Olight is best known for flashlights of all sorts, although they do have a line of knives and tools also. If you’ve been in the online gun community for more than a minute, you’ll know their lights are a bit controversial due to a light exploding a number of years back. It was more likely than not a CR123A battery issue rather than a light issue, but the internet never lets facts get in the way of a good meme, or lets a bad reputation die. With that out of the way, there are plenty of Olight users walking around with all their fingers and lights that have never exploded. I have a number of Olights I’ve used over the years, and even used them on duty at various points in my career. If you can get past the internet scorn, their newest product is pretty interesting, the Osight 3 MOA red-dot weapons sight.
Lots of companies make red-dot sights these days, and many are pretty similar in form and features. The Osight is something different though. At a glance it has a typical mini-reflex sight format. It has a 3 MOA red or green dot (there are two different models) and a 70,000-hour battery life on the low setting. It has a shake awake system for further battery savings, and you can chose between a fixed brightness or auto sensing brightness levels. It has a good sized 0.94 x 0.85-inch window, which should make finding that big 3 MOA dot even easier. It uses a standard RMR mounting footprint and an optional Picatinny rail mount is available. Olight says they’ve done 10,000-round field tests with it, and it’s been used by competition shooters. So far so good, but nothing super unusual. Here’s where it gets interesting.
The thing that makes the Osight stand out is the internal, rechargeable battery. Changing batteries in mini red-dot sights can be a pain, especially with designs that require you to remove the sight to swap batteries. Well with the Osight, you’ll never need to. It has an internal rechargeable battery that’s charged by means of a charging hood. The charging hood looks like a slightly chunky sight cover and can just be left on the sight when the gun isn’t in use, or just thrown on when you need to charge the site. The hood has its own battery and has enough juice to charge the Osight three times. It’s rechargeable using a standard USB C cable. The Osight has a battery meter built in that shows the charge level, too, so you never need to guess if you need to top off.
Am I going to run out and grab an Osight and slap it on my duty gun? No, probably not. It’s still brand new, and I’d like to see how it performs long term. With that said, I love the idea of not having to buy batteries, and the charging set up looks easy. The base features like the window and dot size and battery life are good, too. I’d definitely be willing to give one a try on one of my range guns. MSRP on the red-dot version is $199.99 although Olight has the Osight on sale for $159.99 right now. The green dot runs a bit more at $229.99 MSRP and $183.99 on sale.
Osight Keys
- Industry’s First Magnetic Charging Cover: Osight introduces a pioneering magnetic charging cover featuring a battery display that reveals the precise battery levels for both the cover and the optic, making uncertainty certain. (70,000+ hours runtime on lowest mode, 17+ days on the brightest mode, extended to 70+ days with the charging cover.)
- 3 MOA in Large Window: Boasting a 0.94 x 0.85-inch lens, this optic ensures precise targeting even amidst recoil. The 3 MOA dot stands out clearly for quick and accurate dot acquisition.
- Unwavering Zero: Following a rigorous 10,000-round field test, Osight maintains zero calibration successfully, never lose your accuracy.
- Motion & Light Sensor: Turns off automatically after 10 minutes of inactivity, wakes up in an instant. The auto-sensing mode chooses the best brightness for you, with 10 daylight levels and 2 night levels in manual mode and lockout mode, catering comprehensively to all usage scenarios.
- Most Common Footprint: By adopting the most common industry-standard mounting footprint (Ruggedized Miniature Reflex) for optic cuts, Osight ensures versatility and ease of integration.
I must own about 2 dozen various O-Light products. Numerous flashlights of all sizes, a few weapons lights, and even a couple of their knives. I’ve had only one issue, recently a custom O-Light battery crapped out for a flashlight that is several years old. The special battery is no longer available. I talked to customer service, and they replaced the entire flashlight with a refurbished (looked new to me….) one of a newer model within a few days.
I missed the sale, but will likely get one to replace the ACOG on my backup home defense rifle. The ACOG is nearly 20 years old and the Tritium is long gone. I don’t see much reason to send it back for nearly $300 to replace the tritium source, when newer and better technology exists. And I’m a big fan of O-light, with every day experience.
” I’ve had only one issue, recently a custom O-Light battery crapped out for a flashlight that is several years old.”
That right there is why I cannot use rechargeables when reliability is paramount…
*shrug* I love 18650s. In my lights I use salvage from laptop packs even. Gotta have a rotation and keep track of quality like everything else.
Absolutely. Like I’ve NEVER had an alkaline battery quit on me, or spew its contents, wrecking a flashlight or an expensive Kestrel wind meter. In a critical carry situation, batteries are like pistol carry – you just do a quick function check before putting it in your pocket. The case I was mentioning above was a battery and flashlight that had sat unused for about a year in my camping trailer. I was making the rounds to check and recharge batteries when I found out this one was dead.
If you aren’t familiar with this product, check out https://m1bullpup.com/product/rem-acog/. It’s a $45.00 option that basically negates the need to have the tritium replaced.
