Meprolight of Israel is distributed through the Mako Group in America, and have been producing high quality accessories and optics for military, law enforcement, and civilian markets for many years. Meprolight products have proven themselves in battle during use by several units of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). The optics sold in America are designed to meet Mil-Spec requirements.
Late last year Meprolight introduced their new Tru-Dot RDS (Red Dot Sight). The Tru-Dot RDS came from research and design that generated the Meprolight M5 light for the IDF. The IDF required several additional features that increased the price per unit. Recognizing the market potential Meprolight made the changes for the military version, but kept the Tru-Dot RDS as a U.S. civilian market offering. The Tru-Dot RDS keeps several of the M5 upgrades, while dropping some of the expensive military options.
Here’s a decent YouTube video showing the Meprolight Tru-Dot RDS in comparison to several popular competitor red dot sights:
The Meprolight Tru-Dot RDS has a view port similar to the EOTech, with a decent-sized rectangular window. However, the overall size is smaller than most full-size EOTechs and more narrow as well. The Tru-Dot RDS is designed to co-witness with an AR-15’s iron sights or other popular flip-up sights. With a single red dot like the very popular Aimpoint, the Meprolight Tru-Dot RDS seems to be a combination of the best characteristics of both competitors.
Powered by a single AA battery, Meprolight is advertising a battery life of up to 18,000 hours on the high setting. The use of AA batteries is a huge benefit to end-users, and a strong advantage to many EOTech sights that use expensive batteries with far less power time. The battery port is also easily accessible on the front side of the sight, where a battery change could literally be completed in seconds.
The brightness controls are easily accessible (for RH shooters) on the back, left side of the housing. Meprolight differs from most red dot sights in that the #1 illumination setting is actually on the brightest level, and goes down from there, as opposed to most sights that start low and go high.
The Meprolight Tru-Dot RDS has both elevation and windage adjustments, with easily accessible controls on the top and left side of the housing. The adjustment knobs have a large slit in the middle making adjustments easy with a coin instead of a screwdriver or other tool.
Meprolight TRU-DOT RDS Specifications
- Material – Base is aluminum, Hood is high-impact, Mil-Spec polymer
- Length – 4.56″ (116 mm)
- Width – 2.36″ (60 mm)
- Height – 2.67″ (68 mm)
- Weight – Approximately 10.5 oz.
- Display Window – 1.3″ x 0.79″
- Target Reticle – Single 1.8 MOA red dot
- Magnification – 1x
- Eye Relief – Unlimited
- Illumination Source – LED
- Motion detector automatic turn-on function
- Auto shut-off mechanism provides additional battery savings
- Brightness – Adjustable to (4) levels
- Compatibility – NVG, and magnifying scopes
- Mounting – Integrated Picatinny rail adapter, with dual-QD release levers
- Power Source – (1) Lithium or Alkaline AA battery, with low battery indicator
- Battery Life – up to 18,000 hours on high (a strong competitor to Aimpoint)
- MSRP – $399.00.
The Meprolight Tru-Dot RDS uses a single large prism that is incorporated with both the front and rear lenses. With extremely long battery life, auto shut-off and auto-on features, the Tru-Dot RDS really answers the challenge of being competitive in a well-established American market.
The BlueSheepDog crew has covered and discussed the outstanding benefits of “reflex” or red dot sights for some time now, and we are open and gladly accept the introduction of additional products to compete. Competition almost always brings about the best, and the new Meprolight Tru-Dot RDS really has a lot to offer at a competitive price.