FAQ & Answers
Thank you for purchasing your new ADE red dot, rated the best budget optics under $100 by many users. Here is a list of FAQ we’ve created to help you to better understand how your red dot works. While it is possible to install this mount without the use of a Gunsmith, we recommend hiring a professional gunsmith. Please note. Unprofessional installation such as improper torque will result in screw loose, not holding zero, damage to the firearm/optic and personal injury.
It is very likely (99% chance) you have astigmatism that you are not aware. What you see is a small reflex of led light bulb on the lens. One simple and quick way to find out is to use your cellphone to take a photo of the dot at medium brightness setting. If you see a circle dot in the photo you took, you basically diagnosed you have Astigmatism(Be6cause cellphone is a machine does not has human astigmatism). Many users decide to continue to use the imperfect dot, or use a bigger MOA red dot such as 6MOA instead 3MOA. Some users also see green dot better than red dot, it really depends on the individual case. Or user can use a totally different optics which is not an reflex sight such as an rifle scope instead.
ADE model RD3-006, RD3-009, RD3-012, RD3-013, RD3-015 are designed to fit the mounting plate made for Vortex venom, burris fastfire, meopta, eotech mrds, docter, insight that REPLACE the rear sight. It does not fit trijicon rmr and shield rms footprint.RD3-006B1, RD3-009, RD3-012, and RD3-013 all fit directly on the Pre-cut on the slide on “Optics Ready Pistols” like Glock MOS, S&W M&P 2.0 OP, IWI Masada, Smith Wesson MP C.O.R.E, CZ P10F optics ready, Walther Q5 Match and Springfield XD/XDM/XDS OSP, Canik TP9 SFX/Combat, FN 509 Tactical, Shadow Systems MR 920. Those "Optics Ready" handguns all come with several mounting plates/optic cuts marked for different brands of red dots, such as for Trijicon RMR, Shield RMS and Vortex. Our red dots use the pistol manufacturer provided plate/optic cuts marked for Doctor/Vortex Venom/Burris Fastfire type red dot footprint.ADE RD3-018 fits optic cut/optic plate/footprint using Optic Ready pistol provided plate for shield RMS/RMSC footprintADE RD3-019 fits optic cut/optic plate/footprint using Optic Ready pistol provided plate for Trijicon RMR footprintRD3-006 also fits the cut slide made to fit Vortex venom, but may need minor modifications by using a utility knife to trim the lower portion of the plastic housing of the front power switch by 2mm in order to fit the dot.Fitment on the slide made by 3rd party machine shop that is custom/precisely milled/precut for Vortex venom is not guaranteed, the overall length of every red dots including ADE, do not have exactly same dimension than other brand red dot, it could be a hair longer or shorter.RD3-015 does NOT fit Optics Ready pistols because the overall length is around 30% longer than other micro red dots. It only fits the mounting plate to replace rear sight.SPIKE(RD3-018, introduced in Q4 2020), is Designed to fit Canik Elite TP9 SC, Sig 365XL, Springfield Hellcat OSP, S&W Shield 2.0 Optics Ready, Walther PPS M2 Optics Ready or any pistol/mounting plate/slide with RMS/RMSC screw pattern/footprint. It does NOT fit trijicon rmr, doctor/vortex/burris type footprint.
Torque screws to 12 IN/LBS. Please do not over tighten the screws. Using gun glues.
Please make sure the battery side CR2032 facing OUTSIDE. There are many brightness settings. Press and hold the switch for 3 seconds to turn on or off. Quick press will NOT turn on or off the red dot. For models with Up Arrow and Down Arrow, Hold Up Arrow for 3 secs to power on, and hold Down Arrow for 3 secs to power off.To adjust brightness, quick press to adjust the brightness from low to high. When you first turn it on, it will be at the lowest setting. This setting is invisible to human eyes, it can only be seen through a night vision device. We received quite a few returns because user can't see it and think it is defective. Please press the switch to cycle through the brightness until you see a bright dot.
There are two LOCKS screws at the rear end. Please loosen the LOCK screws before adjusting the elevation and windage. After adjustments then tighten the LOCK screws again. Without loosening the LOCK screws the elevation and windage screws cannot work and will permanently damage it.
