Lucid Hd7 G3 Red Dot Sight Review

The Lucid Hd7 Gen 3 Red Dot Sight is an American designed and also American tested, red dot sight made to be consistently, high quality and affordable. It achieves this by being lightweight and giving the user a huge number of selectable features and opportunities to adjust it with. It has 4 different types of reticle and 2 different modes for adjusting brightness so that the scope performs in all lighting conditions.

It uses simple batteries, and gets a reasonable 1000 hours performance out of them, and with the handy battery life saving feature of an auto shut off, you won’t need to worry about forgetting to switch it off once you are finished with your hunt.

It is also from a relatively small manufacturer and brand name so you get very good personal customer service. They are building a good following and establishing themselves as quality scope manufacturers.

Features

Lightweight Aluminum Frame

The scope is made of cast aluminum which makes it extra lightweight compared to titanium and steel alloys. It also means they can pack in extra features due to the reduced weight of the body.

4 Selectable Reticles – Based on 2MOA dot

With 4 different types of red dot reticles to choose from there is one for every occasion. You can experiment with the different types from the normal standard red dot to extra disc shapes and other range finding ones.

A 2MOA dot has the advantage in that it is smaller and takes up less of the image and your field of view. At 100 yards it means the dot will cover about 2 inches so will be small in the actual objective.

There are red dots with much larger actual dots but if you want to use this with the magnifier then a smaller dot is better as once you start zooming in a large dot will obscure a lot of your view.

2 Brightness Modes -Auto Adjust and Manual

For the illuminated reticles there are initially two different modes, auto adjust that detects the ambient light conditions and then increases or decreases the brightness of the dot to make it crisp and clear and keep it centered. There is also the manual setting where you do this yourself and can choose from a total of 7 different brightness levels. Although not the most number of brightness levels it is indeed plenty for most lighting conditions.

Auto Shut Off

There is an automatic turning off setting that after 2 hours of inactivity the sight will shut off and you will need to turn it on again to get the reticle back. This is a great feature for saving on battery life and is missing from the cheaper scopes such as the Bushnell trs25. Over the long term it saves you money, just make sure you don’t sleep for too long out in the field.

Parallax Free Lower 1/3 Co-Witness

Normal red dots are fully set up for use in conjunction with the iron sights of your rifle but they can obstruct a lot up to half of your field of view so the 1/3 co-witness set up means that you can use the sight to its fullest with an unobstructed field of view. Until you move your eyes to use the sights in conjunction with the scope. Because the scope is parallax free moving your head will mean the dot remains on target, allowing you to use iron sights and the dot.

Lower third means the iron sights are further out the way and not cluttering your field of view.

Battery Life

This uses just 1 AAA battery and you can get up to 1000 hours per battery.

Unlimited Eye Relief

Being a 1x magnification scope you can take a more relaxed approach to closing one eye when taking a shot and it can be used with both eyes open comfortably.

Built in Mount

It comes with a built in mount onto the body that fixes easily to picatinny and weaver rails so long as you tighten the screws enough. See our frequently asked questions section for tips on tightening the screws properly.

Waterproof and Fogproof

This model has been tested using a dunk and drip test to be completely waterproof and fogproof so you can use it comfortably in changing weather conditions and in rain if you have to.

Shockproof – Tested to the recoil of .458 SOCOM rounds

These scopes have been recoil tested using .458 SOCOM rounds which are rather large and kick massively. It should handle standard types of ammunition and hold zero settings very well. You can use it on a 12 gauge shotgun using slugs and it will stand up to the beating.

Rubber Armor

Providing extra protection from wear and tear is the rubber armor on the outside of the scope.

Specifications

• Reticle Type: 4 types
• Zoom: 1x
• Length: 6 inch
• Objective Lens: 34mm
• Ocular Lens: 20mm
• Battery Type: AAA
• FOV@100yards: 35’
• Windage Adjustments per click: ½ MOA
• Elevation Adjustments per click: ½ MOA
• Weight: 13 Oz

Extra Accessories Available

• 2x Magnifier
• QD Mounting Kit
• Leashed Turret caps
• Kill Flash Filter
• All accessories are purchased separately either from Lucid or Amazon

What they Liked

1/3 Co-witness Set Up

Customers liked this type of set up because it really gave them an unobstructed field of view and the opportunity to use their iron sights if they wanted to. Being parallax free whenever you turn to the left or right the dot will stay on target so using iron sights and moving your head is fine.

Different Reticles

It was one of the most useful features and one that pops up in the comments about this sight time and again. The interchangeable reticles were really handy, most people used the standard single red dot but the other types such as the disc shaped reticle was good for estimating range. Customers found it really versatile having so many different ones to choose from.

What they didn’t like

Does not hold tight indefinitely

Although recoil tested with .458 rounds, this only proved that the zero does not change and the turret adjustments you make stay put. Some customers had trouble tightening the screws up enough to make it solid enough not to shake free. A way to solve these is to really get the wrench and socket out to crank them up but make sure to check after every turn. In consumers experience just doing it using their fingers and a screw driver was not enough even though they greased the threads.

If you want it to stay put just really crank the screws tight but not over tight by using a wrench.

Low battery life compared to an Aimpoint

Aimpoint boast that some of their scopes can have a 50000 hour battery life. Considering that it is a simple single AAA battery that is running this scope, having to swap it out after each 1000 hours of use is so easy this point is not really worth complaining about. Especially considering this is cheaper than the Aimpoint anyway.

Frequently asked questions

Is there any way to turn Auto shut off, off?

There is no way to turn off the auto shut off feature. If you are planning on napping while out and worried about waking up with no reticle ready to go then make sure you move it before you nap and try not to sleep for longer than two hours.

Auto shut off is a great way to save on battery life and leaving a scope turned on is one of the biggest and most common excess drains on batteries of illuminated and battery powered scopes.

Can the scope be used without batteries?

All the adjustable reticles are illuminated and thus the scope will only how a reticle and a red dot when turned on. You must have batteries installed, it takes just one AAA battery which are really easy and cheap to find. With a good quality battery you can get up to 1000 hours use out of just one.

Short answer is no.

Does this sight have any magnification?

Without any extra accessories it is a 1x zoom scope, if you purchase the 2x magnifier separately then you can use it with increased magnification. With the 2 MOA type reticles the dot won’t interfere with your field of view that much if you do use the separate magnifier.

What kind of rail does it mount to?

Standard picatinny

How far out can you shoot using this red dot scope?

Depends on you as a shooter, but reliable sources have used it out to 200m, of course shooting range depends on your settings, rifle, ammo etc.

Price

Currently the price is around the $200 mark for the Gen 3 version. For a scope designed in America for the exact purpose of being an affordable and reliable red dot sight. It is designed by Americans, built in China and tested and checked for quality by Americans. Due to the testing this scope has gone through, both the official recoil testing up to .458 SOCOM rounds and the unofficial water and drip tests by a well known youtuber and having past all of these it is safe to say you are getting quality here.

Conclusion

The Lucid Hd7 Red Dot is a really versatile scope that is thoroughly tested to ensure its high quality is maintained through production. It will handle the recoil off any rifle that uses up to .458 rounds, which to be fair is not what the standard hunter uses.

Using a 1/3 co witness set up is handy in giving an unobstructed view but allows you the choice to use your iron sights as well.

If you want to buy one of the best adjustable red dot sights available then this is one of the best I have seen. There are many extra accessories available, including a magnifier to make this scope even more useful.