We all know there are dozens of red dot sights out there from cheap Chinese copies to high end ACOGs. We have very few that combine quality with what many would consider a reasonable price. This is where the Lucid HD7 fits in.

I first ran into the Lucid HD7 my pure accident. One of our writers needed the little brother of the HD7 the M7. I noticed the HD7 on the same page and it caught my eye looking similar to an ACOG. After I read the narrative on the sight I decided this was a sight worth reviewing and passing along to the readers for consideration.

The HD7 is a product of the Lucid company which started business in 2009. The HD7 has a considerable number of features for an optic costing $249 from Lucid and online for approximately $200 or slightly over.

The HD7 operates with one triple A battery housed in a waterproof compartment at the front of the sight. Run time on this one small battery is 1000 hours. It has an automatic shut-off after two hours. The controls are on the left side. They include an on/off switch, which is activated by holding the button down for a second or two. Turning it off the button is held down for four seconds. Two buttons are beside the on/off. Each has an arrow showing an up and a down arrow. This of course controls the brightness of the sight. This overrides the automatic brightness/dimming feature. The automatic sensor is on top of the sight and constantly adjusts the brightness of the reticle.

Brightness Adjustment Sensor behind the turret

The reticle is a departure from most sights of the type having a selection of four reticles the user chooses from. There is a thumb wheel on the left upper side that is turned and cycles through the reticles, which are red. The user can choose between a small two MOA dot, a dot inside the donut, a “T” reticle with stadia lines for distance estimation. The last also has stadia lines with an inverted “V” (chevron) at the top. Turning the knob clockwise or counter clockwise cycles through these reticles.

HD7 (GEN III) SPECIFICATIONS:
• Cast Aluminum Frame
• Chemical Rubber Armor
• Lower 1/3 Co-Witness
• 13mm Mounting Nuts
• Reversible Mounting Pins
• Reticles based on a (2MOA) dot
• Weight: 13oz
• Waterproof & Fogproof
• Shockproof (.458 SOCOM)
• Auto Brightness Sensor
• Auto Shut Off (2 hour)
• 7 Brightness Levels
• Battery: 1, AAA (Not Included)
• Easy Access, Leashed Battery Cap
• Capped1/2 MOA Adjustments
• Parallax Free
• 34mm Objective Lens
• 20mm Ocular Lens
• FOV: 35ft @ 100yds
• 1x Unlimited Eye Relief
• Picatinny Rail Mount Built-In
• Available 2x Magnifier
• Available QD Mounting Kit
• Available Kill Flash filter
• Available Leashed Turret Caps
• Limited Lifetime Warranty
MSRP: $249

The HD7 is a rugged sight no doubt about it. The first version of the sight had the same overall build and features but a weakness was found. Now this weakness in all likelihood would never cause a problem in regular use but the company owner was just not satisfied with any weakness.During testing the first HD7 was given to some airborne troops for a real test I sure never heard of from any other optics company.The soldiers were jumping with a full combat load under the canopy of the standard T-10 parachute which is not steerable. Well not much anyway. Everyone jumped with an HD7 mounted on the issued M4. Out of the six that jumped with these sights one had the top turret knocked off. That particular soldier made a bad PLF(parachute landing fall) and landed on the rifle and sight.

I won’t go into all of the testing done but suffice it to say many were tested to destruction. As you may have noted from the listed specs this sight is waterproof not just water resistent. I probably shouldn’t have but I had a five gallon bucket filled with water and left the HD7 in the bucket of water overnight. I took it out the next day before going to the range and dried it off with a towel. In short there was no water evident inside the sight and it functioned perfectly. As you can see this next gen has lower turrets which require the user to remove the caps for adjustment and use a small screwdriver or coin to adjust it for windage and elevation.

Lucid makes a 2x magnifier which screws into the rear of the sight. I opted for the new 2x through 5x variable power magnifier which is mounted separately in a 30mm ring.

The only thing about this setup that I didn’t care for was the magnifier. Now I’m picky and admit it but I never got used to the magnifier. The higher the power setting the larger the reticle until at 5x it just took up more field of view than I was comfortable with.Looking through the magnifier and sight the image wasn’t as clear as I felt it should be. After testing the two together I feel if you want a magnified image buy an optic with that capability built in.

As far as the HD7 I like it very much. With the options of the four reticles and very clear and crisp glass it’s hard to beat especially at less than $249. One additional attribute is the reticle stays bright no matter what kind of light you happen to be in. I never once had to use the manual brightness settings. I found that using the dot in a circle reticle worked well close up. I switched to the reticle with the chevron at one hundred yards and further out to the two hundred yard marker.That ability is a definite plus.

I believe anyone who tries the HD7 Gen III will be very happy with it’s performance and ruggedness not to mention what you get for that price.All Lucid optics have a limited lifetime warranty. It really does fill a niche most others don’t.

Lucid LLC Website