First Look: New Steiner MPS 2.0 Red Dot

The pistol red dot market is a highly competitive one, so any brand that wants to carve out a slice of market share must continuously adapt or die. Those of us who carry red-dot-equipped pistols every day have come to expect more than just a common mounting footprint and adequate reliability. In order to stand out, more manufacturers are placing increased emphasis on subtle refinements to the housing designs, controls, and features of their red dot sights.

The new Steiner MPS 2.0 is not a revolutionary redesign of the original MPS, which was released back in 2021. Instead, it’s exactly what the 2.0 name sounds like — an iterative improvement to Steiner’s enclosed pistol red dot.

Photos by Match Grade Media

Steiner MPS 2.0 Overview

So, what changed and what stayed the same? First, we’ll look at the latter. This design will be immediately familiar to anyone who’s seen the first-gen MPS, complete with a mailbox-shaped silhouette, angular side panels, and top-mounted battery compartment. The front window is slightly recessed and protected by an integrated hood with protruding corners to shield it from impacts.

The MPS 2.0 is still based on the ACRO mounting standard, which remains one of our favorite micro red dot footprints due to its low mounting height and secure interface. Instead of relying on a pair of tiny screws that can loosen or shear off in the slide, the MPS uses a cross-bolt design that clamps onto a dovetailed cutout. When paired with a direct-milled slide or optic riser — as opposed to a screwed-on adapter plate — this footprint is especially solid and resistant to the most common types of dot mounting failures we see on the range. It’s more similar to a miniature Picatinny rail than it is to most pistol dot footprints.

Since the MPS 2.0 is an enclosed-emitter red dot, you won’t need to worry about dust, lint, or moisture getting between the emitter and lens. That’s an advantage for every-day carry guns that will be exposed to sweat in IWB holsters and duty guns that will be worn in various weather conditions.

As with the original MPS, the MPS 2.0 displays a 3.3 MOA red dot with eight brightness modes — six for daytime and two for night vision. There’s also a user-selectable auto-shutoff feature to preserve battery life. By default, the auto-shutoff will put the dot to sleep after 13 hours of inactivity, but the timer can be turned off by holding down both buttons on the side of the optic for 10 seconds.

What’s New for the MPS 2.0?

This brings us to the new features of the MPS 2.0. The most significant change is the switch to a larger CR2032 battery which now offers a 90,000-hour battery life at brightness level four. That’s a huge increase from the original MPS, which used a CR1632 and only offered 13,000 hours at the same brightness level.

It should be noted that the 2032 battery is effectively an industry standard at this point, since it’s the same type found in Aimpoint’s ACRO P2 and COA, Trijicon’s RMR and RCR, Vortex’s Defender series, and many others. With Steiner switching to this standard, we’ll be able to carry one less type of replacement battery in our range bag.

Speaking of battery replacement, the MPS 2.0’s battery cap is now magnetized to hold the battery in place during installation.

Steiner slightly revised the cross-bolt mount portion of the housing, making the clamping piece longer and sturdier. This piece also matches the angular contours of the housing, which is a bit more pleasing to the eye.

The last change to the MPS 2.0 is its control buttons, which now occupy a much larger area on the side of the housing. We never found the old MPS difficult to adjust, but we can see these being helpful while wearing gloves and/or night vision. Thankfully, they require firm pressure to activate, so it’s unlikely that you’ll accidentally mash them while running the slide.

Pricing and Country of Origin

MSRP for the Steiner MPS 2.0 is $632, the same as the original MPS.

A Steiner representative told us that the MPS 2.0 is made in Germany, which aligns with this price point. It’s understandably more expensive than comparable optics from China, and its MSRP is roughly on par with the Swedish-made Aimpoint ACRO P2 and COA. However, the first-gen MPS is often available far below MSRP, so we expect the MPS 2.0’s street prices to keep it competitive.

Closing Thoughts

Steiner didn’t go back to the drawing board for the MPS 2.0, and that’s OK. These subtle improvements make a good optic better without adding any obvious drawbacks. However, it remains to be seen whether those improvements will be enough for Steiner to take market share away from the other big brands in this increasingly competitive segment.

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