This is the contents of an email sent to LE agencies and dealers by EOTech requiring them to acknowledge the Holographic Weapons Sights performance issues.
Good evening,
Please be advised that any EOTech Holographic Weapon Sight orders that are to be shipped to an agency are currently ON HOLD at EOTech. In order to get those orders released you must follow the process outlined at the bottom of this email. Most all current orders on hold are available to be shipped as soon as this process is complete. This is a fairly simple process in which you identify the order number and agency POC, and then, copy and paste an email template to the agency that includes a workable link. Inside that link, the agency POC will be able to read and acknowledge EOTech’s current specifications. At that point, once acknowledged by the agency on the web link, the product will auto ship to the agency. Some of you have seen this process as you had agency orders in queue when it rolled out, and I notified you of the steps. It was my understanding early on that this was only for current orders in queue, so I notified only those customers. Currently the directive is to continue this process until further notice, so I am sending this out to everyone. If you have a law enforcement order waiting to ship, this process must be completed. If you have a non-LE direct order that needs to ship for stocking or consumer level sales, please send me that PO number and I will get the order released. Some of those orders may have been held up if you were flagged as an LE dealer/distributor in order to ensure no agency received sights without acknowledgement. Do NOT under any circumstances attempt to circumvent this process. If it is going to an agency, it must follow the procedures. If you are a commercial, non-LE account and you received this email, you may disregard. Please, if you have any questions at all, feel free to give me a call. The process is outlined below.
Below is the LE Acknowledgement instructions in regards to releasing orders. This is LIVE and ready to go.
THE PROCESS
Step 1: Identify agency, obtain Point of Contact information
Step 2: Email the agency the standard email language (Below) with Sales Order # referenced, including embedded link to HWS performance specs on EOTech’s website.
Step 3: Agency contact completes form and acknowledges review of HWS performance specs by clicking in the acceptance box. Note: Both acceptance boxes need to be checked.
Step 4: A copy of the agency POC acceptance is auto generated to EOTech’s order entry and to relevant sales personnel.
Step 5: The law enforcement order is released from ship hold and is shipped.
THE EMAIL
~~~~ START ~~~~
Dear <INSERT NAME>,
With respect to your backorder of EOTech sights, S.O. #<INSERT ORDER NO.>, we are ready to ship but need your acknowledgement of the HWS Performance Specifications. Click HERE to review that information and provide acknowledgement. Allow approximately 1-2 weeks for delivery.
Thank you for your attention and assistance.
Direct Link: http://www.eotechinc.com/le-perf-ack
~~~~ END ~~~~
Tags: EOTech, L3 Communications
The er, Money Shot in the Performance Specification:
“The sight has the potential to shift approximately +/- 5 Minutes of Angle (“MOA”) at -40°F and 122°F. Due to thermal drift, the sight may not return to zero. The sights have the potential of approximately a +/- 2 MOA zero shift upon return to ambient (73°F) after being exposed to any temperature between -40°F and 122°F.”
So in other words, leave it in a hot car once and it’s f’d forever…?
F’d forever starts well before you leave it in a hot car.
The last sentence in what I snipped contains what I consider to be the business killing statement: Expect a 2 MOA shift after ANY temperature change relative to 73F. To take this out of the theoretical. I live in SE Texas. One day, I went to the range…
Temp in the AM was in the mid-50s, high humidity, clear sky. Carbine laying on the back seat, stopped at a Whataburger to get breakfast. Gun in the sun. 20 minutes later, back on the road. 15 minutes later, at the range.
Temp quickly moved into the low 60s, humidity dropped a little. Started banging away. POI was off. Made some adjustments. A couple of shots later, off in a different direction. Sun by then is definitely up, temp moving up, humidity moving down. Total exposure time (meaning, weapon out of environmentally controlled storage) at that point was less than two hours.
Spent the better part of an hour trying to get things sorted. Gave up and moved onto other weapons (none with EOTech mounted on them). No problems. I ruled out some sort of Burger/Blood Pressure/Vision nexus.
Came back to the EOTech’d carbine (which had been sitting outside and in the rack behind me for a couple of hours). POI was off. Made adjustments, POI held from there on out. I now know, because I never had that set of environmental conditions again.
While I refuse to go back to an era where I have to worry about keeping my powder dry, I wish that EOTech would license their reticle patterns to companies that use etched glass optics.
CaptnTroy-
No. I believe that means if the optic is exposed to those extreme temps the zero will shift. It can return to its original zero after returned to normal temps, but may not.
So if your optic is exposed to temps like that it means you will need to zero your gun again..
I guess that’d be right…so at the very least, you’ll need to red tag your sight until your next opportunity to re-zero…Yay…
My take as well
I think it really means that people should stop buying EoTechs.
They are trying to stay out of the 1983 lawsuits and not have to take these back when brass finally listen to their instructor cadre and tactical guys and ditch these.
That kind of MOA shift is unacceptable on a cop gun.
Its 75-85 inside the cop car, year around, because when its 100 out, Joe Patrolman is cranking the AC, and when its below freezing, he is cranking the heat. In any case, when he bails out of the car into those environments, he will experience zero shift. Or if he is away from the car for awhile (like lunch in the summer on day shift, or gettting called out for a barricade at two in the morning in the winter) and the ambient temp inside the car is 140… or 20. There is no way to account for the relatively massive and unpredictable shifts in temperature and unpredictable POI changes.
L3’s statement is to make sure they have documentation on file that they notified LE agencies that their sights suck, so when Joe Patrolman has a 4″ shift at 50 yards responding to a Robbery call and hits the clerk, or misses and gets killed, they can get dismissed out of the inevitable lawsuits. Its lawyerese for “we told you our stuff sucks and you decided to use it anyway…its on you.”