One of the new products that’s caught a lot of attention here in Dallas this weekend is Olight’s entry into the pistol red dot business. On the surface, their new Osight seems pretty standard. It’s sized for a full-size or compact pistol, has an aluminum housing, the dot size is 3 MOA, it has “shake awake” (Olight calls it auto wake) an RMR footprint, and it’s available with either a red or a green dot.
And then there’s that thing underneath the sight in the box. That’s what makes the Osight unique. If you’re familiar with many of Olight’s weapon lights and flashlights, you know that they charge through USB cord with a magnetic contact.
The Osight does, too. That black box is a magnetic charging cover. You can charge the cover itself and carry it with you if you like if your sight needs it. But given the rated battery life, that’s not likely.
Just slip the cover over the mounted sight to charge it. When the cover is charing the sight, a display on top tells you the percentage the site has been charged. When you remove the magnetic charging hood and press a little button on the side, it will tell you how much of a charge the hood still has. The hood charges via a USB-C cord.
Olight says a fully charged hood will charge the Osight four times and that the Osight will run for 70,000 hours on low mode…or 17 days on high mode. With its shake awake feature conserving power (it shuts off after 10 minutes of no movement) you shouldn’t need to charge the Osight very often.
The Osight has ten manual brightness settings and two that are night vision compatible. You can also have it auto-adjust dot brightness based on ambient light levels if you choose.
Olight has priced the Osight very competitively. The red dot version has an MSRP of $199. The greed dot model is $229. Olight is currently selling the red dot model on their sight for $159, which is a screaming-good price for a sight with these specs.
We have a red dot version and will be putting it through its paces for a full review. Stay tuned.
Specifications
Dot Size: 3 MOA
Mount Footprint: RMR
Adjustments: 1 MOA per click
Adjustment Range: 45 MOA +/-
Battery: Built in lithium polymer
Housing: T6 aluminum
Brightness settings: 10+2 night vision
Waterproof rating: IPX6
Window Size: .94 x .85 inch
Dimensions: 1.77 x 1.18 x 1.29
Weight: 2.12 oz.
Looks interesting, but…
In my book, a sight that needs to be recharged is not one I will rely on. Do they make a version with a disposable lithium coin cell?
No.
“No.”
Question asked, question answered… 🙂
Literally everyone else in this market makes one with a disposable battery, at price points from under $100 to well over $500. Shouldn’t be a problem if you don’t want to recharge. I for one am tired of crap 2032’s or Energizers and Duracells that require a chainsaw to get out of the package. Just get a top loader that doesn’t require a dismount to swap the battery. If the Olights are good, you can pick up used battery powered ones super cheap in about a year.
I’ve had a bad experience owning a supposedly good-quality flashlight that was rechargeable, stored fully charged, that was dead when picked up less than a year later. It was then I swore off rechargeables for items that need to work, without fail…
Most of my lights (WML, EDC, household, camping) are Olight rechargeables. Hafta say…I’m impressed with them all.
Not the dumbest thing on the market…but it’s in the running.