Glockman1000 Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Working on my Glock Open build & got this last week & would like to give an unofficial review/unboxing of the product. Fast Fire III 8MOA w/Picatinny mount. First up the Box: Contents sans the battery & the FFIII since I had already mounted it. Mini screwdriver, Sunshade/protector, Picatinny mount, Torx driver for mounting to Picatinny base, Manual & warranty card, Cleaning cloth. Mounted on my Glock 24 slide with a Springer Precision mount. Really liking the screwdriver adjustments for W&E, laser boresighted in less than a minute. Left profile showing the Power/Adjustment button. Not soft & takes a firm press to activate: Front view below the lens is the autosensor, If you melt the FFIII & don't plan to use the auto adjust setting, you could probably do without it. Top view of the battery compartment with screw in cap, toss up on this one, since I don't know how well it may stay on while in use on a slide ride, just to be safe, I'll probably be checking it before every stage: Next post more on the dot brightness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glockman1000 Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 Continued: The auto adjust responds fairly quickly to changes in light conditions from initial testing going in & outside & different rooms in the house. Press Once-Auto adjust with a single room lamp: Next press-High brightness: Next press-Medium brightness: The camera did something as it looked redder to me that the pic is showing. Next press-Low brightness: The brightness matched the auto adjust in the room lighting. Press it one more time & it shuts off. Press it again & repeat the cycle. So far I really like the layout of this sight. The dot is really well defined. The ease of zero adjustment without having to play with opposing locking screws (I had an Optima when they first came out.) You can feel really soft clicks when adjusting it. Works with Burris Fastfire II mounts, obviously with the Springer mount also! Manual claims it is water resistant but if exposed to saltwater or dirty water to rinse with distilled water. Two things that bother me are the battery compartment, convenient for changing but how well it will hold up to constant slide riding is still to be tested, but if used on a micro dot mount might not be so bad, second is the availability of the battery, it uses a CR1632, that I have yet to find out here, good thing we have a watch repairman that is one of our club members & might have these available. Will have more info after I give it a test run this weekend at the range, weather permitting. Safe Shooting All! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herm1963 Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I just got one with the smaller dot. Will be my first and will be trying it out tomorrow for the first time.... Herman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark K Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 One of my problems with the Fastfire II was that the dot was not that bright, so I went to a C-More STS. Can you tell me how the Fastfire III compares with the Fastfire II or the STS for Brightness? Mark K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glockman1000 Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 Hi Mark, I've never had a FFII or STS so I can't compare them, in all fairness brightness might be subjective to each person. I will post when I've had a chance to try it out. I'm going to try it when it's real bright out & on different backgrounds to see if it washes out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkrispies Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Glockman and Herm, any updates? Beauftiful pictures above-- it definitely looks like a nice round dot. I'm researching dots for a 10/22 for sure and possibly an AR, and it's basically down to a FastFire III, C-MORE STS, or C-MORE RTS. Any info you have would be very much appreciated; I'm leaning a bit towards the FF III due to the lower cost and the availability of an American Defense QD mount for the FF III. I'm definitely interested in dot brightness, as I'd like to go with a smaller dot since it will be going on a rifle... but if I can't see the smaller dot then that makes the whole thing irrelevant! Thanks, J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glockman1000 Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 I've had to put off live fire tests due to work for the last weekend & this coming weekend. I'll post as soon as I can get out to the range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sendit223 Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Can you tell me how the Fastfire III compares with the Fastfire II or the STS for Brightness? Mark K I have the FFI and FFII. I also have an FFIII that should arrive this week. If it (finally) gets here I'll compare brightness for you. Sendit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glockman1000 Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 That would be awesome Sendit, work has me tied up hopefully you can shed some light on the subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sendit223 Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 That would be awesome Sendit, work has me tied up hopefully you can shed some light on the subject. Got the FFIII today and only had time to do a quick comparison to what was handy and that was the FFI (not two). The FFI has a brightness sensor as does the FFIII, so I put them side by side under a very bright light to see what they would do. There is no comparison. The FFI is WAAAAAAAAAAYYY brighter than the FFIII on any setting. By "WAAAAAAAAAAYYY brighter" I would estimate at least 3x brighter. The FFIII's brightness settings are very nice though for a rifle set up I think. The settings are consistent and have a good degree of separation between them. The lowest setting is very low and I'm looking forward to seeing that in low light conditions. Overall design is a vast upgrade IMO from previous versions. The adjustments alone make that true. As stated above, the battery security needs to be tested if riding a slide. I would think it is GTG for a secondary optic on a RAMP for an AR though.....and that's exactly where mine is headed. Sendit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outerlimits Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 That would