Vortex Optics has just announced the Defender-CCW and Defender-ST enclosed solar micro red dot sights.

Vortex’s Defender line of pistol red dot sights has been out for a couple of years now, and the optics have become one of the most popular options on the market. Earlier this year, Vortex introduced the Viper Shotgun red dot as well, and its enclosed design had many speculating about the future of a Vortex enclosed pistol optic. Well, that theory has just been proven true with the announcement of the Vortex Defender-CCW and Defender-ST enclosed solar micro red dots.

Pistol red dots have absolutely taken over, and that’s a good thing. It’s no surprise they’ve become the norm, given the myriad advantages they offer, but everything in life is a tradeoff and pistol red dots have some disadvantages as well. A big one, traditional designs have open emitters, meaning that dirt, debris, grime, water or anything else can get in and render the optic unusable. This is why the latest trend is enclosed emitter pistol red dots, and the newest options are the Defender-CCW and Defender-ST from Vortex.

They feature durable enclosed 7075 aluminum housings, large viewing windows and aspherical lenses for a distortion-free sight picture. Both versions also charge themselves via a solar panel, feature motion activation with a 10-minute auto-shutoff, sport a Fast-Rack textured grip and have multiple reticles to choose from (circle, dot or circle/dot) with 12 brightness settings (10 daylight, 2 night). The ST variant is larger and intended for full-size pistols, shotguns and carbines and it mounts via the DeltaPoint Pro footprint, while the CCW variant is designed for smaller carry guns and uses a Shield RMS footprint.

MSRP for the enclosed Vortex Defender-CCW is $400 and MSRP for the enclosed Defender-ST is $530. Both versions are available now.

For more information, visit vortexoptics.com.

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