Review: LUCID M7 Red Dot Sight

I am 45 years old and find that target acquisition via open sights is just not as easy as it used to be. Utilization of red dot optics has greatly increased my accuracy as well as ability to stay on target and to move from target to target quickly.

There are tons of red dot optics out there for the AR platform and similar firearms. One in particular that caught my eye is the LUCID M7 Red Dot.

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Introduction

Firearm forums all over the Internet have people asking the same old question – “I am looking for a good red dot optic – any suggestions?” Shortly thereafter is an onslaught of comments about how you must spend $500-$1200 on an EOTech, Aimpoint or Trijicon or else it’s junk.”

Enter LUCID.

LUCID is a relatively new company having  launched in 2009 and has gained quite a following. Their HD7 Red Dot Sight has a long track record of performance, reliability, and affordability. Newer to their line of firearm optics is the M7 Micro Red Dot Sight.

The M7 has a retail price of $229 however it is often found for less than $180.

Included with the M7 is an allen wrench for the mount, rubber lense cover, Micro fiber cleaning cloth,  and a manual.

 

Features/Function

The LUCID M7 is small at only 3″ in length and has a built in picatinny rail mount. For mounting on an AR an additional riser must must be used due to its low profile.

Like pretty much every other red dot optic the M7 has in fact…..yup, you guess it….a red dot. A single dot hovers within the sight at a reported size of 2 MOA. With 10 levels of brightness the dot can be dialed in for pretty much any lighting condition.

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Controls include on/off, up down for brightness.

I like simple and the LUCID is very simple to operate. All controls are on the left side of the optic. There is an on-off push button. Push to turn on, push and hold(5 seconds) to turn off. For controlling brightness a set of buttons are easily manipulated to increase and decrease the intensity of the dot. On its highest setting the dot is VERY bright – much more than my Vortex Strikefire. In bright sunlight this was very much welcomed.

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Light sensor for dot auto-brightness control system.

One unique feature the LUCID M7 has is a special mode which allows the dot intensity to auto-adjust. Yes – the brightness will automatically adjust depending on how bright or dark it is. There is a small sensor directly on top of the housing that senses changing light conditions. When clearing rooms in a building the dots brightness automatically decreases when it darkens. Going from inside to bright sunlight the dot brightness instantly. It works extremely well. Switching between manual and auto mode is done simply pressing the power button. Each press toggles between the two modes.

The sight is powered by a single AAA alkaline battery. A battery life test was not performed however it is reported that 1200 hours is attainable. Yes – 1200 hours! That’s over 50 days of use. The sight also has an auto shut-off after 2 hours which will certainly help battery life if inadvertently left on.

The M7 is both waterproof and shockproof. As far as being waterproof I dropped mine in a cup of water for 15 minutes with no issues. Shockproof up to .458 SOCOM – I only had mine mounted to a 5.56mm AR.

Weight is only 4.6 ounces.

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Fit & Finish

The LUCID M7 is constructed of aluminum and has a flat black finish. All seams and edges are clean with no unfinished machining. The windage and elevation caps are tethered together with the battery compartment cap – nice feature and it works. Battery compartment cap is o-ring sealed.

Everything is tight and is very well made.

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Tethered turret caps and battery compartment cover.

 

The Riser

The M7 Riser available from LUCID works well and is very lightweight. I had no issues with its performance. I have read other reviews where people have complained the riser is not very attractive. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

LUCID M7 riser
LUCID M7 Riser

Retail price for the LUCID Riser is $39.

 

Summary

I really like the LUCID M7. It is an excellent companion to most any AR-15 or other modern fighting rifle. Whether you are on a budget or not the M7 is a great choice.

LUCID website

Amazon LUCID M7 page

LUCID M7 Red Dot Sight Photo Gallery

 

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7 thoughts on “Review: LUCID M7 Red Dot Sight”

  1. Nice review. I was unaware of the Lucid. Features such as the wire attached adjustment covers are usually only found in high end and military optics. Having experience with a wide variety of reflex sights, I have always found that lower intensity of aiming point/reticle illumination offers the best accuracy whereas brighter settings permit quicker target acquisition. The lens covers are a great feature as is being powered by a AAA cell rather than a much lower current density coin type cell. Next time I’m in a gun store, I shall have a look at one these sights.

    I likewise bemoaned age related loss of visual acuity.

    Regarding age and eyesight, I have been a pilot since my early teens. About age 50, my son who is also a pilot and often co-pilot for me, commented I was shooting a lot of instrument approaches in clear VFR weather. Being proficient and up to date with instrument approaches is a good thing but I had noticed the son was spotting airports way before me and yet I was familiar with many of the airports and how they appeared in the ground clutter. By always shooting instrument approaches I ensured terrain and obstacle clearance and usually radar guidance and traffic avoidance (which aren’t bad things), and if executed to standards always ensured that I arrived at the correct end of the right runway (a really great thing). This worked for that old blind pilot but at the expense of increased flight time when faster and simpler a ‘see and avoid’ VFR approach would likely have worked just fine.

    Sure enough, I had cataracts, probably helped along by high altitude UV rays when flying (unlike glass, cockpit window plexiglass offers no UV protection) and welding.

    The ophthalmologist told me it was an easy fix and as presbyopia was setting in, recommended I do away with the original equipment lens in favor of a new perfect for me lens made by Alcon. Within weeks I was sounding like a bleach commercial, blues are bluer, whites are whiter, and wow my no eyeglasses acuity was 20/20 and 20/15. I now saw better than ever before in my life. Turns out that problems sorting shades of blue and black (ever see old men with one blue sock and one black?) is an indicator of cataracts. Another is that whites become more yellow. Because these changes are so small over time, they may be unnoticed, that is until someone remarks about your mismatched socks or the frequency of your instrument approaches. Once again it became a burden to remain proficient with instrument approaches and sometimes I could even make out the runway numbers before the son could see the runway. Man o man what a big and beneficial change – and what’s better, it was an age related beneficial change. Never more would I be susceptible to lens cataracts.

    Both lens and procedure set me back $400 as much of the cost was covered by insurance as a fix for the cataracts. The only unpleasant part was being awake for the operation, especially when the original equipment lens was being liquified by high frequency. It didn’t hurt per se, but just thinking about what was happening made a trip to the dentist in comparison a walk in the park.

    Needless to say, this operation made a huge difference in the quality of life and improved both my flying and marksmanship.

    Word to the wise those of my generation and older.

    PR

    Reply
  2. PR, welding will do it, had my first eye done in 06 and my second in 2011 and I still have to wear glasses for 20/20, but yes, the difference is amazing, glad yours worked out well.

    Reply
  3. John, did your ophthalmologist offer corrective lenses, lasic, or a combination of both? I have also noticed a correlation between stick time (welding not piloting) and marksmanship. I always seem to shoot a little better after welding for a few days. I think it is both a coordination issue and perhaps a strength issue. Any thoughts?

    PR

    Reply
  4. PR, I’ve worn glasses since the third grade, but they found the problem was when I moved to FL and had to change my CDL and I could not make more than 20/40, the state put the license on a two year hold and I went to the VA. After two and a half years they did the surgery as the cateracts had gotten a lot worse, still need glasses but have 20/20 for now. Thanks for the concern, JohnP.

    Reply
  5. Gentlemen,
    The membrane behind the lens will deteriorate with, for me, much faster and much more vision loss soon after my second lens replacement. Two new lenses and I had what amounted to tunnel vision as far as clear vision was concerned. I was really disappointed until Doc explained it to me. A 3 minute yag laser treatment to burn a hole thru the membrane behind the first new lens and I was good as new,,,what a relief !

    Reply

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