Review of Holosun and Barska Red Dot Scopes

I've been looking around for an alternative to the Aimpoint Micro. I have two and I'd love to get a couple more, but I'm hesitating only because of the cost. I've seen a few knock-offs and wondered if they were any good. I've posted my experience so far on my wordpress blog.

The summary for those with ADD is that the Holosun is promising for about $200, but I don't like it because of the small dot size. The Barska cheap at $80 but barely suitable for bullseye IMO. The Konus has a funky machined cross bolt that is supposed to fit both Picatinny and Weaver rails, but it doesn't fit in my CMM Hammerli scope mount so I can't test it.

You can see my initial search process here, the review of the Holosun here and the review of the Barska here.

Nice review... I'll give you a special deal on a h2

I have a Primary Arms Micro I believe it is made by the same company as Holosun. I got it from Joe Chambers for less than $200 ($150)  works great I have no problems with it

My un-biased opinion is that Barska suck. Tried their rings, binocs, scope and looked at one of their safes. At least I wasn't dumb enough to buy the safe.

Signed Disgruntled

I have a Holosun 503c and an Aimpoint H-2.  They are very similar scopes in many aspects.

I had the Holosun before the Aimpoint and must say that I was disappointed with the H2 in a couple of aspects.  The H2 cost WAY more than the Holosun for a fairly similar product.  It has even less features for the money than the Holosun, which has push button brightness control, can switch to crosshair reticle, has near infinite battery life with a solar panel, and an auto-off feature.

I do love my Aimpoint, don't get me wrong, it is a fantastic scope.  I bought one sight unseen, based on the recommendations of many experienced online BE shooters. I have extension tubes on my H2 and like them as well.

However, if I had actually seen one in person first, I might not have ordered it and gotten another Holosun 503c instead.  That is not meant as detriment to the Aimpoint, but as a compliment to the high quality of the Holosun. 

BUT, if you opened my gun case right now, you would see the Aimpoint mounted on the best pistol in there, no matter what that pistol was.  So that kinda says something about the Aimpoint vs. Holosun argument right there, eh? 

In a strange twist it is mounted with a Holosun base, because the Kodiak base does not fit the Hammerli 215 scope mount.  One benefit is that the bases of the two scopes are interchangeable, so that is nice.

In a final comment, I have not mounted the H2 or Holosun on a .45, just .22.  I will have a chance to do so as soon as KC Crawford is done with with my .45 rail installation.  That may or may not change my mind, depending on how they perform with increased recoil.

The OP has a more technical review than mine and is worth looking at.  The Aimpoint is great, maybe the best of the best, but the Holosun is no slouch.

LenV wrote:My un-biased opinion is that Barska suck. Tried their rings, binocs, scope and looked at one of their safes. At least I wasn't dumb enough to buy the safe.

Signed Disgruntled

I bought one of their small biometric (fingerprint) safes.  It worked great for a few months and died. 

Signed Dummy