FTP Alpha3 optic experiences

[FTP_Shooting_Sports]

When the dot blinks in a regular pattern, that is a low battery. We alway recommend installing a new, high quality (no dollar store stuff) batteries before a match. If you want to be 100 % sure, check the battery on a voltmeter. A new battery should be 3.2-3.3 volts. Often old or dollar store batteries will be 3 or less volts right out of the package. The dots will experience low voltage issues around 2.8 volts.

 

When we offered a competition orientated red dot for the market, dot brightness was one of our biggest priorities. Lots of dots were too dim to use under the bright sun. This does mean the optic will tax the battery heavily but that is a small price to pay for the benefits.

 

Considering what a match costs you (travel, ammo, gas etc), a couple of bucks on a new battery is a MUST!

 

 

[JM_]

On 12/25/2022 at 11:05 PM, CHA-LEE said:

If the dot has a pulsing frequency higher than 60hz then the human eye can't "Observe" it flickering. Can you catch this On/Off behavior in an electronically captured image (Picture/Video)? Absolutely.

 

Many Red Dot manufactures purposefully flicker the LED dot off/on (Above 60hz) to reduce battery consumption. This is actually how they get the small 2032 style batteries to last tens of thousands of hours.

 

A human observable flickering dot can be due to marginal battery connectivity, component solder failures on the Circuit Board, or mechanical failure within the sight itself. I have also observed a "Flickering" dot scenario while shooting when my scope mount was cracked.

 

Lastly I want to point out that NOTHING lasts forever and $hit happens. If you shoot a lot, stuff will break. I always have 2 - 3 spare Red Dots on hand regardless of what brand or model I prefer to use. This is the cost of competing. The expense of 2 - 3 Red Dot sights is chump change in comparison to the grand total expenses the practical shooting sports costs. 

 

 

A human can easily notice differences above 60hz for moving images/light. Try a computer monitor that has 144hz (and even higher) and you'll know what I'm talking about. The flicker that I showed in the images happens with many different brands. Vortex, cmore, and any cheaply made dot. Always happens new out of the box. Im not saying it inherently makes it a bad optic, but it makes it a strong no go for me. Which is why I returned my alpha 3's the day I got them.

[Bakerjd]

On 12/29/2022 at 4:51 PM, JM_ said:

A human can easily notice differences above 60hz for moving images/light. Try a computer monitor that has 144hz (and even higher) and you'll know what I'm talking about. The flicker that I showed in the images happens with many different brands. Vortex, cmore, and any cheaply made dot. Always happens new out of the box. Im not saying it inherently makes it a bad optic, but it makes it a strong no go for me. Which is why I returned my alpha 3's the day I got them.

Dunno what you are talking about. I have 4 of these myself and no issues other then the one I broke the glass on. But it was well used. And mounted to a slide. 

[FTP_Shooting_Sports]

I think everyone's eyes are different. We have sold a lot of these and only had one customer (the gentleman commenting in this thread) say they could see this blinking phenomena. When he said he saw that, we took them back and refunded him with no issue.

 

A movie is still pictures at 24 FPS and the majority of people don't see any perceived issues. We and the manufacturer have tested the dot under slow motion video and you cannot even see the dot blinking at all until hundreds of FPS. As such, we don't perceive any issue for the common user that requires anything to be changed. The goal was to have the biggest and brightest dots available for competitors with features that appeal to the widest variety of people.

 

 

[SergioSF]

I have mine slide-mounted on my Carry Optics gun and have never experienced any flickering or any issues. The dot is clear and clean. The only "blinking" I saw, was when it was telling me to replace the battery.

 

 

Edited January 1, 2023 by SergioSF
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[FTP_Shooting_Sports]

On 12/31/2022 at 6:44 PM, SergioSF said:

I have mine slide-mounted on my Carry Optics gun and have never experienced any flickering or any issues. The dot is clear and clean. The only "blinking" I saw, was when it was telling me to replace the battery.

 

 

 

Thanks for your feedback

[CHA-LEE]

In my testing of many different red dots the FTP Alpha 3 has the least amount of Parallax. There is only about 2 inches of Point of Impact (POI) shift at 25 yards with the dot biased to the edges of the glass (Top/Bottom/Left/Right). This same Parallax testing with several other very popular brands produces 3x - 4x (6 - 8 inches) more POI shift. This might not seem like a lot of POI shift but its enough to produce a miss on head shot past 25 yards if the dot isn't in the center of the glass. This becomes a problem in those really funky shooting positions where your body is all pretzeled up and you can't get your head behind the gun in a normal position resulting in only seeing the dot on the very edge of the glass.

 

This is a very edge case scenario as it will be rare when we are intentionally firing shots with the dot on the edge of the glass. But it does happen.

[FTP_Shooting_Sports]

2 hours ago, CHA-LEE said:

In my testing of many different red dots the FTP Alpha 3 has the least amount of Parallax. There is only about 2 inches of Point of Impact (POI) shift at 25 yards with the dot biased to the edges of the glass (Top/Bottom/Left/Right). This same Parallax testing with several other very popular brands produces 3x - 4x (6 - 8 inches) more POI shift. This might not seem like a lot of POI shift but its enough to produce a miss on head shot past 25 yards if the dot isn't in the center of the glass. This becomes a problem in those really funky shooting positions where your body is all pretzeled up and you can't get your head behind the gun in a normal position resulting in only seeing the dot on the very edge of the glass.

 

This is a very edge case scenario as it will be rare when we are intentionally firing shots with the dot on the edge of the glass. But it does happen.

 

Thanks for your feedback

[FTP_Shooting_Sports]

Tomorrow (Friday by 5:00 CST) is the cutoff to get your order in for our next U.S bound shipments. Any orders placed by this time will arrive by Thursday of next week

 

You can get 15.00 off and free shipping with coupe code = BEDEAL23

[FTP_Shooting_Sports]

We have posted some refurbished Alpha 3 optics in our vendor forum. They come with the balance of warranty as specified.

[FTP_Shooting_Sports]

Friday January 14th (by 5:00 CST) is the cutoff to get your order in for our next U.S bound shipments. Any orders placed by this time will arrive by Thursday of next week

 

You can get 15.00 off and free shipping with coupe code = BEDEAL23

[FTP_Shooting_Sports]

We have a few more refurbished units available for great prices. Check our vendor forum for details and pricing.

[FTP_Shooting_Sports]

Just added another refurbished model to our dealer forum. These have the balance of warranty and always have perfect glass.

The cutoff for shipping this week to have optics arrive next week is Friday at 5:00 CST.

 

Thanks!

[FTP_Shooting_Sports]

Friday January 27th at 5:00 CST is the next cut off for our US shipment of Alpha 3 optics. Any orders placed before this date will arrive at your door by the end of next week.

 

You can get 15.00 off and free shipping with coupe code = BEDEAL23

 

Try out our awesome competition designed optic :)

[FTP_Shooting_Sports]

We added one more refurbished unit to our dealer forum. If you get your order in before 5:00 CST on Friday, you can have it by the end of next week