[REVIEW] SIG Sauer Romeo-X Series Red Dot Sights

Several months ago, SIG released their newest pistol red dots, the Romeo-X Pro and Compact. Since then, I've been using them on a P365 and a P320 to run them through the paces and get to know them.

Made in the USA, these dots aren't cheap — but they do live up to expectations.

20k hours battery life, 2 MOA dots with 32 MOA circles that can be selected as dot only, circle only, or both, CR1632 battery, and 15 brightness levels. Are they worth it? Let's find out.

First, the original information from the release and then the hands-on reivew.

RELEASE INFO

Based on the recently released Romeo-M17 red dots for the U.S. Military, the Romeo-X red dots come in two sizes and are packed with features.

The two new dots come as the ROMEO-X Compact cut to fit micro-compact pistols with the Shield RMSc footprint, and the ROMEO-X Pro cut to fit DeltaPoint Pro footprints.

Both dots feature a distortion-free aspheric glass with a patent-pending Beryllium Copper flexure-arm adjustment system, in 7075 aircraft-grade aluminum housing with machined anti-reflection grooves on shooter facing surfaces. The reticle has a 2 MOA dot and a 32 MOA circle, 15 brightness settings including night vision settings, and a side-mounted CR1632 battery compartment with a threaded battery cap.

Additionally, the ROMEO-X Series offers a low deck height for standard-height iron sight co-witness, has a minimum continuous runtime of 20,000 hours at medium brightness setting and utilizes MOTAC™ (Motion Activated Illumination), MAGNETAC™ (Magnetic Activation), and D.A.R.C™ (Dark Adaptive Reticles & Coatings) technologies.

SPECS

ROMEO-X Compact:

• Clear Aperture Diameter: 24mm
• Reticle: 2MOA Dot / 32 MOA Circle
• Lens Type: Asphere
• Illumination Settings: 15 ( 12 Day / 3NV)
• Overall Length: 1.62 inches
• Overall Width: .94 inches
• Overall Height: 1.23 inch
• Mounting Footprint: SHIELD™ RMSc
• Weight (w/o battery): 1.0 ounce
• MSRP: $519.99

ROMEO-X Pro:

• Clear Aperture Diameter: 24mm
• Reticle: 2MOA Dot / 32 MOA Circle
• Lens Type: Asphere
• Illumination Settings: 15 ( 12 Day / 3NV)
• Overall Length: 1.84 inches
• Overall Width: .94 inches
• Overall Height: 1.23 inch
• Mounting Footprint: DeltaPoint™ Pro
• Weight (w/o battery): 1.15 ounces
• MSRP: $589.99

HANDS-ON REVIEW

What you might suspect after reading the specs and description is that these are basically the same dot, just with a different footprint. And you'd be right. Both are 24mm windows, both have the same features, the only difference is the Compact is RMSc footprint, is very slightly lighter weight, and costs about $50 less.

The Pro is built for Delta Point Pro footprint and is 0.15 ounces heavier. It also has a normal blacked-out rear sight built in and some texture on the battery cap. The Compact has a fiber optic rear sight built into the housing and a smooth battery cap.

Beyond that, these are the same dots. Both are assembled in the USA, both use the same reticle system, and both have the same buttons, glass, etc.

Most of my shooting (300 rounds, ish) was with the Compact on a P365 XMACRO Comp slide in an Icarus Precision MACRO grip, but I also put about 200 rounds down range with the Pro sitting on a Killer Innovations SIG P320 slide with their Velocity comp, also in an Icarus Precision SOCOM Carry grip.

Using them side by side, it feels like the same dot. Because it is. When I first started using them, I thought this was a weakness. But now I feel differently. I like that this is the same dot but in two footprints, but more on that later.

Buttons, Brightness, And Battery

I love the buttons on the Romeo-X. It's not something people normally get excited about, but I really like that SIG did these right. Simple up and down arrows, both are recessed into the housing and have rails around the edge to prevent accidental changes. Still, they are large enough that you can press them when you want.

Well made, well designed, I'm happy.

