature we put in.

 

- OS

[TrickyNicky]

Everything I mentioned to lady I talked to, it was like, yeah that's normal, must be you. Definitely said that holding down button was way brightness changed. But of course Garufa and LumberJack's work click by click.
 
I had a feeling if I had told her the thing sang Dixie she'd have said, yeah, that's a feature we put in.
 
- OS

Interesting, I'll definetly call them during lunch tomorrow. I've been meaning to call CMMG about one of their barrels too so maybe I'll have a more productive lunch than usual.

Just for fun I'll tell Vortex that I own two and one of em ain't right, hopefully that it will make it harder to phone in a "that's normal" response.

[TrickyNicky]

Update: Didn't get a chance to call today as I had to work through lunch. I'll try to do it tomorrow if I'm not as busy.

[Oh Shoot]

Update: Didn't get a chance to call today as I had to work through lunch. I'll try to do it tomorrow if I'm not as busy.

 

My update, called Cabela's and they have replacement processing before I even send this one back, and no charge to use their return label.

 

- OS

[TrickyNicky]

My update, called Cabela's and they have replacement processing before I even send this one back, and no charge to use their return label.
 
- OS

Well bam.

Glad to hear they're taking care of you. Guess tomorrow I'll still give them a call if I can. If not for anything else than to balance out my own opinion of their CS after reading Oh Shoots posts.

[Oh Shoot]

Well bam.

Glad to hear they're taking care of you. Guess tomorrow I'll still give them a call if I can. If not for anything else than to balance out my own opinion of their CS after reading Oh Shoots posts.

 

Oh, I guess Vortex would have taken it back with another call, especially once I had two owner reports. Lady really wanted me to take a pic of it, and I agreed. Didn't know I'd fail at it, especially since I was a pro photog for many years. But I don't have higher end digicam, couldn't override its limitations to get precise well exposed shot of the "non-dot" itself. Could have done it with film cam, though. :)

 

Also, I wasn't really adamant about sending it back, without a bit more research, as couldn't rule out it was my own vision at that point, and also wasn't really sure about the brightness buttons until I talked to my compadres. Manual is gray about it, says to "bump" them, not "press for each increment" or "hold down", or similar.

 

She wasn't nasty to me or anything, I wasn't really offended. But the part about holding down the brightness buttons being normal way to manipulate the intensity seems to have been fudging on her part. I mean, they click for a reason, would seem a hold down toggle wouldn't, unlike a step switch type.

 

- OS

Edited January 3, 2014 by Oh Shoot

[Guest Darthlaidher]

Everything I mentioned to lady I talked to, it was like, yeah that's normal, must be you. Definitely said that holding down button was way brightness changed. But of course Garufa and LumberJack's work click by click.

 

I had a feeling if I had told her the thing sang Dixie she'd have said, yeah, that's a feature we put in.

 

- OS

Mine changes brightness just by holding down the button. 

[Oh Shoot]

Mine changes brightness just by holding down the button. 

 

I know, apparently all do, though not as erratically as mine.  But I'd say yours also changes by single clicks, in ten steps too, eh?

 

- OS

Edited January 3, 2014 by Oh Shoot

[TripleDigitRide]

The brightness on mine changes with single clicks. I've never tried holding down the button, but I suspect that will also work.

Edited January 3, 2014 by TripleDigitRide

[Guest Darthlaidher]

I know, apparently all do, though not as erratically as mine.  But I'd say yours also changes by single clicks, in ten steps too, eh?

 

- OS

Yes, I sort of broke my strike fire though, was using some hoppes on it and apparently some must of gotten into the electronic components because you're suppose to hold down the power button to turn it off but just pushing it once turns it off and 99% of the time i can't switch from red to green. But it still works though just not as good as it use to.  

[mikegideon]

 

Also, I wasn't really adamant about sending it back, without a bit more research, as couldn't rule out it was my own vision at that point, 

 

- OS

 

I can't see a nice round dot, even on my Aimpoint. The circle dot on my Eotech optics is fine, and so is the T Dot on my Bushnell. My eyes just can't resolve a single bright dot. It's one of the reasons I prefer Eotech.

[Lumber_Jack]

[quote name="mikegideon" post="1088540" timestamp="1388766734"]I can't see a nice round dot, even on my Aimpoint. The circle dot on my Eotech optics is fine, and so is the T Dot on my Bushnell. My eyes just can't resolve a single bright dot. It's one of the reasons I prefer Eotech.[/quote] This was like a 12 MOA misshapen splatter. It wasn't remotely round. It was skewed to the upper right. I even told Mac that the dot can bleed some but this is an obvious flawed piece.

[mikegideon]

This was like a 12 MOA misshapen splatter. It wasn't remotely round. It was skewed to the upper right. I even told Mac that the dot can bleed some but this is an obvious flawed piece.

 

Yep. I caught that. Just saying that I can't tell for sure unless somebody else looks at it.

[Lumber_Jack]

So I looked at mine closely today. On the lowest brightness and magnified the dot is a group of small dots but not scattered like yours Mac. I feel very confident that yours is just a manufacturers defect. On a moderate level of brightness the mini dots are indiscernible and it's a single red dot. Just wanted to verify my memory wasn't off

[Oh Shoot]

Update: got the replacement, and yep this one:

 

- has much smaller dot, actual 4 MOA I assume, not a distorted 10 or more. Though it's not a perfectly uniformly lit precise dot like I assume some higher end ones are, at least it's the right overall size. And of course it is possible my vision is no longer optimal for this time output, but it's plenty good enough to use it.

- brightness responds correctly with single clicks in 10 steps, up or down (or held down).

- even the end caps "snap" in place, unlike the other one where you had to press on two or more edges to get it sealed. Didn't expect a diff with that, almost like first one was made from different specs.

 

I notice that this one shipped from WV and the first one from WI, so maybe a different production run or something, who knows? At any rate, pretty confident this one is doing its thing as designed.

 

Appreciate all the input folks, and Neil and Garufa, sure do appreciate y'all's personal hands-on regarding this.

 

- OS

Edited January 7, 2014 by Oh Shoot