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Vortex Sparc II Red Dot Sight

Vortex Sparc II Red Dot Sight

Vortex is a brand I have seen about for a few years and I always look at their products when I attend any shooting shows.

They are most certainly a brand to look at when you need any form of tactical optic. I needed a red dot sight for my Benelli slug shooting semi-automatic shotgun and due to its recoil operation, any optical sight I fit has to be small and light, as a heavy sight absorbs some of the recoil and so causes the gun to malfunction. The SPARC II from Vortex is their smallest red dot sight. It looked just the job for me, as it was not a reflex open screen type, as a lot of small light red dot sights are. I find these wash out under bright sunshine, making the red dot almost invisible. The Vortex SPARC II has 22mm lenses in the enclosed body; it’s an unmagnified sight with a variable red dot of 2 MOA in diameter, which is powered by a single CR2032 three-volt battery. It has two brightness adjustment buttons on the left-hand side, one with an Up arrow and one, you guessed it, with a Down arrow. There are 10 brightness settings and even an auto shut off after 12-hours, to ensure long battery life. Battery life is 300-hours at maximum brightness and 5000-hours at minimum brightness settings.

Product improved

SPARC stands for ‘Speed Point Aiming for Rapid Combat’, the II is because the first version had some minor issues, and with their customer’s feedback and help, they came up with the new version. It’s the Vortex company philosophy to put the customer first and refreshing it is too. I have to say now that the SPARC II is the best red dot sight I have ever seen for the money.

I own two of the red dot sights beginning with letters Ai and the Vortex sight does not give up anything to those in terms of design and construction. In fact, it has features that are not found on those sights, which cost over three times as much.

Firstly, the sight comes in semi modular form, as it has four possible mounting heights. For specific AR platform mounting, there are lower 1/3 co-witness (40mm), absolute co-witness (37mm), and then 21mm, and 18mm. I opted for the lowest 18mm to centre dot for my Benelli shotgun.

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Once mounted, the sight is parallax free, which means no matter where you place your eye behind the sight, the point of impact will be the same, right on the red dot, assuming you have zeroed it correctly. It also has unlimited eye relief, so it can be mounted anywhere on an AR top rail or fitted to a long barrelled pistol in the UK. Vortex recommend a minimum of 100mm (four- inches) and the sight comes with differing lengths of screws for the bases; have no fear, the screws will work lose. I know as I fitted it to my recoil operating, solid 32-gram 12-gauge slug shooting, Benelli semi-automatic shotgun, it has had a good test and remains as solid and on zero as when I first fitted it. The body is made out a single piece of aircraft grade aluminium, with a hard anodised matt finish. It’s also nitrogen filled to keep it waterproof and fog-free.

Under control

It is the design of the sight which sets it apart; the controls are rear-facing, so that the shooter can see them and reach them easily, you can adjust the sight by touch alone, the controls are that easy to use. The windage and elevation adjustment caps are tethered to the sight with steel wire and the top of the covers are used to turn the windage and elevation screws. The drum has a slot machined into it and the caps have the corresponding size of raised bar on their tops. Even the battery compartment cap is tethered to the sight, so you will never lose any of the three caps, the steel wire is also wrapped in black plastic to avoid glare and keep the wire from potentially scratching the sight body. Speaking of caps, the sight also comes complete with flip up covers for both the eye and objective lenses. The Vortex VTX logo standing out from the cap’s surface, the same logo is also on the battery cap.

Well worth the money!

At the range, once zeroed with the tethered caps, I shot over 100 slug on its first outing, as I was testing a few brands and home loads. It held perfect zero and has done since. Even on bright days in direct sunlight, and on all colours of targets, the dot remained perfectly visible. The two lowest settings are compatible with night vision equipment and the 2 MOA is perfect for precise aiming and quick acquisition. When you want to turn it off, just press the top button for four seconds; here’s the clever part, when you turn it back on it comes one to the same brightness setting you were shooting last, smart!

This is not your standard, low-budget Chinese-made red dot sight, I fitted a 40-quid job to my shotgun some years ago with predictable results, it fell to bits. Not so the Vortex SPARC II, this is a well-made, rugged sight, obviously built to Vortex USA’s specification in China. Its operating temperature is rated from -4 degrees to +158 degrees Fahrenheit. It also has a fantastic warranty, which I doubt you will ever need, unless you drop your sight/rifle/LBP.

I will be buying more Vortex sights that’s for sure, and I cannot believe I did not discover how good Vortex SPARC II sights were earlier, I would have saved myself a tonne of cash, and got a better functioning sight.

Thanks to Pete at Black Rifle and Vortex USA for the baseball cap.

  • Vortex Sparc II Red Dot Sight - image {image:count}

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  • Vortex Sparc II Red Dot Sight - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Vortex Sparc II Red Dot Sight - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Vortex Sparc II Red Dot Sight - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Vortex Sparc II Red Dot Sight - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Vortex Sparc II Red Dot Sight - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Vortex Sparc II Red Dot Sight - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

gun
features

  • Model: Vortex Optics SPARC II (SPC-402)
  • Magnification: 1x
  • Object Diameter: 22mm
  • Eye Relief: Four-inches (Minimum recommended) to unlimited
  • Dot diameter: 2 MOA
  • Click Value @100-yards: 1 MOA Minutes
  • Per Revolution: 45 MOA
  • Windage travel @100-yards: 90MOA
  • Elevation travel @100-yards: 90MOA
  • Parallax: Free
  • Finish: Matte Black
  • Coated lens: Yes
  • Weight: 5.9oz
  • Length: 3.1-inches
  • Tube Diameter: 30mm
  • RRP: £168.25 (£157.99 at Black Rifle)
  • Contact: Vortex Optics.www.vortexoptics.com. Black Rifle. www.blackrifle.co.uk
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