Since I drag my gunm behind me on a string the ShakeAwake feature would not work.
Besides, according to Our President your not supposed to be aiming anyway.
I’m hoping when he gets re-elected(LOL,that’s what they’re calling it, an election)he will EO no sights on gunms.
Could a person consider it as an infringement, I mean we didn’t say you can’t have gunms, you just can’t have gunms with sights.
It’s about time!
I’m glad to see someone is finally thinking about this. Now we will see if they got the math right for how good of a product this is.
It makes sense, most of their product line offers the magsafe style recharging. Most of the latest releases have pivoted to side loaded batteries to avoid removal and re-zero annoyances of prior gen pistol dots. Either way, definitely an interesting solution.
You’re at the range, and from a few spots down you hear…”Crap I forgot to plug my gun sight in last night!”
Maybe. But you wouldn’t go to the range and forget your ear pro or ammo. Ok, well maybe some people have. This is no different. We talk all the time here about what happens when battery powered equipment dies. I don’t see why this shouldn’t spend more time plugged in than at the firing line. Safe queens spend most of their time in the safe.
If it fails and is a low quality item then so be it.
Why design it as a ‘cover’ though? How about a cradle? Or maybe a lockable safe? It’s a start though. Since optics can get into the thousands even for red dots, the price for this isn’t so bad really. I’m not a huge fan of red dots on pistols but my focus here is on the optic itself.
Olight has some other interesting recharge options. One relatively tiny (but still very bright and full featured) is good for multiple hours on bright on its internal charge (good for days on the lowest setting) but comes with a case just a bit larger than a Zippo lighter, with another power bank that is good for three or four additional charges – store the light in the case and it recharges there.
I just received another O-Light that has a charger built into the base of its Kydex holster.
“You’re at the range, and from a few spots down you hear…”Crap I forgot to plug my gun sight in last night!””
Looks like you cannot co-witness the thing with your existing 3-dot sights…
no different, really, from hearing “Crap, my battery died. Anyone got an extra PU238 voltiac modulator?”
Chicomland or somewhere from the free world?
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_DlekPAikOo
Honestly at self defense ranges I’ve found I am quicker with just plain old iron sights. I’ve tried lazers and dots.
And for me its easier to conceal a handgunm with just plain old iron sights.
And a just a what if, what happens if your out camping and a hell of a rain storm comes up, or your jumping a creek and fall in or your canoeing down the river and Guam capsizes?
Or you want to hang up a wanted poster and use your gunm for a hammer, I see cowboys that on TV do that a lot.
Or suppose your fishing in your canoe and find a good spot and use your gunm for a boat anchor, will it still work after 7 days under water while you try and catch a trophy Buffalo?
Cottonseed cake on a limb line👍
Yeah, but a laser on it makes shooting from the hip work better…can do them fancy snap shots like Randolph Scott at the picture show without having to put in all the practice.
Same, I can put XS Big Dot sites on target way faster than looking around for the little red dots, or even “equal height, equal light.” Red dots are way more useful to me on a turkey gun or AR. With my eyes I’ve found sitting that big XS circle down in the center of the triangle faster than anything I’ve used with a handgun.
Ugh… rechargeable battery. At least tell us it’s replaceable with some readily available sized battery when it wears out in three years. Like the non-replaceable one in most cell phones these days.
Can’t have an extra battery in your range bag, just in case if not.
Rechargeable flashlights are usually sub-optimum too, for the same reasons. USB charging circuits (and connector) take up space, and that either makes the light bigger or the battery lower capacity (see the rechargeable 14500 lithiums with the port IN THE BATTERY). Or the normal kind, with 15% more capacity.
Interesting, I’m about to replace the battery in my Sig red dot since it went out yesterday. PITA since I will need to verify sighting.
Not sure what everyone else expects these things to be exactly. Fir the hour or two I paid for being at the firing line at the local range, I see no reason two keep a charger in my range bag to waste time there. Put it on a charger before you go if need be. I carry a minimag every day and put the batteries on charging over the weekend. It works well and lasts for many years that way. Always get plenty of light. If your red dot dies at the range it’s likely not for the fact that its a battery or fir being rechargeable. Honestly, I see the whole red dot on a pistol thing to be a waste for mist guns. I’ll get more from a mounted flash light personally. I might spend the whole day at the outdoor range but that’s something different. I’ll take long guns that just might have a red dot. But keeping an extra battery and a full charge is just prep for the day.
I guess people do things differently. But if you get years of service from something in the 150-250 price range, I’d be happy.
Now the one I was very happy unhappy about was a Konus red dot that had a plug in charger a rechargeable 2032 battery. The plug broke off internally at the soldering on the board and would not charge.
Everything uses batteries now, from personal vibrators to gunm sights.
The land fills have to be full of toxic chemical batteries.
Will this OLight product catch on fire like their other products?
“Will this OLight product catch on fire…”
That’s more than a bit disturbing to hear about… 🙁
Disturbing? I’ll likely forget I read it by the end of the day. Never had any issue whatsoever with my dozen or so Olight products.