Meprolight Tru-Dot RDS Review

[rxer311]

I was looking for a new red dot sight to put on the new rifle that I just completed building so I took a trip to my local gun store to check some things out. I had a budget around $400 so I was thinking I would end up picking up an Aimpoint PRO or EOTech 512 (both of which I have owned). I did want to just look at some of the higher end stuff like an Aimpoint Micro or a Trijicon MRO. After looking at the sights I wanted to I noticed another site in the case that looked a lot like an EOTech. I thought it might be a cheap "me too" product but I decided to give it a look. It was a Meprolight Tru-Dot RDS. I had heard of them before and read some reviews, but I was never able to handle one. After looking at it for a while and playing with it on a blue rifle I wanted to find out more about it especially since it was priced within my range at $379. I left the gun store and went home to do some research.

It had an MSRP of $399 so at least the LGS was not trying to rob me. But the thing that caught my attention was the features for the price. At priced less than and Aimpoint PRO or an EOTech 512 you get a red dot sight with a built in QD mounting system, Night Vision compatibility, adjustable brightness (though somewhat limited), an 18,000 hour run time off a single AA battery with auto on/off feature (which could possibly extend the life of the battery indefinitely), in a relatively small package. Also of note is that this is the civilian version the IDF red dot sight with small differences which has passed all the IDF drop and torture tests.

I went back to the LGS yesterday and decided to try and talk them down on price. I ended up being able to get it for $349 which was well below either the Aimpoint or EOtech I was looking at with a price of $425 for each of them. I decided to give it a try.

The first thing you will notice after holding it is how rugged the construction is. You can tell that it is built solid and to last a long time. It really does have that built like a tank feel without being heavy. The QD mounts lock up solid and can be adjusted for out of spec rails (see below for more info). You will also notice that when mounted on the rifle the sight picture is HUGE. The red dot is easy to pick up in the window. The size is smaller than an EOTech 512 but larger than a XPS.

(One thing that I noticed that is an annoyance is that even when fully locked down there is a slight fore/aft movement of the sight on the rail. It is only maybe 0.01" and you have to use significant force with your hand to move it. For the purpose of the review, I thought it was important to mention this. I do not believe this issue will cause any changes in POI and I don't think the force of recoil of the 5.56 round will cause it to move but maybe higher calibers will. I have contacted MAKO about this and will try to update as other reviewers have noticed this as well. For a note, the M21 sight from MAKO which came before this sight was engineered to have slight play when mounted for recoil resistance.)

I can not comment on how crisp the dot looks because I have a terrible astigmatism and all red dots "star" on me. With that being said, the dot is very usable with my astigmatism. One drawback is that there are only 5 settings for brightness for the dot and one of them is "off." There are 3 settings for daytime use and then 1 NV setting. Then norm for other sights seems to be 10+ settings. In use, however, this does not cause any issues. There is a setting that will work for the lighting condition you are using. Turn the lights out and the lightest setting is perfect. The middle setting perfect for general daytime use, and the highest setting is more than bright enough for the sunniest or brightest of days.

The Auto shutdown/on works great. After 10 min of being still the sight will automatically shut down but will instantly turn back on as soon as the slightest motion is felt by the sight's motion sensor. You probably wouldn't even notice the feature working because by the time you shoulder the rifle it is on and ready to go. You can only tell its off and turning back on if you are looking down the sight while moving it to turn it on. So, you can leave the sight on and in your safe and the battery could possibly last forever with 18,000 hour run time.

The controls are well thought out and easy to use. There are the X/Y axis adjustments that are on the top and side of the sight, respectively. They are flush so they can not be knocked out of adjustment. They have very positive feeling clicks and each click is 0.5MOA. You can use a coin or the back of a spent round to adjust them. This was a bit frustrating, however. Only a penny or nickle would work for me. A dime was too small and a quarter was too large. A flathead screwdriver also was not helpful because of the the slot is curved for a coin. Just make sure you have some change on you at the range. The on/off switch is located on the left side of the site towards the back and would be out of the way of any magnifier you might use. It is a rotary switch and turns a total of about 60 degrees for all 5 settings. The batter goes in the front and is offset to the side to make battery changes quick and easy, even if there are things in front of the site.

At the range it was easy to Zero and one locked in, it had no problem holding Zero. It was easy to find a brightness setting that was appropriate for the day. Dare I say that it was actually easier because you didn't have to dial through 15 different settings to find one that worked.

Is the Meprolight Tru-Dot RDS an Aimpoint, EOTech, or Trijicon? No, it is not. However, one has to remember that the US military is not the only military on the planet and the IDF uses a version of this site on a day to day basis. For the price, features, and piece of mind of having a military grade sight, its worth a look if you are on a budget and want a nice sight that will take some abuse.

[Uffdaphil]

Nice write-up. The Tru-Dot is the only RD I have two of, mainly because the big window with Aimpoint type dot makes it the fastest to precisely acquire the target of any I have tried, including EO, Comp, Pro, micro and RMR. I'll concede that it comes in last place in a beauty contest.

[rxer311]

So it seems my issue with the movement of the sight is not an issue with the sight. The Pic rail of my upper receiver is out of spec. I tried the sight on every other single rail I own and it is rock solid. That will teach me to use an Anderson upper ever again.

Time to rip my rifle apart and start with a quality upper receiver.

[tact]

I had one for a bit. I think it's a quality product, I really liked it...... But it's just to too damn big and fugly. I didn't care for the plastic hood either. I guess they made a limited number with a metal hood though.

[Eric]

The movement on the rail on some uppers is bothersome. Optic mounts need to have a workable adjustment mechanism in place to accommodate for slight variations, which most successful designs do. It's details like that which can derail an otherwise good product. Hopefully Meprolight will get it squared away, but it's been a known issue for over a year. The price-point and other design features are attractive. Amazon even carries them now, currently at $334 shipped.