Aimpoint invented the red dot optic, and they’ve been a company with a massive line up of excellent optics. Their optics serve police and military forces around the world including the US Army. At SHOT Show 2020 Aimpoint announced the new CompM5B, an addition to their M5 sight line. The CompM5B has two major changes to the M5 line.
The first and most obvious is they moved the (AAA) battery compartment from where it was located on the CompM5 to the bottom of the optic, similar to the CompM5S introduced last year. This arguably offers shooters a little better peripheral vision around the optic.
Aimpoint did this with the original M4 and the M4S and why they can’t seem to make their mind up as to where the battery compartment should be located is beyond me.
The next change is turrets. Aimpoint is shipping the M5B with finger-adjustable, caliber-specific turrets on the CompM5B to allow for windage and elevation adjustments in the field. The M5B is the first optic in the Aimpoint lineup to incorporate finger-adjustable turrets.
The caps are replaceable so if you move the sight to a rifle chambered in a different caliber, you won’t need a new sight. Aimpoint wouldn’t say which specific caliber turrets will be included, but we can assume we’ll see common rounds like 5.56 NATO, 300 BLK and .308 represented.
Like the other M5 sights, the Aimpoint M5B uses a 2 MOA red dot and is as simple as Aimpoint optics have always been. Here is what Aimpoint has to say about their Comp M5B. Cost is about $925 retail.
The Aimpoint® CompM5b allows the user to quickly adjust the position of the reticle to compensate for ballistic drop for the distance to the target.
It comes with interchangeable turrets adapted for different calibers of ammunition at different target distances.It also offers wind or lead compensation adjustment, and adjustment caps can be tailormade to meet requirements.
The CompM5b™ is a high performance red dot sight developed to withstand extremely tough handling and environmental situations without adding much weight to the user’s equipment.
The CompM5b™ allows for unlimited eye relief and is compatible with Aimpoint 3XMag-1 and 6XMag-1 magnifiers as well as all generations of Night Vision Devices (NVD).
The battery life for the CompM5b™ is over 5 years of continuous use while at the pos. 7, more than 1 year of use at pos. 8, and more than 10 years at NVD settings (pos. 1 to 4).