Bushnell Holosight stopped working

[codebluepnk]

I bought a Bushnell Holosight off of ebay. It was in excellent condition. I was told it was new. First time i took it shooting with my AR15 it was turning off every shot i took, like the recoil was making it short out or somthing. A few more shots in and it completely turned off and wouldn't turn back on.

I tried adding new batteries and cleaning the battery contacts. No luck. It is dead.

I have a feeling it wasn't new, but anyone else have a bad experience with these?

[Ballistic043]

yes

i have heard it on good authority that the bushnell holosights electronics are inferiorly protected. the electronics are not encapsulated in the famous 'shock absorbing resin compound' which eotechs are known for. apparently this compound normally gives the circuitry a body of armor which is more resistant to shock and hard hits. without it i assume there might be some problems with recoil and shock. that is compounded by the fact that there is no protective shroud on the holosight. so if it does take damage, it will likely be more prominent.

my advise is to check the date on the sight and see if you can have it replaced under warantee, or maybe repaired. then go to the sellers account on ebay and submit negative feedback to him. or you could contact the seller first and see if he's willing to take a return...

[pbrand]

I bought a Bushnell Holosight off of ebay. It was in excellent condition. I was told it was new. First time i took it shooting with my AR15 it was turning off every shot i took, like the recoil was making it short out or somthing. A few more shots in and it completely turned off and wouldn't turn back on.

I tried adding new batteries and cleaning the battery contacts. No luck. It is dead.

I have a feeling it wasn't new, but anyone else have a bad experience with these?

Call Bushnell. If it was new you should have a 2 year warranty on it. I have had the Bushnell Holosights for a while and love them with no problems at all. I have also sold over 50 and heard no complaints. What model did you purchase?

[maxicon]

One of the Calguns members disassembled his Holosight some time ago and said it the electronics are encapsulated just like an Eotech's. The post is somewhere in the archives here, but it's been quite a while.

I've done some current drain testing on Eotechs, and they can have problems turning back on after battery contact problems when the sight is on, There are 2 fixes I know of. Eotech recommends leaving it with the battery out for 2 minutes. I've had good luck shorting the battery terminals for 30 seconds or so, then replacing the batteries.

Eotech issued a battery spring repair kit for some models, but I don't know if Holosights have the same issues.

Your recourse depends a lot on how it was described. Used stuff generally had nothing but a DOA warranty, so if it works, then dies, you may be out of luck, as that's one of the risks of buying used gear. If it's from a vendor, try contacting them to see if they can take care of it.

A poster on arfcom who chased Holosight warranty work said that Bushnell claimed the 2 year warranty period began on the manufacture date, not the purchase date. Eotech used to state this on their FAQ, as well, but now have changed it to 2 years from date of purchase.

Be sure to keep us posted on how it works out!

[pbrand]

If that is true of the warranty starting from manufacturing date then I hope you have the newest model. It will have a dedicated on/off switch. Thanks for that clarification on the internals maxicon.

[Shane916]

I believe Bushnell covers it 2 years from the original sale date of the receipt.

http://www.bushnell.com/customer_service/us_repair.cfm

Here's a a law in our favor too:

SHIPPING & HANDLING FEES

Send in a check or money order for shipping and handling made out to Bushnell in the amount of:

$15.00 for Telescopes
$10.00 for all other products

(California residents are excluded from paying shipping and handling payments for warranted items only)

[maxicon]

Yeah, they took some heat for that policy, as did Eotech. Looks like both have changed it now - good news!