While out hunting a couple weeks ago I kept thinking to myself that having some type of red dot optic would be better than the factory mounted scope.  Looking through the scope with the narrow field of view didn't seem like the optimal set up for hunting yardages.  I only see myself shooting around 50 yards max.

Thoughts?

I would also like to hear others' thoughts. I don't hate the 4x that mine came with, and it's done a fine job at assisting with the 3 kills thus far this year, but a red dot would be legitimately quicker to aim.

I ran a red dot for years on my Horton. Sighted at 25 yards. Practiced with hold over or under at various distance. Just a simple Tasso red dot. This rig accounted for about 25 deer and at least a dozen coyotes.  Best part was anyone could pick it up and take a few practice shots and was good to go out to about 40 yards. Simple and very accurate. Just need to get your yardages down. This was old equipment so I imagine a modern crossbow would be even better with the increased speed and flatter trajectory.

I'm using a Wicked Ridge G3.  ~325 fps and an expandable broadhead.  

Same problem as you.  I could not use the scope that it ships with from the factory.  Pulled it off and put on a cheap Primary Arms red dot.

I've zero'ed at 30 yards which is where I am comfortable with using this bow.  40 is not a problem either but with this bow I'd need the perfect broadside shot and an unsuspecting deer.   I've had them jump the string a few times and ended up with a gut shot or liver shot at the longer ranges.  30 or under may be a inch or so high but basically point of aim for my purposes.

The RDS is great for snap shots that I have to take.  I'm working out of a ground blind most of the time right next to a path or open field.  The deer have a habit of sprinting out into the open field 20 yards from the tree edge and then stopping to look around.  If they are getting chased by a buck they just keep moving.  The RDS is great for those quick shots just like on a gun.  The low light seems better too with both eyes open and a nice crisp dot.

YMMV as they say.  Try it.  Worst case is you pull it off and put it on your 10/22 or something.

For a long time, I used a 1-5x shotgun scope on my crossbow (s).

But, for the last few years, have been using a cheap red dot.  At 25 yards, you can still almost stack arrows on top of each other.

With the 1-5x scope, my youngest son has put arrows inside of arrows with it.  That gets expensive after a few times.