Let’s Talk About SLx, Baby: Primary Arms’ SLx Microprism Series

I think I felt the earth move.

This is one SLxy optics line that’ll definitely still respect you in the morning.

Primary Arms’ SLx MicroPrism series reflex sights punch way above their weight … erm, price … class. The SLx series offers a solid feature set that would meet the demands of even the pickiest shooter at a price that would be considered budget-tier. In fact, the SLx series offers advantages over other sights—even ones that magnitudes more expensive. Small, compact and tough, the SLx series has already achieved cult status among savvy shooters. I hate to call the the SLx series a budget sight. Instead, it should be described as one of the best values in optics on the market. Available in multiple magnifications from 1x, 2x, 3x and 5x, there is an option that should meet everyone’s needs.

Thing is, many shooters don’t really understand prism-style sights, especially compared to the more widely used red-dot sights. Prism-style sights actually use the same principles as magnified scopes: glass lenses and prisms let the light enter the body of the scope, then that light is magnified, bent and refracted or reflected in a way that is transmitted to the user’s eye. (That’s a fancy way of saying the light travels a path and bounces around in the scope body.) This is the same mechanism that is used in every scope, microscope, telescope, and camera lens that has been made for thousands of years.

It’s essentially the opposite of a red-dot sight. With those, usually an angled piece of glass or plastic sits in a housing. The light passes right through the glass directly to the shooter. Then a laser is used to project a dot on the same piece of glass. As the shooter looks through the viewing window, the red dot is superimposed on the sight picture. The benefit of these red dots is that they basically have an unlimited sight picture, and are usually easier to manufacture, since you only need one piece of optical glass or plastic. Depending on the quality and durability, these sights can be quite affordable.

Once upon a time, the standard advice for shooters was to expect that quality glass would cost about double what they paid for their rifle. To get the best glass and optical clarity along with durability, you needed to spend money. A good example would be the Trijicon ACOG, which was beloved by troops, served admirably during the GWOT, and is priced out of reach for many. (Right now, an ACOG costs more than my house payment!)

Enter Primary Arms’ SLx series MicroPrism sights, which basically throw out the optics pricing rulebook. At $249.99, the price is low enough that some less-informed shooters are scared away, thinking that this price isn’t possible for real quality glass. Shooters need to understand that Primary Arms was able to basically accomplish the “impossible.”

You don’t have to take my word for it, since the SLx 1x was submitted to the National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA) for evaluation and proudly received a silver NTOA Recommended status. Think of the NTOA as like the Underwriters Laboratories UL—they test items to failure and make sure that they meet or exceed established standards. The NTOA specifically tests items that are above and beyond just normal law enforcement equipment requirements. They test items that need to meet the enhanced needs of tactical or SWAT teams, so to receive a silver recommended rating is quite impressive.

One of the biggest advantages over a red-dot is that the SLx has an etched reticle that is physically engraved into the glass. This means that even if the battery of the SLx dies, you can still absolutely still use the the MicroPrism with no degradation. In fact, most of the time in the bright daylight I don’t use the red electronic overlay; the etched reticle is clean and bright, just big enough to easily see without assistance.

If I am looking for the speed advantage of a red-dot, I can turn on the red or green reticle, using it the same as I would any other red-dot. The etched reticle looks super clean and crisp even with the colored overlay. While it may not apply to everyone, the etched reticle is a Godsend for anyone who has astigmatism. (This is so common and otherwise harmless a condition, that most people don’t even realize that they have it.) If you’re astigmatic and not wearing corrective lenses, using a red-dot sight could mean you see a blurry or star-shaped bloom, instead of a crisp red dot. Having an etched reticle, on the other hand, offers a truly clear reticle picture to everyone. Note: If the reticle does look blurry, you MUST adjust the diopter to how your eye focuses.

One of my personal favorite facets of the SLx series is that Primary Arms went to great lengths to understand each of their users’ use cases and needs. I can’t think of any other optic that gives you so many mounting options as standard included equipment. Included with every SLx sight is the ability to set up the MicroPrism in eight different height configurations—all the way from a short 1.1” to a 2.75” height. Now the included mounts are not quickly detachable, and require tools for installation or removal. But the SLx uses the industry standard ACOGmini mount pattern, so you can easily find an aftermarket QD mounting system. Personally I take great effort to sight-in my optics to each weapon, and once I’ve done that, I don’t remove them.

Primary Arms advertises the battery life as between 25,000 and 50,000 hours. This is because the SLx uses a shake-awake system, meaning that if you turn on the electronic overlay, you can leave it on. After several minutes the sight goes into a standby mode that will awake as soon as the sight feels movement. I have tried to pick up the sight as fast as I could, and I believe it is physically impossible to outrun the awake function. Like the refrigerator light, as soon as you open the door it’s on. I have a 3X version that I have had for over a year, and it still seems to be going strong. But let’s say the battery does die. Remember the etched reticle? I can still use the optic, seems useful for the end of the world.

You can buy the SLx series directly from Primary Arms—they even have a military first responder discount. I just purchased my 3rd SLx over the weekend, and like everything else Primary Arms does, they exceeded my exceptions and shipped it out the next business day. Hit Primary Arms up at https://www.primaryarms.com!

—James the “XDMAN” Nicholas Mr. UnPewFessional Himself!