15 levels of brightness is awesome. While the NV settings are kind of silly on the Compact version of the dot, they are there if for whatever reason, you want them to be. The normal settings go from very dim to very, VERY bright. Even in the hell desert sun of Arizona, the highest level is almost too bright for me. I love this and is absolutely awesome.

Higher settings will no doubt hurt battery life, but that should be fine with the auto-off and motion-sensitive auto-on.

Multi-Reticle System

2 MOA dot with a 32 MOA circle, and you can select from dot only, circle only, or both.

Personally, I don't really like both. To me, it just becomes crowed and it's not my cup of tea, but I understand some people like it. Normally, with a dot that gives me these options I just select the dot only and leave it at that. But for this, I wanted to try something a little different — circle only.

For the Romeo-X Compact on the P365, I went with a circle only. Surprisingly, I liked it. At 15 yards, the 32 MOA circle is 5.02″ on target. While this isn't what you might call precision, it's more than enough to give you solid hits on any real target, be it meat or paper. Headshot A zone hits become a little squirrely, but they already are at that distance even with a normal dot.

Running this in Back-Up Gun matches on the clock, I really liked the circle only for a small CCW gun. Very fast to get on target and extremely fast to dump rounds into the “threat.”

For the full-size Pro dot on the P320, I went dot only and it worked exactly as expected.

Something I'll say for both is they are very crisp. Something SIG always gets right with their dots is how clear the glass is and how sharp the reticles are. Big props to them for that.

WINDOW SIZE

Both windows are 24mm. This is actually on the large side of the spectrum, especially for the smaller RMSc footprint Romeo-X Compact dot. What I like most is that these are the same window sizes for both guns.

If you have a good draw, window size shouldn't really matter that much. But let's face it, none of us have that perfect draw 100% of the time — so window size matters. Plus, transitions, recoil, etc. bigger windows are always nicer.

For me, the downside of a large window is it lets me be a little lazy with my dot presentation and that bites me in the ass when I go back to my CCW that has a smaller window. SIG solves this by having the same window size and that size is on the larger side of things.

Holosun 507k with its RMSc footprint has a 14.5×19.5mm window, the larger 507c uses an RMR footprint and has a 16x23mm window.

Tirjicon's RMRcc uses a special RMRcc footprint but is designed for the same smaller-sized guns like the RMSc, Holosun K, etc. is designed for. The RMRcc has a 14x19mm window, while the daddy of them all Trijicon RMR has a 16x22mm window.

SIG's Romeo-X has them all beat with its 24mm window.

For carry, this is about as big as it can get without being in the way for me. The battery is small enough that it doesn't add too much bulk to the package, but does limit the battery life to “only” 20k hours.

LOOSE ROUNDS

So far, my only gripe about the Romeo-X series of dots is the price. MSRP is well into the $500s and the street price at the time of writing is $400 for the Compact and $450 for the Pro.

A big piece of that price tag is the fact that these are assembled in the USA at SIG's factory in Oregon. I've bemoaned for years the fact that American brands produced sub-par red dots and most of them weren't made IN the USA. It is really nice to see that SIG is breaking that trend by offering durable, feature-rich, high-quality, American-made red dots.

For pure numbers, I can't point to a good reason other than window size and cross-platform homogenization to pick the Romeo-X series over Holosun. But I really believe that more optics made in America is a major net gain. The Romeo-X is more expensive, but not prohibitively. Supporting American brands making optics in America is worth the difference.

NEXT STEP: Download Your Free Target Pack from RECOIL

For years, RECOIL magazine has treated its readers to a full-size (sometimes full color!) shooting target tucked into each big issue. Now we've compiled over 50 of our most popular targets into this one digital PDF download. From handgun drills to AR-15 practice, these 50+ targets have you covered. Print off as many as you like (ammo not included).

Get your pack of 50 Print-at-Home targets when you subscribe to the RECOIL email newsletter. We'll send you weekly updates on guns, gear, industry news, and special offers from leading manufacturers - your guide to the firearms lifestyle.

You want this. Trust Us.