Trijicon MRO Green Dot Sight

Photos by Mike Anschuetz

Besides fiber-­optic sights, red is almost exclusively used in miniature reflex sights as the dot reticle. It’s so common, in fact, that “red-­dot sights” has become the collective label for this optic category. Compared to other colors, red LED emitters have been all but perfected, as they now require less energy to run for longer durations between battery changes. Red dots have proven to be very durable and resistant to the stress of recoil impulses generated and transferred after a gun is fired.

A great example is the Trijicon MRO (Mini Rifle Optic), which has been a popular red-­dot sight for some time. The small, lightweight optic makes shooting easy for just about everyone. Just put the dot on the target and squeeze the trigger. The big news is that the Trijicon MRO sight is now offered with a green dot.

Green Dot Science

One-­in-­12 males have some degree of red/green color blindness. A red reticle may appear fire engine red to one person, while the same reticle could be processed as a light orange by another. Shooters with aging eyes lose the ability to focus on fine points as well as the color red to a certain degree. Further, older shooters generally see green more consistently, as green is more forgiving to the unfocused eye.

Green isn’t just for aging eyes, either. The human eye is more sensitive to green and can see more shades (i.e., tones) of it than any other. Green is a cooler, calmer hue that the eye immediately recognizes and is not irritated by. The rods and cones within our retina process green better than red, especially in low-­light conditions. Think about how you acquire a sight picture in changing lighting conditions. Moving from a light room to a dark room, your eyes try to adapt.

Not all greens are created equal. Like all colors, green is available in many tones. Trijicon chose to equip its new MRO with a green color on the spectrum at 575 nanometers (nm). Green can be described by a color number. A bluish green, for example, would fall in the 480nm range, whereas leafy, light green tends toward 500nm. It appears as a yellow-­­green color near 580nm. The 575nm that Trijicon uses is not yellow. Rather, it closely resembles the green found in green phosphate night vision devices. It stands out well against green foliage.

Trijicon MRO Green Dot Sight Specs

The 1X green-­dot MRO sight has a 2-­MOA dot and eight brightness settings. It is 2.6 inches wide by 2 inches tall, so it is very compact. The sight weighs 4.1 ounces with battery, and the CR2032 battery can stay on for a full year at the level three brightness setting. The objective lens diameter is 25mm, and the rugged body is made of 7075-­T6 aluminum.

Trijicon also changed the color of the lens with green-­dot MROs. They use a notch filter that reflects back a specific color wave length to the eye that allows the user to see a clean, crisp dot. The lens has a slight purplish tint, but it is less obvious than the bluish coating seen on the red-­dot MRO. While the glass is clearer, Trijicon didn’t change the len’s prescription. Parallax performance remains the same.

The tool-­less adjustment, full ambidextrous design and ruggedness mean that any shooter can use this sight to full advantage. Made to be used on rifles, carbines and shotguns, the new green-­dot MRO is ideal for competition shooting, hunting and plinking.

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