Vortex Venom Red Dot Sight

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Ratings Snapshot

5.0

out of 5

5 (3)

4 (0)

3 (0)

2 (0)

1 (0)

Would recommend this product.

100%

SKU: 115-VMD310
UPC: 875874005464
Manufacturer: Vortex Optics

I mounted the Vortex Venom on my Glock 40 and have been very satisfied with it. I have shot a few hundred rounds of full power 10mm loads, and it has held up well. At this price point, there are not many quality red dots that can be added to pistols. However the Venom certainly is one of them, and with the unconditional lifetime warranty, the Venom is the winner. The auto-brightness works fine, and the dot is very bright and clear. My only criticism is that I wish it would go two settings darker for very low light conditions.

My 60-year-old eyes are having trouble with iron sights, and through recommendations and investigation, I bought the Vortex Venom 3 MOA and installed it on my Canik TP9SFx about a month ago. I finally have 900 rounds through it feel comfortable in rendering an opinion. The installation was as easy as one could hope for. The Canik manual states to use the mounting screws that are included with the pistol to mount the plates. Recommend you use 'blue' Loctite when installing the mounting plates to decrease the chance of the plates losing up. The battery cap does have fine threads, and I can see where some people could cross thread them. I don't rush anything when it comes to firearms, so no problem there. Range time: The sight was simple to sight in and only took a few shots. It has held zero perfectly without any problems with function. The field of view was more than adequate and clear. My groups tightened up substantially over the use of iron sights. Some reviewers have lamented of the dot being blurry or a starburst. I've found that this is typical when the dot intensity is too high for the light you are shooting in. I select the manual mode and use a lower intensity. It gets put back on the automatic setting when I put it away as the auto-off feature only engages in this setting. Overall: The Vortex Venom is a quality red dot and Great value. I anticipate purchasing another in the near future and have been recommending it to others. Their warranty (tested-see below) is real, and the people I dealt with was very helpful and polite. On Vortex: I recently had the occasion to test their warranty when I managed to lose the battery cap spring from my SPARC Red Dot. My klutz moves, but they promptly sent a replacement battery cap (not just the spring) at no expense to be — a nice surprise when a warranty actually means something.

The Vortex Venom mini red dot sight is simular to the Burris Fastfire and Docter Optic. It's a small reflex sight which comes in either 6 or 3 MOA dot reticles. The one which Vortex supplied to me is 3 MOA. The base mount layout is of the Docter Optic style. Generally appearance, it's quite comparable to other miniature red dot sights however it does have a few capabilities that set it apart. One is the battery compartment is located on the top of the sight.

That makes it possible for the battery to be altered without removing the view from the mount and possibly disturbing your own zero. It's an auto brightness adjusting attribute, which is generally something I am not very fond of. Auto brightness attributes typically have two major defects. One is whenever you plan from a dark area like inside a home or under a shaded shooting line outside in a brightly sunlit area. The other is in near total darkness utilizing a bright weapon mild.

In both those conditions, the reticle may be washed since the lighting detectors are seeing a low level of lighting and accordingly adjust the brightness of the reticle down, but the area you're looking at is bright. The Venom handles auto adjustment well, however. When utilizing the auto brightness attribute, I found the reticle to be observable and useful in the situations. In other, more normal lighting conditions, the reticle adjusted rapidly and was always a proper amount of brightness. In auto mode, the view will shut off automatically after 14 hours. However, The Venom also lets you adjust brightness.

If you hold the UP arrow for a couple of seconds, the reticule will flash, and you may manually set brightness. Another feature that I am fond of is that, if you turn the off sight, whenever you switch it back on it'll be at the same brightness. Vortex asserts the sight is watertight, even though they do not specify to what thickness or just how long. I can testify to the fact it's entirely capable of surviving a couple of minutes at the bottom of a 55-gallon drum filled with muddy rainwater, however.

The reticle is crisp and round without any flaring. At full brightness, and while aiming against a white wall lit by direct sunlight, the reticle is visible, although not as bright as the Aimpoint Comp ML2 at the very same conditions. Vortex asserts it is parallax free, but that is a relative statement because no sight is entirely parallax free.

With the view sitting still on my kitchen counter, I could move my head, and the reticle didn't move relative to some sign 50 meters away until it got close to the edge of the lens. By rough estimate, I'd say that the region equal to about 2/3 the diameter of the view would be the place without any noticeable parallax. With the dot at the edge of the lens, however, the downrange change was likely about 10&Prime, - 12&Prime. Note that the downsides noted here are quite minor. I work challenging to find something positive to state about products I review, however dangerous, as well as something negative, however great the product is. I feel that can help keep my objectivity. The bottom line is the sight is inexpensive, assembled with care, lives up to claims, and has good features that distinguish it from his colleagues.