Burris FastFire E Enclosed Red Dot: Full Review

As the first enclosed emitter optic of the Burris FastFire line, the FastFire E is sturdy, easy to use, and is available at a great price.

October 21, 2025 By Rodger Holscher

The Burris FastFire E is the first of its kind in the Burris FastFire lineup. The “E” indicates the “Enclosed Emitter.” While Burris is not new to the game when it comes to micro red dot sights (MRDS), this is their first venture into the enclosed emitter world. As some know, Burris is a sister company with Steiner Optics, and both are owned by Beretta Holdings. Several years back, I had the privilege of testing one of the first pre-production models of the Steiner MPS. After my testing of that optic, some important things were changed for the production model. When I heard that Burris was going to come out with an Enclosed Emitter MRDS, I was excited.

First Impressions

My first impressions of the Burris FastFire E were positive. The optic is sturdy, well-machined, has a good finish and the buttons are big. Pressing the buttons provides good tactile and audio feedback. There is no question that you pressed something, even without looking at the optic.

cus-burris-fastfire-e-07-1200x800 — Buttons at the top of the optic are large, textured, and clearly divided between plus and minus. Pressing the buttons gives solid tactile feedback and a clear click.

The Burris FastFire E is structured around a monolithic (one piece) machined 7075 aluminum housing. This gives the optic a solid structure that is waterproof, shockproof and fog-proof. When you hold the Burris FastFire E in your hands, it feels like a quality optic. In the box, you will find the optic, cleaning cloth, CR2032 Battery, Sight Adjustment Multi tool, and owner’s manual. Simple is the name of the game with this optic.

Mounting

The Burris FastFire E lends itself well to being mounted on a handgun, but the options do not stop there. I plan to mount this optic on my Stoeger M3500 as well as on an offset mount, next to my LPVO. That is the beauty of the ACRO footprint used by the FastFire E.

I immediately mounted the Burris FastFire E onto a Gen 4 Glock 19 MOA with the help of a Night Fision ACRO to MOS adapter plate. Burris does not include a mounting plate with the optic, but the ACRO adapter plates are not hard to find.

The Burris FastFire E comes with a single pair of screws pre-installed, which works in the favor of the ACRO footprint. I have evaluated a lot of optics over the years that come with an assortment of screws with different thread pitch, sizes, and lengths, but you do not have to worry about that with the Burris FastFire E. The simple, one screw (T10 bit) torqued to 23 in/lbs and you are all set to go to the range.

cus-burris-fastfire-e-08-1200x800 — Windage and elevation can be adjusted via dials on the top and right side of the FastFire E.

Competition

The Burris FastFire E has some stiff competition in the enclosed emitter handgun optic world. The Steiner MPS is one, along with others like the Aimpoint ACRO P2, Aimpoint COA, Holosun 509T, Holosun EPS, Vortex Venom Enclosed MRDS, Vortex Defender ST Enclosed, and Trijicon RCR.

"The Burris FastFire E opted not to have features that others do, like “shake awake” or a “solar” backup because it does not need them. An always on design with 60,000 hours of battery life make shake awake irrelevant. The optic will stay on when you want it on, and it will take a beating. The FastFire E mounts lower to the slide than some of those above optics which makes it easier for some shooters to acquire the dot during presentation.

cus-burris-fastfire-e-11-1200x800 — ACRO-to-rail mounts are abundant, and allow the FastFire E to be mounted on rifles or PDWs while letting the user co-witness the iron sights, depending on the height of the mount.

Battery and Adjustments

The battery on the FastFire E is mounted on the left side of the optic. This allows the optic to run on a CR2032 battery which is fairly common. Some of the other optics I mentioned above take more obscure battery sizes like a 1632 and 1624 battery. This creates a headache for me as a Police Department Armorer, as I must order and stock numerous types of batteries to accommodate different sights.

cus-burris-fastfire-e-10-1200x800 — A CR2032 battery will provide enough power for 60,000 hours of use. Simply screw the battery cap down to around seven pounds of torque, and it's secured.

The battery compartment is a concave radiused slot on the side. If you do not have the multi tool included with the FastFire E, the slot is big enough to put a flat head screwdriver, a coin or even a key in to loosen or tighten the battery cover. With the battery compartment on the left side, it could cause some problems for a right-handed shooter to use an offset optic mount; as the optic will likely need to be taken off to change the battery in this configuration.

The windage and elevation adjustment buttons for the Burris FastFire E are recessed on the side of the optic so they will not get accidentally bumped. Both the elevation and windage adjustments have 100 MOA of travel. The sight can be adjusted with a widely available T10 Torx bit or with the included multi tool (equipped with a T10 bit). The clicks are tactile and audible. The adjustments are clearly marked and even have the adjustment value per click engraved on the optic. This is a nice touch so that when you’re zeroing the optic at 25 yards, it is easy math.