Depending on the handgun, some handguns need a 1degree shim to give extra range of elevation across a wide range of firearms (such as the 1911). Should you feel any resistance from the mechanism whilst zeroing the elevation please fit the shim between the sight and the mount with the thickest part at the rear.. Please contact ADE obtain the shim for free. Or go online to search ‘Red Dot Sight Shim’ to purchase one for your red dot. We recommend getting the shim from ADE or “UM Tactical” who is offering the shim for many name brands.
Depends on the type handgun, an Anti-flickering rubber sealing plate is sometimes needed to put between the handgun mounting plate and the optic to reduce the recoil impact. This rubber plate is also provided by many optics plates. Shield provides this rubber shim for every rms/rmsc red dot they sell, Burris is also making a large selections of handgun plates, all their plates come with the rubber shim. However, some of the other plate manufacturers do not comes with this recoil reduction shim. Contact ADE support to obtain it for free. We are also including this plate as a standard/included accessory for RD3-006, 009, 012, and 013 re dots starting in Q3 2020.
When you first receive the red dot. It has a picatinny mounting plate pre-assembled. Please use the allen wrench provided to take out the 2 hex screws(M3x6mm) on the top behind the glass frame. It will disconnect the red dot from the picatinny mounting plate. You will then be able to attach the red dot to a variety of handgun mounting plates that are sold separately. There are many popular handguns on the market, due to the size difference of the handguns, each mounting plate is slightly different in dimensions. There are also many manufacturers making a variety of handgun plates that replace the rear sight, including ADE, Lakeline LLC, EGW, and Outerimpact. The screw comes with our red dot come with a pair of M3x6mm screws to connect to the pre-assembled picatinny mounting base. Some mounting plates made by other companies for specific handgun might need a longer screw such as M3x8mm or shorter screw such as M3x4mm depends on the thickness of the mounting plate/adapter. If you can’t get the screw to work properly, we recommend going to a local hardware store such as ACE Hardware to get the right size.
We are an optic company that cannot provide all screws for handguns on the market because each handgun has different dimensions of the mounting plates, some are made to be optics ready, some need to replace the rear sight. We can name 3 different handguns, they all use three different screws. It is one of the main installation problems that our customer has. The handgun manufacture recommends users to contact the optics company, but we as an optics company do not know the specifications of the plate not made by us. We make the red dot to accept the industrial standard footprint. The pistol manufacturer (or machine shop) makes the plate for the same footprint, but they have their own options to decide which type screws that the plate needs.
If we missed your call, please go to Adeoptics.com to submit a message, you will get reply within 8 business hours guaranteed.
Currently all our red dots including model RD3-006, RD3-009, RD3-012, RD3-013, RD3-015 are made to the industrial standard screw pattern/footprint. Several other red dot also use this standard such as Vortex venom, burris fastfire, meopta, eotech mrds, docter, insight.
ADE SPIKE(rd3-018) is designed for Springfield Hellcat, Canik TP9 Elite SC and Sig 365XL.
The white dial is a reference tool, you can insert the tip of small screwdriver through/penetrate the center hole of the disk to turn windage and elevation. It tells how far you have turned. It is not a necessary tool for adjusting.
The white dial gives increments of one division each giving 1/4inch (6.3mm) movement of the dot at 20 yards.
RD3-006 has an adjustment range of a total of 20 inches (508mm) in windage and elevation at 20 yards (18 Metres).
RD3-009, RD3-012, RD3-013 has an adjustment range of a total of 45 inches (1143mm) in windage and elevation at 20 yards (18 Metres).
RD3-015 has an adjustment range of a total of 34 inches (864mm) in windage and elevation at 20 yards (18 Metres).
RD3-018, RD3-019 has an adjustment range of a total of 30 inches (762mm) in windage and elevation at 20 yards (18 Metres).
This is given by one full turn of the adjustment key in either direction.
Adjustment can be made to the windage and elevation using the screw driver supplied in conjunction with the white dial. To use the dial, push the screw driver just through the hole in the centre of the dial, with the dial facing towards you. Using the screwdriver head, protruding from the back of the dial, turn the right windage socket screw in the desired direction as indicated on the dial and follow the same procedure for the elevation.