Eotech 512.A65 Holographic Weapon Sight Black (Open Box)

As a regular Amazon buyer I utilize the reviews to make my decision on purchases. I typically skip the 5 star ones, check out he 4 stars and concentrate on the 2 and 1 star ratings. Typically if there is an issue with a product, this is where I'm going to find it. I understand that there are just some people in this world that you can never make happy and these people complain just to complain. At just over $400 I know its not the cream of crop as far as optic system are concerned but I do feel I should be getting a decent product, especially when it is marketed to Law Enforcement and Military. I feel that I am a reasonable person and understand that when you mass produce a product you are bound to have a certain number of defective units and a few unlucky people are bound to be unhappy by this. I was one of the unlucky few that received a defective unit and was sad that my new EOTech sight was broken to begin with, however my frustrations do not lie solely with the fact that I received a bad product out of the box. My main frustrations are with EOTech and their support, so much so that I may never purchase another EOTech product again. This did not come from years of frustrations but simply 1 hour of communications via email with their support people. I'm not sure what has happened to this company, maybe they have always had poor support or maybe they are like most companies these days and have changed their companies focus to maximize profits and don't really care about support. Here is what happened to me, and you as the buyer will have to make your own judgment. I work for one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the United States and just like most of my fellow brothers and sister with a family, I had to alter my budget in order to drop over $400 on something that was not typically in my regular budget. After two months of wanting a nice new EOTech for my rifle I was finally able to afford this purchase. I chose Amazon simply for this exact reason, they are the absolute best in my opinion when it comes to ordering just about anything you can mail order, and with my Amazon Prime account I got my sight in 2 days, which happened to be the day before I had scheduled firearms training. This item came as advertised, it had its cool little plastic box (which in my opinion, other than for shipping purposes, was a waist of money as the optics will forever live on my rifle) and everything seamed in order. It came with batteries, an allen wrench and a screw adaptor to swop out the standard allen bolt to allow for quick removal of the optic system. I quickly ripped open the outer cover of the plastic case, like a child opening presents on Christmas morning I might add, pulled out the optics and opened the battery compartment. As I peered through the optics the image appeared to be a beautiful red laser soccer ball, absolutely zero definition to it at all. If you are familiar with laser holographic sights, it was if the laser brightens was cranked to the max while being indoors and looking through prescription glasses that were not yours. Knowing instantly that my sight was damaged I began making excuses as I tried to make it work. I adjusted the brightness over and over. I made it so low that I could barely see the image and though I could now see a circle with what looked like a dot in the center it was barely noticeable. I was never able to get rid of the profound blurriness, see the four has marks at the top, bottom and both sides or just get a solid dot in the center. I also observed that when I adjusted the brightness to the lowest setting to where I could make out a circle and maybe a dot at the center and turned the unit off and back on the brightness reset to the max setting thereby producing the soccer ball effect. I performed this function several times and each time the brightness reset itself to the max setting. As I quickly began to realize that I received a bad unit, the complete disappointment and sadness began to set in. I had utilized this sight numerous times and knew what the sight picture should look like and if you don't know what it's supposed to be like all you have to do is Google it. After quickly going through the 5 stages of grief I accepted the fact that my sight was broken. This was at worst annoying as I was not going to be able to use my new toy at firearms training in the morning. I had zero concern as I knew Amazon would make sure I was properly taken care of, which makes this next part a little off. For some reason, I felt I would contact EOTech and see what they had to say. I had read my Amazon reviews and noticed that others were complaining about the same problem. I guess as human nature goes I figured if told them my story they would apologize for the defective unit, address the list of concerns I presented in my email and replace my broken optics with one that they personally tested via overnight delivery. I'm not sure about the overnight delivery part but I can say thanks to their customer support I never got that far... With my head down I typed to EOTech support explaining my situation. In addition I brought up several concerns I had about the quality of their product and its reliability as it is marked towards Law Enforcement and Military, and that I intended to utilize it in that function which could mean the difference between life and death. I would have normally simply gone with the fact