How do you know when you’ve made a top notch product? When someone else tries to imitate you with “knock-offs” or “fakes” and attempts to pass them off as the real thing. Imitation, as they say, is the sincerest form of flattery.
I’m not so sure that flattery is intended when it comes to these Trijicon reflex red dot scopes, but they have drawn their share of imitators – of which you, the buyer must beware. Be sure before you buy that your vendor is known for selling authentic scopes. It’s not that hard to tell with a little research.
The three Trijicon scopes that we’ll look at in this article have some similar features. We’ll take a look at those first. After that, I’ll tell you what makes each one special.
If you’re in a hurry and just want to check the pricing and availability of these Trijicon red dot scopes at Amazon, you can click (or tap) the links in the list just below.
- Trijicon RMR Type 2 6.5 MOA Adjustable LED Red Dot Sight
- Trijicon RMR Type 2 3.25 MOA Adjustable LED Red Dot Sight
- Trijicon MRO-C-2200017 1x25mm Patrol Riflescope with Red Dot Reticle
Contents
Common Features among the Trijicon Scopes
A table is usually good for comparisons, so I’ll insert one here that should help you see the similarities. Note that the first two scopes are almost identical, as both are reflex scopes. The Patrol model is not a reflex scope.
Model | RMR 6.5 | RMR 3.25 | MRO Patrol |
| Auto brightness mode? | Yes | Yes | No |
| Ruggedized? | Yes | Yes | No |
| Patented housing shape? | Yes | Yes | No |
| Battery conservation? | Yes | Yes | No |
| Button lockout? | Yes | Yes | No |
| Multi-coated lenses? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Waterproof (ft.) | 66 | 66 | 100 |
| Reticle color | Red | Red | Red |
| Battery | CR2032 | CR2032 | CR2032 |
| MOA per click | 1 | 1 | 1/2 |
| Housing material | Black matte forged aluminum | Black matte forged aluminum | Black matte forged aluminum |
In a way, it’s not fair to compare the Patrol with the first two scopes because it’s a different style, but I wanted to point out the few common features that do exist. At the same time, this should emphasize that the Patrol is, in fact, created in that non-reflex style.
So let’s take a closer look at each of these three scopes individually.
#1) Trijicon RMR Type 2 6.5 MOA Adjustable LED Red Dot Sight
What does “RMR” mean? And is it important?
RMR is Trijicon’s acronym for “Ruggedized Miniature Reflex”. It simply means that in addition to the scope as a whole being of high quality materials and construction, especially the battery contacts and the electronics inside can withstand a fair amount of punishment because they’re been “ruggedized”.
According to Trijicon, this ruggedization has “been proven to perform when mounted on slide ride pistols and other small arms”. As I understand it, the “guts” of the scope won’t fail just because of the way you use it or the type of gun on which you mount it.
With a suitable mount (that you have to purchase separately with each of the models described here), you can join it to a handgun, rifle, or even another scope. This makes it “suitable for military, law enforcement, concealed carry self-defense, target shooting, and hunting applications”.
That patented housing shape (see table above) absorbs the impact when you fire and diverts stress away from the lens. This adds to the durability of the scope. In other words, Trijicon has designed these reflex scopes to last a long time. For these reasons, they can offer a 15 year limited warranty on the lamp and 5 years on the electronics.
Miniature Reflex (the “MR” in “RMR”) obviously just refers to the size and style of this scope (and the second one in our list).
Battery and Button Usage in the Trijicon Reflex Scopes
Since it’s likely that you’ll always use this scope with its red dot turned on, battery life is important. With the two reflex scopes, you should be able to make a battery last about 4 years. Of course, there are plenty of variables that can make that number change.
One feature that helps extend the battery life is the conservation mode which automatically switches your aiming dot to ambient lighting conditions after 16.5 hours.
Buttons for making adjustments are supposedly easy to use. Maybe in some cases they’re a little too easy, and that’s why there’s a button lockout function. It sets the scope into automatic mode so you can’t accidentally make unwanted adjustments.
There are buttons for changing the illumination brightness, for toggling between manual and automatic modes, and for powering down the device. The brightness settings include 2 for night vision and one called “super bright”.
Not exactly a button, but the elevation and windage controls increase and decrease in 1 MOA increments.
What Makes This Reflex Scope Different from the Others?
The main difference is that it’s a 6.5 MOA adjustable LED RMR scope. This RM07 scope has the biggest dot that Trijicon offers among its LED models. According to Trijicon…
“The bigger dot size gives the user the ability to locate the dot quickly which is ideal for close quarter engagements, or is a great solution for those who have vision problems.”
The RM07 measures 1.8 inches long by 1.1 inches wide by 1 inch high and weighs 1.2 ounces.
#2) Trijicon RMR Type 2 3.25 MOA Adjustable LED Red Dot Sight
The description of this scope is going to be significantly shorter than the one above because almost everything that applies to the RM07 version also applies to this RM06 version.
From housing shape to battery life to button usage, it’s all the same. It even has the same dimensions and weight.
The difference is that it’s a 3.25 MOA dot scope and is Trijicons most popular dot size. I’ll defer to trijicon again.
“The dot is small enough to allow accurate shooting at range while also being big enough to locate quickly.”
If going along with the crowd is okay by you, this is the reflex scope you want.
#3) Trijicon MRO-C-2200017 1x25mm Patrol Riflescope
And now for something (almost) completely different – the Trijicon Patrol scope.
To sound unique, Trijicon calls this scope an MRO – Miniature Rifle Optic. Obviously. Need I say more?
Even though the shape of the Patrol is significantly different from the RMR scopes above, Trijicon still considers it a reflex style scope that allows you to keep both eyes open while looking through it.
The battery life should be about 25% longer than those above, coming in at around 5 years. Again, remember that several variables can affect this number in both directions.
You get 8 brightness settings, and you can easily change them using either hand. Moving it to the central setting is essentially turning it off.
I’ll defer to Trijicon one last time for a fairly important claim.
“The MRO features fully protected adjusters that maintain zero even during rough handling, and can be adjusted without the need for special tools.”
It may not be an RMR, but it should hold up under rough conditions.
You get lens covers for both the eyepiece and the 22 millimeter objective lens. You also get an anti-reflection device (ARD) to take away some of the glare you might get at certain angles, especially when the sun is opposite your position.
Clicks are a bit different from the scopes above too. Here, one click equals ½ MOA at 100 yards. The total travel distance is 70 MOA.
The Trijicon Patrol measures 2.6 inches long by 1.7 inches wide by 2 inches high and weighs 5.1 ounces.
Conclusions about the Trijicon Reflex Red Dot Riflescopes
All three of these reflex style scopes are high quality, so it probably comes down to how much you want to spend, the size of red dot you prefer, and the actual shape of the scope.
They should all last a good, long time and give you many, many hours of constant use. Click a link above and try one out next week (or sooner).
For more red dot reflex options, check out this article about Pinty models.
