The Shield sight is indeed very compact and above all else light. I am actually more fond of the self adjusting sights at this point although there are also some cons. The larger the window in the sight the easier it is to find the dot but with practice that is not really a problem. I never thought I would like optics on normal guns after all these years. It's pretty cool to be able to aim well without my prescription iron sight glasses. The optics are not a must have, but no-one I have trained has after a brief familiarization period wanted irons instead. However, they do not solve marksmanship problem's beyond aiming and vision... Excellent work can be done without optics of course, but for many it is a godsend.