Looking for hands-on experience with Trijicon "Dual-Illuminated" green dot

[wichta5003]

I run a Glock 19.5MOS for my EDC. I'm strongly considering switching to a Trijicon RMR dual-illuminated RM05G, with a 9MOA green dot. Does anyone here have personal experience with any of the Dual-Illuminated series? I have just a couple of questions about them.

I'm currently using a Holosun HE407K-GR X2 and I just noticed it seems to have a weird function problem - the dot-dimming function has stopped working reliably. It's a great dot, I like it a lot, but if it's starting to have problems then I don't feel I can safely keep it for EDC purposes. For range plinking and just screwing around doing my twice-weekly Dot Torture drill, fine... but not for defending my life.

Main thing I'm wondering about the battery-less "dual illumination" RMRs is do they come on in the dark, like say, if I hear a bump in the night at home? Far as I can tell, the weird strap across the top & sides of the unit is a light-gathering system to power the LED. Is that right?

Thanks in advance to anyone who has direct first-hand experience with these odd birds.
...Doug

 

[Viper1357]

I have both the RM05G 9 moa green dot and also the 03(?) 7 moa yellow dot. They don’t necessarily come on in the dark as they are actually always on. The dot is always powered by external light gathered by that “weird” strap and also the tritium source inside. So basically the dot intensity/brightness is based on which ever source is brightest. My experience thus far is a mixed bag of love/hate with them. Eye/head placement with hand/arm pointing practice/skill is really necessary to pick up the dot quickly in the smallish window and typically dimish appearing dot in all but the brightest exterior lighting. Why? In low to med exterior lighting the dot is dim and the tritium is really only for fairly dark to very dark conditions. So I find they work best on a rifle, but if you are wanting to use on a pistol I strongly suggest adding suppressor height night sights that co-witness with the dot to complete the package. It seems redundant, but I’m tellin ya they really compliment each other for faster dot sight (this dual illum one) pick up than the dot sight alone.

The main reason is also a reason most folks hate this particular dot sight. The cons are difficult to get used to, and near impossible to deal with in some lighting situations. For example; as mentioned in low/med light the dot can be really dim and hard to pick up quickly. Also and most annoying (also a prob with some battery red dots as well) shooting from a dark position to an outside lighted one the dot is kinda bright enough but washes out in the brighter outside aiming point. Lastly your question on “bump in the night defensive use” will greatly depend on how actually dark it is and how quickly your hand/eye/arm coordination/practice/skill ability works for you. In really dark conditions the tritium dot is nicely bright and works well. Picking it up in the blocky window quickly is the issue for many. In other lighting conditions as I’ve described it’s a mixed bag of experience and luck, which is why I added suppressor height night sights. There are several lighting conditions where the dot is really dim but I can see the sights near perfectly. So while it seems redundant it’s the best of both worlds if you want to use this type of dual illumination sight on a pistol, in my experience anyway.
I’ll dig up some pics of my mounted sights and especially my Glock 35 to show the suppressor height sights with the dot sight mounted if that would be of interest you.

 

[wichta5003]

I have both the RM05G 9 moa green dot and also the 03(?) 7 moa yellow dot. They don’t necessarily come on in the dark as they are actually always on. The dot is always powered by external light gathered by that “weird” strap and also the tritium source inside. So basically the dot intensity/brightness is based on which ever source is brightest. My experience thus far is a mixed bag of love/hate with them. Eye/head placement with hand/arm pointing practice/skill is really necessary to pick up the dot quickly in the smallish window and typically dimish appearing dot in all but the brightest exterior lighting. Why? In low to med exterior lighting the dot is dim and the tritium is really only for fairly dark to very dark conditions. So I find they work best on a rifle, but if you are wanting to use on a pistol I strongly suggest adding suppressor height night sights that co-witness with the dot to complete the package. It seems redundant, but I’m tellin ya they really compliment each other for faster dot sight (this dual illum one) pick up than the dot sight alone.

The main reason is also a reason most folks hate this particular dot sight. The cons are difficult to get used to, and near impossible to deal with in some lighting situations. For example; as mentioned in low/med light the dot can be really dim and hard to pick up quickly. Also and most annoying (also a prob with some battery red dots as well) shooting from a dark position to an outside lighted one the dot is kinda bright enough but washes out in the brighter outside aiming point. Lastly your question on “bump in the night defensive use” will greatly depend on how actually dark it is and how quickly your hand/eye/arm coordination/practice/skill ability works for you. In really dark conditions the tritium dot is nicely bright and works well. Picking it up in the blocky window quickly is the issue for many. In other lighting conditions as I’ve described it’s a mixed bag of experience and luck, which is why I added suppressor height night sights. There are several lighting conditions where the dot is really dim but I can see the sights near perfectly. So while it seems redundant it’s the best of both worlds if you want to use this type of dual illumination sight on a pistol, in my experience anyway.
I’ll dig up some pics of my mounted sights and especially my Glock 35 to show the suppressor height sights with the dot sight mounted if that would be of interest you.

Thanks for the thoughtful observations, Viper1357. Your comments just seem to confirm my suspicions. The whole reason I was considering the RM05G was almost entirely because of the large green dot. But once I realized it's powered by a tritium capsule and the weird-looking strap across the sides & top, I began to really doubt it could ever meet my needs. Your comments just seem to confirm it.
I'm just starting to get into using red dots, and I'd say I have only recently gotten used to being able to draw and pickup the dot quickly. I'm an older guy and I have astigmatism, and I've found that none of the red-colored dots look like a clearly defined single red dot - I either get a "starfish" blotch, or an odd double-dot... with the "real" dot appearing in the center and a strange "ghost dot" appearing about 7 o'clock from the real dot. But green dots consistently appear like a good round solid dot.
It's frustrating because for me, the ideal red dot optic doesn't seem to exist - so, I'll likely get one of the Holosuns with the 2 MOA dot enclosed by a 32 MOA circle. That will probably do the trick for me.
I really appreciate your response! Again, thank you.

 

[wally]

My experience is that in any light where you can see normal sights you can see the dot just fine, in dim light it is IMHO still faster and easier to use than tritium night sights. If you are shooting from the dark into bright light, then the dot can be hard to pickup, but this is mostly a contrived situation like if I was trying to shoot someone in my swimming pool from inside the house through a window in a dark room.

I like the green at the range better, but I have yellow dot on my carry pistols as the green dot can be hard to find outdoors with plants, bushes, etc in the background. I trust that the weird lighting that makes them hard to use is less real world likely than is a dead battery when you most need it. YMMV.

 

[ExtremeSquared]

...If you are shooting from the dark into bright light, then the dot can be hard to pickup, but this is mostly a contrived situation...

Minimal competency training -- shooting targets from under cover at an outdoor range in the daytime -- is a legitimate problem with immediate-environment-based illumination in optics. For better or worse, it's a common level of competence upkeep in the real world.

 

[wally]

Minimal competency training -- shooting targets from under cover at an outdoor range in the daytime -- is a legitimate problem with immediate-environment-based illumination in optics. For better or worse, it's a common level of competence upkeep in the real world.

That is basically the only way I ever use mine, its just not a problem, but I prefer the amber or red as in situations not at the range green is too common in the background and a green dot can get a bit lost, I discovered this shooting "informal" targets at my friend's ranch.