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What are the advantages/disadvantges of having an illuminated reticle? What are your experiences with them? Why or why not should you get one?

I have 2. I've rarely used them. If you get one make sure you can dim it to nothing.

I've had perfect luck with ambient light and a good scope, even shooting black pigs with a moon and a Zeiss scope.

The light puts glare in my eyes, starts to restrict my night vision by constricting my dilated pupil.

To me there isn't a good enough use for htem, to own one on purpose.

I have several and "illuminate" them rarely. Once in a while I find it useful to have slightly (and only slightly) more than zero illumination early or late in the thick stuff. Cannot say I need it, but do prefer it on occasion.

they work, but not the cheap ones. If you can barely see it at sundown it will be very bright by sundown 30. Don't waste your money on it if you cannot afford a good one, just get a #4 reticle. The Victory HT is a good one.

Good for Leopard. Handy in low light situations. The down side is they are generally costly and add some weight. I never bother to use mine unless I know that shooting will be in the dark.

My Leupold VXR 4X12 is great for shooting hogs or coyotes at night. Just be sure to keep it on the very lowest setting to avoid glare.

It depends on the legal hours to hunt. Here in Europe we are allowed to hunt during the night (mostly boars) or until it gets completely dark, and sometimes is quite hard to put the reticle on the right place when the animal is on the bush in very low light. For that kind of hunting I recommend the IR. I see no reason to use it during the day, I prefer a German #4 (FFP for driven hunt and RFP for stalking).

P.D: Please forgive my poor English writing ;-)

Is there any possible way for an IR not to reduce your dilated pupil, thus making it more difficult to see in the darkness?

To me, they make absolutely no physical sense. They help one see the reticle but blur the target.

i have 2 meoptas that work well but only on lowest setting. ive used it a couple times in lowlight but dont think it was really needed. a good #4 is all u need unless u find a deal on one with IR

I have one Illuminated reticle. It's in a Vortex Viper. If I could change one thing, I'd lower the illumination at the lowest setting.

Leupold VX-R. Why? Precise aiming point dead center, no matter the ambient light. The etched reticle is great, illuminated or not. No downside.

The e-Dot scopes do have the advantage during the day of getting on target ever so slightly faster than just cross-hairs.

I have only one e-Dot: a VX6 2-12 LR Duplex on my Rem AWR 7mm SAUM. It's my go anywhere, do anything, take abuse rifle and it's completely dialed in for a 140gr. AB at 3,000 fps. It's not always what I reach for but it is a tool that always works.

The rest of my scopes to date are "normal" etched rets.

some of the good IR's go so low you cannot see them at dark, I think they work with NV devices. The Zeiss #60 in the new Victory is a good one. A good IR is just bright enough to pick up but does not seem to effect my vision, case in point so dark I could not see the horns put the scope on it, saw it was a poor basket rack and the IR was not so bright it affected my vision. I am aiming to try the new one in the Nightforce 2.5-10x42, the older NF design was as you say ruinous of your vision.