Gear Review: SIG SAUER’s JULIET3-MICRO Magnifier

I’ve never been big on magnifiers. I’ve always thought red dots had their use and magnified optics have their use, and I’ve typically kept the two apart. That might seem like a simplistic perspective, but I’d rather use a low-powered prism sight than have to deal with a magnifier and a red dot. That meant I had a huge gap in my optics knowledge. I wanted to try a magnifier to see if I’d been wrong about my assumptions and that led me to the acquisition of a SIG SAUER JULIET3-MICRO 3X magnifier.

Why the JULIET3-MICRO? Two main reasons. First, it’s fairly small and lightweight. Second, it’s pretty reasonably priced. At $175, it’s a helluva lot cheaper than the golden standard EOTech G33. I do believe in the ‘buy once cry once’ principle for most things, but since I’m not storming Fallujah and don’t have a serious application for a magnifier, I figured cheaper is fine here.

Sometimes I have a Harbor Freight attitude with my gun stuff. I buy a cheap one, and if I like it enough to use it more than a few times, I’ll buy a nice one. The JULIET3-MICRO isn’t the cheapest, but it seemed to be a solid combination of quality and a solid price. The JULIET3-MICRO took the palace on a bullpup converted BRN-180 and sat behind a Holosun HS510C.

The JULIET3-MICRO – A Little Fella

Most magnifiers aren’t large, but they’re typically bigger than a standard red dot. The Aimpoint 3X-C is a little over four inches long, and the EOTech G33 is 4.4 inches long. The JULIET3-MICRO is only 3.1 inches long overall and provides the same 3X magnification. Even when it comes to weight, the JULIET3-MICRO weighs a few ounces less than the competition. At 9.9 ounces, it’s no boat anchor.

The smaller design means it occupies less space and weighs a little less. My ruckers out there know all about how ounces equal pounds. In reality, I consider my rail space to be precious and I tend to gravitate toward more compact optics. On an AR, you can use a wide variety of magnifiers, but not all guns offer that same length of optic rail.

The JULIET3-MICRO – What’s In The Box

The Juleit3-Micro comes with a mount and spacers to elevate its height if need be. Users can adjust the height from 1.41 inch, which is absolute co-witness, to 1.54 and 1.63, which gives you a lower third co-witness. You’re not trying to co-witness with the magnifier, but your red dot might be, and this makes it easy to get the height right.

SIG also includes a tool to attach it, a bikini lens cover, and a lens cloth. I promptly lost the lens cover. With the tool and mount, attaching the optic to the gun took me no time at all. Ensuring it was properly aligned behind the optic wasn’t difficult.

The optic uses a push-to-release system. Push a button inward, and you can swing the magnifier out of the way. It’s simple, but it slowed me down from time to time, having to push that button and then tilt the optic. I like EOTech’s method better, and SIG makes a JULIET3 flip-away mount if I want to swap.

The top of the optic has adjustments to ensure the dot is centered in the magnifier. This wasn’t a problem for me as it aligned perfectly when I mounted the magnifier. The JULIET3 also has diopter adjustments. It’s all very easy to use and manipulate. The manual is only three pages long.

Snapping In

With the JULIET3-MICRO in place behind the HS510C I was using, I checked my zero. Magnifiers don’t affect zero, but they introduce a greater possibility for parallax issues. Having a consistent cheek weld becomes more important with a magnifier.

The eye relief on the JULIET3-MICRO doesn’t seem to be listed on their website, but the manual lists it as 64mm or roughly 2.5 inches. That’s the same realm as the Trijicon 4X optic so get used to using a nose-to-the-charging handle shooting style. It suddenly felt like I was back in the Marine Corps.

Once you’re within the eye relief zone, the eye box feels generous. It’s easy to see completely through with ease. The reticle of the HS510C looks good, crisp, and solid. Viewing through the magnifier actually makes the reticle seem brighter, but from my understanding, that’s just something magnifiers tend to do. If you have your red dot dialed up to 11, you might suddenly find it to be too bright.

I don’t believe in mulligans, so I had to expose my eyes to the pain of the bright red reticle more than once. It’s not that bad, but it’s noticeable and a reticle that’s too bright doesn’t tend to look super crisp. With the brightness set at an appropriate setting, it’s very comfortable and clear.

Up Close and Far Way

As mentioned, the magnifier is locked in place by a push-button mount. This means the optic stays in place, but flipping to close range is a slightly slower process. Since the optic flips to the right, the button to release the optic sits on the right side. That means reaching across the gun with my left hand to disable the magnifier. It’s unlikely I’ll need to switch from magnified to unmagnified, but it probably looks cool on Instagram.

The view through the JULIET3-MICRO is quite clear. It’s a budget-priced optic, so I’m not getting that pop that I’d expect from a Nightforce optic, but it’s a good enough view. It’s not hazy, the view is clear from edge to edge, and the colors look nice and clean. At 200 yards, it’s easy to see my steel targets and make them ring and sing.

What I found is, it’s much easier to use the magnifier than just a red dot. It’s tough to shoot what you can barely see. The JULIET3-MICRO provides a clear enough image to see your targets and light them up. My targets are unpainted gray steel against a whitish berm. Fast snapshots at the range are easy once you get your nose to the charging handle.

Mind Changed?

The JULIET3-MICRO provided a good learning experience for me. I learned a lot about magnifiers, and I can certainly see their utility. When I use LPVOs, I tend to only ever really use the bottom and top magnification settings. That’s essentially what this magnifier does, only at 3X (6X magnifiers are a thing, too).

The difference is obviously in the reticles and the magnifiers’ optical clarity. I’m still a bigger fan of fixed power prisms, but the JULIET3-MICRO has opened my eyes to using magnifiers. Maybe I’ll give a higher-quality option with higher amount of magnification a try. I can say the Juliet3-Micro seems to be a well-made, surprisingly clear optic for its price. Parallax didn’t appear to be an issue at 50, 100, and 200 yards.

The mounts are nice, you get spacers if you need them, and the optic is relatively small. If you’re looking for a budget magnifier experience, the JULIET3-MICRO gets a big thumbs up from me.

Specifications: SIG SAUER JULIET3-MICRO 3X Magnifier

Magnification: 3X
Objective Lens Size: 22mm
Field of View: 6.8 degrees
Overall Length: 81mm
Overall Width: 69mm
Height: 61mm
Weight: 9.9 oz.
Price: about $178