Welcome to Optics Trade debates. In each episode, we talk about a different topic and try to answer the most common questions we receive about it. Today we are going to talk about automatic illumination turn-off on riflescopes and red dots.
The main reason for the incorporation of automatic illumination turn-off is to preserve battery. It’s a common occurrence to forget to turn off the red dot or the illumination after use. To prevent this problem, manufacturers started to incorporate automatic turn-off.
Some automatic turn-off functions are based on the time of inactivity. The illumination turns off after a few hours of inactivity.
Other turn-off functions are linked with position sensors. This is a more aggressive power saving mode. If the scope is turned sideways, upwards or downwards, the elimination automatically turns off. This system is usually found on more premium devices. It works really well. The illumination is immediately turned on when the rifle and the scope are put into a shooting position.
Some red dot manufacturers, like Holosun, feature a Shake awake function. When the red dot is stationary, the dot is not illuminated, but as soon as it’s moved the dot turns on instantly.
Manufacturers like Aimpoint don’t need an automatic turn-off function, because their red dots have a supreme battery life and can last for years.
These features are mostly found on premium products, but in the future, they’re probably also going to be found on budget products.
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Explanation of the term on our website:
Some of the red dots and rifle scopes with reticle illumination have Auto – TurnOff function. This means, in case that you forget to turn off illumination or when you leave your firearms on the table (you don’t do any movements with rifle scope), illumination automatically turns off. The time when illumination turns off is different from rifle scopes to rifles scopes.
Many of the expensive and high-quality rifle scopes with illuminated reticle have an Auto-TurnOff smart motion sensor that detects different angles and automatically turns OFF or even ON the illumination of the reticle, based on the rifle scope position.
This is a nice feature to have because this increases the battery life.
Source: Swarovski
Products mentioned:
Riflescopes: https://www.optics-trade.eu/en/riflescopes.html
