Before I broke down and decided that my Savage Axis needed a scope, I tried an inexpensive red dot that I bought off amazon or e-bay (I don't remember). It was a collection of aluminum and zinc castings with some electronics and a lens that looked like a 1960's television screen. The castings were so rough that I couldn't adjust the thing because the parts kept hanging up on each other. I took the thing apart, sanded or burnished everything, reassembled it and got it to zero. It would hold a zero just fine with fairly heavy 223 loads.
I've never been an "optics" kind of person, but decided that if I was going to give up irons on a bolt gun, I needed to bite the bullet and get a scope. I found a nice Bushnell on clearance at a gun store and bought it. I hope to put it on and see how it does this August. But, my experience with cheap Chinese red dots is that they can be pretty good with a little effort on the shooter's part, but, if I was going to live or die based on the performance of my optic, I'd look for an Aimpoint.