be awesome Sendit, work has me tied up hopefully you can shed some light on the subject. Got the FFIII today and only had time to do a quick comparison to what was handy and that was the FFI (not two). The FFI has a brightness sensor as does the FFIII, so I put them side by side under a very bright light to see what they would do. There is no comparison. The FFI is WAAAAAAAAAAYYY brighter than the FFIII on any setting. By "WAAAAAAAAAAYYY brighter" I would estimate at least 3x brighter. The FFIII's brightness settings are very nice though for a rifle set up I think. The settings are consistent and have a good degree of separation between them. The lowest setting is very low and I'm looking forward to seeing that in low light conditions. Overall design is a vast upgrade IMO from previous versions. The adjustments alone make that true. As stated above, the battery security needs to be tested if riding a slide. I would think it is GTG for a secondary optic on a RAMP for an AR though.....and that's exactly where mine is headed. Sendit I compared my FF2 to the newly arrived FF3 and the brightness is the same. Since the dot is a bit smaller, maybe that's the perception. IAC, the battery change and adjustments are worth it alone. Mine is going on top of my open 930. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gator11 Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 I was debating between the FFIII or C-more for my Ruger 22/45. Shoot steel outdoors, anyone have a recommendation for that application? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark K Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 I was debating between the FFIII or C-more for my Ruger 22/45. Shoot steel outdoors, anyone have a recommendation for that application? I can only compare/contrast the FFII, the C-More Slide Ride, and the C-More STS. To me, either of the C-More products are brighter than the FFII. The Slide Ride has the advantage of adjustable diode, the STS has the automatic diode, easy batter changing, and click sight adjustments. Though I do not yet have one, the C-More RTS is the same as the STS, but with a larger Screen. Mark K. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkrispies Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 The RTS also has built in rails, which saves money. I think it's also a little less expensive than the STS anyway... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amerflyer48 Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 (edited) On that batt compartment I would use 2 small dots of paint as lineup "locked" indicators and witness marks to see if it moves easy to tell at a glance if your all set. used to have a red dot above the 9 on my old Tasco PDPs auto touch up paint and a toothpick. might look into one of those for my 10mm since my PDP is getting flaky in its advanced years John Edited June 27, 2012 by Amerflyer48 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sendit223 Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Tonight I lined up the FFI, FFII and FFIII. The outlier is the FFI. It is brighter than the other two. I suppose it could be a sensor issue, but I doubt it. In my informal test I put them under a bright halogen light (as in right under) and observed the dot. It was easy to quickly shift one to another by holding one in each hand with them touching sides. The FFI is the brightest by quite a bit IMO. In any case I got my FFIII mostly for the adjustment setup and for the battery location. I also had another hunting rig with a RAMP that needed a red dot. For that purpose the FF series is great. Sendit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmurfJet Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I'd be interested in some opinions from folks who've used this sight for a while. I'm considering it for shotgun use, so I'm especially interested in finding out how well it holds a zero. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskapopo Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I like how they have the easier to adjust elevation and windage adjustments now. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPRSkip Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I have always wondered about how well the Springer Precision mount would hold up. Do you feel like it will hold up well and not course any problems with cycling while riding the slide? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike41 Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 So will the FFIII work ok in bright outside conditions or would a C-more be a better choice? Application would be on a 22/45 in Steel challenge type shooting. Please advise! Thanks, Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverphoenix Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 Did you have any prolems sighting it in? I'm thinking of getting one for my XDM9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Force Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 Just picked up a FF3,8moa w/pic mount yesterday Gonna attempt to slap it on top of my TS .22 conversion slide. Waiting on a dovetail mount which should arrive next Monday. So far, not a big fan of the battery on top idea. The lid seems to want to try and cross thread when tightening it up. Brightness in Auto seems to work pretty good from my limited testing. The power button is hard to press, but may be a good thing to help keep it from turning on by accident. Will post more once I get the dovetail mount and get the sight mounted and zeroed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Any more reviews or followups. I just bought one and am having it installed presently. Got the 3 min dot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MustangGreg66 Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Wow, I didn't realize it was a different battery. I thought it was the seemingly classic CR2032 that most red dots use. I've been trying to decide whether to upgrade to the FFIII from the FFII or go with the c-more RTS for a .22 pistol. Not sure I'll go with the RTS just yet either, but this has strayed me away from the FF III. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 The batteries for the Fastfire III can be had on Amazon.com for $4.76 for 5 with free shipping. That isn't bad at all. http://www.amazon.com/Energizer-CR1632-Volt-Lithium-Battery/dp/B002U4O5SC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now