The brightness buttons are on the top of the unit with the plus on the right side and minus on the left. The center rubber portion of the buttons is raised, making it easy to find without needing to look at the top of the optic. Another nice feature of that raised portion of rubber, in the middle of plus and minus buttons, is a point of reference if the rear portion of your sight becomes covered. We train this in our Red Dot class at the Police Department. If your optic lenses are broken or covered, you can have a reference point to still make hits on target. There is also another hidden feature of the Burris FastFire E that helps with that type of sighting: a vertical white line in the center of the optic housing, below and above the rear window (facing the shooter).

The FastFire E has a 7075 one-piece aluminum housing that is durable and recoil resistant. The optic is waterproof, shockproof and fog-proof. The reticle has a crisp 3.5 MOA dot that is offered in both green and red, and I selected green for the unit I evaluated. The dot was clean, crisp, and easy to see in all lighting conditions.

A large 22x17mm (0.87”x.067”) viewing window gives the FastFire E a good field of view. The lenses are aspherical and parallax free, but I did notice a slight distortion. This “distortion” appeared as if there was a very slight magnification, though this was barely noticeable and did not take away from the usability or function of the optic. There are 10 brightness settings, with the bottom two settings being night vision compatible. I often carried the optic on brightness level 8 which worked well in most lighting conditions.

The illumination setting has a 13-hour brightness reset. If the brightness setting hasn’t been changed for 13 hours, the optic will remain on, but the green dot will automatically set to brightness 6 and the red dot brightness 7. This can be deactivated easily by pressing and holding down the plus and minus buttons for 10 seconds. For most people that are carrying the optic as an everyday carry (EDC), this is a nice quality of life bonus. Most of the time, the 13-hour timer will reduce the brightness right when the sun has set.

There is also a button lockout feature that will keep unwanted brightness adjustments from happening. Simply hold the plus and minus buttons for 5 seconds and the optic will go in and out of the button lockout mode. You can manually turn on the optic for longer battery life by holding down the minus button for 3 seconds. The FastFire E is always on and still has an estimated 60,000-hour (almost 7 years) battery life.

Testing

Being a Firearms Instructor and Armorer at my Police Department, I am fortunate to evaluate a lot of gear, optics, and ammo. I placed this optic next to a fair number of authorized and new optics that I was evaluating for our department-issued Glocks. Right away, you notice the size of the FastFire E as compared to other handgun optics. The size helps with the generous button layout and field of view through the optic. It did, however, require some effort to make some duty holsters accept the optic.

As luck would have it, when I got this FastFire E, I needed to assess some new ammo and magazines. I was able to get over 1,000 rounds on this optic the first day to the range. In total, I have over 2,000 rounds on the Glock with the FastFire E. I did not intentionally drop the gun/optic, but I used it in a lot of field conditions and subjected it to a lot of heat. I would frequently mag dump in quick succession while testing the magazines I needed to evaluate. This isn’t ordinary for us to do during training, so I was impressed the optic held up to that.

The optic performed flawlessly in all my testing. I never had an issue with point of impact (POI) shift while instructing one handed manipulation of the slide, using the optic as a handhold to manually cycle the slide. The Burris FastFire E held true due to its robust mounting platform.

I also carried the Burris FastFire E in an EDC capacity. Even with its larger footprint, I was able to carry comfortably concealed in an appendix holster on a daily basis. Being a larger optic, some people might have more issues with “printing” while carrying this optic. That con is outweighed by the reliability you get from an enclosed emitter optic.

Holster fitment for a duty capacity did suffer with the FastFire E. The larger housing, coupled with the side load battery, made it difficult to fit into the duty holsters I tried. The Safariland 6365 RDS ALS/SLS holster, Blackhawk T Series Level 3 RDS holster, Alien Gear Rapid Force Level 3 Duty Holster with the XL hood all struggled to fit the optic. I tested those three holsters because my department requires that level of retention. I have a range holster that is a Safariland 6390 RDS ALS-only holster. With a little modification to the holster (one that does not harm the function of the holsters retention, I was able to get the gun and optic to fit. If you are looking at the FastFire E as a duty optic, check with your holster manufacturer first.

The only drawback to the FastFire E, that I can find is that the side-load battery compartment can limit its applications. If I had to change one thing about the Burris FastFire E, it would be the location of the battery.

The Burris FastFire E is a quality optic that I trust. The performance of the optic impressed me, and it had relatively few drawbacks. Keeping those limitations in mind, I would still give this optic my recommendation.