Vortex Strikefire II is one of the most recommended red dot sights in the market. With a reasonable price tag and a body to die for, the Strikefire II is powerful enough to put the fear of god in your target’s heart.
While it’s really good both on paper and performance, it’s not perfect. Far from it actually. Like every other accessory, this also has some issues that we need to keep wary of and fix the fixable ones.
Vortex Strikefire 2 Problems
The Mount
As you can see from the listing and pictures, the optic comes with its mounting system that you place in a Picatinny rail and be done with. Alas, that’s not possible. The mounting system is quite complicated if you never handled a scope before or mounted one yourself.
The system could have been much less complicated with quick-release scope rings. But that’s not the case here. Unfortunately, it’s something that you will need to live with.
The Size
It’s a choker. There is no other way of putting it. It’s a big boy optic that is almost the size of a prism scope. The dimensions of this optic are 5.59 x 2.36 x 2.36 inches. That’s a long boy!
For many, it should be a standard size and nothing to be concerned about. But if you are using a small gun with a small rail, then it makes sense to think about the size before purchasing the optic.
Lack Of Adjustments
Simply put, the adjustments are lackluster. You will find brightness but there are several complaints heard about the brightness control not being up to the mark. The sight lacks low light control so if you are thinking of making it a night owl, you are dead wrong, unfortunately.
There is no way of adding extra adjustment to the gun. So, if you are someone savvy about controls and how they play with certain guns, then you will find this sight severely lacking.
The Battery Life
A scope of this size with such a bright reticle is supposed to consume a lot of battery. But my gripe with the optic is not that it chews through the battery relatively fast, it chews through the battery too fast!
You are supposed to get around 80k hours on setting 6 with a CR2 Battery, but there were complaints where the battery died within a week of activating the scope for the first time. If you are someone that faced that issue, I suggest you change the battery first and see if it fixes it. If it doesn’t, then you will need to get yours under warranty.
The Reticle Fiasco
Some people have complained that the red dot is not a dot! Shocking, right? Well, for some folks it did happen. A washed-out dot or a dot that has blemishes will affect your accuracy.
If you face this issue, I suggest you try the optic at a high-intensity setting and see if that fixes it or not. If it doesn’t fix it, then you have no way of fixing it yourself.
No Shake to Wake
It’s more like a nitpick, not really a problem. A lot of red dots don’t have this feature. Unfortunately for us, this red dot doesn’t have this feature either. It’s a shame. Would have loved to see features like Shake to Wake, but we cannot expect everything on this tight budget.
Flickering Red Dot
Besides the smear on the red dot, the reticle also has another issue. Sometimes it starts to flicker randomly. Most of the time it happens when the battery is too low. A simple battery change should be able to fix the issue for you.
If the battery change doesn’t fix this issue, then you can try changing the brightness and see if it flickers on high brightness as well or not. If it does, then it’s your bad luck, and the optic is broken. You will need to send your optic to warranty.
Sliding Down The Rail
The mount has another issue it slides down the rail after a couple of hundred shots. This is a design flaw on the end of Vortex. But it can be fixed if you add a bit of Loctite in the scope mount.
The Loctite will hold the mount on the scope tightly and keep you zero on the sight as well.
Conclusion
Vortex Strikefire II problems are many, but there are also quite a bit of solutions and some of them won’t even happen to most of you guys. QC issues are apparent in many rifle accessories and that’s also visible here.
That doesn’t mean the Strikefire 2 is a bad optic. Far from it actually. For the price, it’s my go-to recommendation to any shooters looking into a good red dot to start the journey.
With that said, that’s all for now, hopefully, you guys had a fun and informative time while reading it. Hope to see you on the next one. Till then, take care and have fun!
Hi, I’m Brent Hansford. A writer turned hunter & now sharing my love for the sport through writing. As I practically breathe weapons, I firmly believe I’m capable of providing you with new knowledge about firearms and hunting. My mission is to help more people get better at hunting & master the weapons. Let me help with unleashing the beast within you!
