I have more then one ar15 i keep one handy for the house has a 14.5 pinned barrel would a red or a Eotech be better for close range work right now it has a leupold vxr patrol 1-4

I’ve got the EXPS3-0 on my shorty and really like it. It has the flip-to-side 3x optic behind it for longer shots. It always seems to holds zero real well, and I like the sight picture. See the other thread about red dots on here. Seems like eotech wasn’t mentioned much/getting the love anymore. So maybe there is something better now. Mine works good though.

Eotech lost a lot of love after their admitted thermal drift issues and lawsuit by the department of defense. For a house gun it shouldnt be an issue. They also have way shorter battery life than an Aimpoint. I've had both, and noticed the small single dot on the Aimpoint helped improve my accuracy past 50 yards. I was originally faster onto target with the eotech, but after some training, that evened out. I still have an eotech, its on a 300 blk pistol that stays in the house.

For the money it is still hard to beat an eoTech 512, which you can find for $340ish new if you look. Yes it takes AA and doesn't have the life of quality red dots but stuff some engergizer lithium AAs in it and you will be good.

FWIW the military still uses eotech but you also see alot of the aimpoint micros on rifles now.

For home defense with a weapon/optic that you don't use/carry on a regular basis I think the large sight window and the circle dot reticle on the eotech is REALLY hard to beat. Especially since for close quarters you can use the bottom of the circle to account for your mechanical offset.

OPTIONS:
1. Leupold- The LCO ($$$) and the Freedom RDS($)- both have motion sensor technology that will turn on the optic when it is picked up- nice feature to grab and go if there is an intruder present.
2. Trijicon MRO- really nice optic too, more expensive than the eotech or Freedom but less than the LCO or Aimpoint Micros.
3. Aimpoint PRO- Patrol rifle optic, same price range as eotech, single dot, solid construction.

My daily patrol rifle wears an Aimpoint H2 (the same as the Tactical but without NV settings) with a Scalarworks mount and has held zero exceptionally wear despite in and out of vehicle and rattling around for 12 hours at a time.

Look thru them. Some eyesight cause the dots to be distorted or fuzzy

Hard to beat anything from AimPoint. I have 5 of them, finally started replacing batteries. I have Trijicon RMR's and have had EO's, I would rather put a lead anchor on my gun than another EO.