EOTech Will Return to Private Ownership in August
In 2005, L3Harris purchased optics maker and holography innovation company EOTech. For the last fifteen years, EOTech has existed as only a small portion of this defense industry Goliath’s larger operations which also include products like military drones, tactical radios, surveillance and reconnaissance technologies, night vision devices, and much more.
In March, TFB reported that the publicly-traded L3Harris had struck a deal to spin EOTech off to American Holoptics, thus returning the brand to private ownership. Under this new management, they will continue to make their trademark Holographic Weapon Sights, as well as magnifiers, scopes, and more. In a July 27th press release, American Holoptics has broadcasted great excitement about their one-week countdown to “New EOTech’s” impending rebirth.
T-Minus 1 Week to Launch of New EOTech
Ann Arbor, Michigan Get ready! In approximately one week, one of the most significant events in recent outdoor industry memory will take place. Effective August 3rd, 2020, American Holoptics LLC™ will be taking full control of the world-famous EOTech® company to include the facility, the brands, the technology, and all product lines – returning EOTech to private ownership. American Holoptics is a subsidiary of Koucar Management™, whose strategic acquisitions of Elite Defense® and HEL Technologies™ represent a solid foundation of cutting-edge optical science and weapons systems distribution. In addition, the leadership team at American Holoptics is comprised of highly successful industry veterans that live and breathe innovation, customer service, and agility. Together, they will bring that entrepreneurial spirit to all aspects of the business.
“We’re laser-focused on taking care of our end users and industry partners,” said Ed Schoppman, President of American Holoptics. “When you put EOTech, Elite Defense and HEL Technologies together, it creates a team that’s tailor-made to serve our military, law enforcement agencies, and civilian customers all over the world. Personally, I’ve never seen such a talented group as the one coming to EOTech and I’m fortunate to be a part of it. At the new EOTech, product performance, integrity, and most importantly true customer care will guide everything we do.”
Stay tuned as the new EOTech disrupts the optics industry! We have big plans and will be delivering cool new products and great customer solutions in the near future.
If you’re already a fan of EOTech’s products, it sounds like their new team is planning to work hard to make sure your needs continue to be met well. And if you haven’t been on board in the past, maybe this managerial shake-up will give you cause to take a look now. What do you think? Are you looking forward to seeing how this corporate action might improve one of the firearms industry’s extant household names? Or are you leery of the incipient change, and you worry that the move away from L3Harris could ultimately prove detrimental? Let us know your thoughts in the comments! See you at the range.
Photos courtesy of EOTech.
Lifelong hobby/sport shooter and hunter, former US Army infantryman, perpetual firearms student. Always seeking to become better and learn more. Interested in a wide variety of shooting disciplines, and passionate about all kinds of guns. Contact on Instagram: @WillTFB
More by Will P
![[NRAAM 2024] Colt's Big Bears: The New Kodiak, Grizzly Magnum Revolvers](https://cdn-fastly.thefirearmblog.com/media/2024/06/04/064422/nraam-2024-colt-s-big-bears-the-new-kodiak-grizzly-magnum-revolvers.jpg?size=350x220)
Comments
Join the conversation
When someone makes the battery life argument they nearly always don't know what the advantages of a HWS are:
I think Holographic weapons sights are pretty misunderstood. The bonuses they confer are not best enjoyed at the bench and the best practices for using them don't seem to be common knowledge either... That being said, I ignored my 512 for two years before I came to understand, and appreciate all it could do. This led to my purchase of the UH-1. The fuzzyness some people mention is due to the light of the hologram existing at all points of the holographic field at once; simultaneously. If you try to focus on the reticle itself your eyes will have problems with this for multiple reasons, the aforementioned effect and the fact the dot is technically < 1 MOA but your eye blooms it up to 1 MOA. Instead, try focusing on the TARGET with one, or both, eyes open and then simply place the dot over it.
The human eye can only discern about 1 arcminute, approximately 0.02° or 0.0003 radians, which corresponds to 0.3 m at a 1 km distance. An Eotech's center dot is ~.25 - .33 MOA so our eyes just round it up (more like bloom it out) to 1 MOA. There's no black magic there - if you magnify that X3 you still get <1MOA and your eye just rounds it up again to 1 MOA (no visible mag). Furthermore, regardless of how close, or far, from your face you place the optic on your rail, the reticle will appear the same size in the window. I swear I've been all over Eotech's website and they have significantly dumbed down their sales info to read more like, "look kids here it is without magnification. Here it is at X3 - no difference!" but they used to have a pretty decent .pdf explaining what I just said. Even the highroad.com had a good discussion on that and it's been cached to the internet gods as well but I swear I'm not making this up. As I mentioned earlier, another advantage is that a holographic image exists simultaneously at all positions within the field of view - if you cake all but one tiny corner of the glass with mud you will still see the circle dot in the remaining corner and your point of aim WILL be your point of impact. Oh and stoopid low parallax for accuracy while shooting on the move or from unorthodox, improvised positions. Shooters also say that the intensity and dazzling effect make this, one of if not, THE fastest reticle to pick up and place on target on the clock. Battery life? FREAKIN' LASER BEAMS! There's no way your going to get a comparatively high powered laser to sip the same battery like a super low powered LED ( I wish). In return for putting up with a laser's thirst for power you get all the aforementioned benefits. Does this matter to guys shooting from a bench? No. But this sight provides as close to a true bomb proof reticle, that can be used under all sorts of adverse conditions as long as you can resupply your batteries in the field over the course of months.
21 Jan 2016
Military.com | By Matthew Cox
LAS VEGAS -- EOTech, the maker of a once popular tactical optic, is trying to rebuild customer confidence that was damaged in the wake of a crippling, civil fraud lawsuit over defective rifle sights.
Late last year, L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. -- the parent company of EOTech -- agreed to pay $25.6 million to settle a lawsuit that accuses the defense firm of knowingly selling the U.S. military and government agencies optics that failed in extreme temperatures and humid weather conditions.