that I was the unlucky winner of the bad unit, however as I conducted additional research on the optics I found that there were an alarming number of people complaining about the same thing. Now I have used older versions of this optics system in the past and I can say, they were awesome, durable, reliable and did what they were supposed to do. I had feared that the company began to cut corners and maybe changed their manufacturing process, maybe manufactured their units in China now or something like that (I do not know where they are manufactured). My email to EOTech was one that I thought was clear and concise. I explained who I was, my profession and experience with this exact optics. As I stated earlier I brought up several concerns I wanted addressed and even offered to pay more to upgrade my system if it meant better reliability. Well, I woke up the next morning to find an email from support and here is what they had to say: "Due to the nature of holographic technology, the 65MOA ring will appear to be comprised of thousands of little pixels. Unlike traditional scopes, the ring itself is not solid and will have the appearance of being fuzzy or pixelated. This is a normal phenomenon and one of the features of having a true holographic weapon sight. The clarity of the reticle changes depending on the brightness setting used. For instance: if you increase brightness and look through the sight in daylight, you will notice that the reticle appears to be less "fuzzy" and the pixels will become less noticeable. Alternatively, if you are indoors and decrease the brightness to a comfortable level, you will notice the same result. Our sights are powered by a precise laser which allows you the flexibility to use your sight in almost any lighting environment. As a test you can take the sight outdoors and pick a static target at a 50 yard distance. Keep both eyes open and focus on the target without looking through the EOTech. Once you have your target picked out and it is in focus, raise the EOTech up to your field of view while keeping both eyes open. Look through the sight while focusing on the target and you will notice the sight picture is cleaner." Besides sounding like a completely canned response that they send to anyone that complains about this optics system, this was troubling as I clearly stated that I have used the optics system in the past and knew what it was supposed to look like and how to use it. Not only did this email not acknowledge it, it did not address ONE point I brought up in my previous email. I was actually taken back that this person suggested that I did not know how to use the optics or shoot for that matter. I replied to this person advising them that I knew what it was supposed to look like and that I had used the optics system in the past. I honestly figured that the next email would have been an apology for everything and an offer to take care of the optics as I described above. But once again I was completely surprised to what I received: "It still looks like that even when you have the brightness on the lowest level? Did you happen to try the test that was in the previous email?" Now it could just be that I'm still a little upset from this ordeal and I could be over reacting to some of you, but to me this person clearly has zero experience or tact for that matter in dealing with customer service issues. I explained to her twice now that I knew the optics system and had used it in the past. I wondered if this person was actually reading my emails, (being who I am and what I do I spent a lot of time crafting detailed emails to provide as much info as I could, just like a report) and the fact that they had still not addressed ONE concern that I had from my first email. Now my next email did clearly state that I was no longer interested in exchanging that product with EOTech and that I was going to now go an purchase a competitors product simply due to the lack of customer service, however I heard nothing back. I would have expected and apology, a last try to keep me as a user or make a small attempt to defend their product at the absolute very least, but it was very clear that this person was there to collect a paycheck and didn't give a damn. Maybe they were related to the owner... This was once a great optics system and I can't believe where this company has gone. Maybe I'm being unreasonable or emotional because I feel I was disregarded, disrespected or ignored. You have the story and can make your own judgment. Buyer beware and always buy from Amazon.... ------------------------------- Update - 7/18/2014 With all I said above I ended up purchasing the same thing with the hopes of getting a good one. I spent some time researching other options and even bought an aimpoint. I think its a complete personal preference thing but I just wasn't happy with the other options. It may have something to do with the fact that my entire department uses EoTech and the same with my friends. They are a great product, just god awful support. If you buy, buy from amazon, and better yet use prime. That way if you get a bad one you can just return it without having to deal with EoTech. My new one is simply wonderful so far. I have only had it for two weeks but have put around 200 rounds through it in less than 2 hours and it was rock solid. I hate to support a company with such horrible customer service but the truth is that this product does the job and you have to use what works best for you.