Sig Sauer Romeo5 Initial Impression (Pic Heavy Post)

I recently picked up a couple of red dots to check out and I wanted to share my initial impressions. I wanted to replace an Eotech 512 on an AR pistol set up for home defense and as a possible replacement for another Eotech 512 on a duty rifle build. Being former military and having trained on the AR platform using iron sights for so long, I wanted an absolute cowitness sight. I’ve read all the pros and cons to the absolute cowitness and 1/3 cowitness. In the end, my choice is absolute.

At first, I was looking at the Primary Arms Advanced Micro Dot ($170 without mount). After a bit of research and searching and reading, I learned the PA micro dot was made by Holosun. There’s a Holosun model, HS403GL ($200), that is very close to the same as the Primary Arms. It comes with a 1/3 cowitness mount, has an auto on/off feature, and a 50,000 hour battery life. Except for the 1/3 cowitness, the feature set seemed great for a home defense weapon. More reading and I came across the TruGlo Tru-Tec 20mm red dot ($120) that comes with a 1/3 cowitness mount. Even the cheapest absolute cowitness mount runs about $30. I finally found the Sig Sauer SOR52001 Romeo5 ($145).

-2 MOA Red-Dot provides 10 illumination settings (8 daylight plus 2 NV) for visibility in all light conditions
-MOTAC™ (Motion Activated Illumination) powers up when it senses motion and powers down when it does not. Provides for optimum operational safety and enhanced 40,000+ hour battery life
-Integrated M1913 Picatinny interface provides industry-standard mounting options for a wide range of applications
-Dependable waterproof (IPX-7 rated for complete water immersion up to 1 meter) and fog-proof performance
-Includes a M1913 Picatinny low mount riser and a co-witness 1.41* riser mount

A pretty good feature set, as far as I was concerned. So I grabbed one from Amazon.

I also came across the Vortex Sparc AR1 for $150. It uses a AAA battery and came with both absolute and 1/3 cowitness mounts. It didn’t have an auto-on feature. I would have likely grabbed one of those if it had. I may grab one for the duty rifle build but that’s a discussion for a different review.






The absolute cowitness mount can be replaced with a low mount for an AK or a 10/22 or something else.






The mount is a standard Aimpoint T1 mount. If the included mount turns out to be the weak point, I can easily replace it at a later point.


The sight is pretty clear.


Red dot turned up all the way.


Turned to the lowest brightness.


With this sight, I plan to change out the rear sight to a pop-up.



With this sight, I plan to change out the rear sight to a pop-up.

The Eotech just for comparison.



Overall, I’m pleased with this sight and would recommend it. As far as shooting, it shoots like a red dot.

Thanks for the review. Think it could stand up to any rough treatment?

CriticalMass said:

Thanks for the review. Think it could stand up to any rough treatment?

Click to expand...

I haven't had an opportunity to put it through a lot yet. There's a YouTube user named Alabama Arsenal who appears to have put one of these through more than I think I would ever do on purpose, from water to freezing it in a block of ice to repeatedly throwing it about 15 feet in the air and letting it hit the ground to shooting it with a shotgun. The unit he had survived all the tests and still seemed to hold zero.

Well then. Thats remarkable. Yeah for under $150 I'll have to get one.

I ordered a Romeo5 today from Brownells for my BCM.

Theres no doubt that Holosun is making the internals for the sig red dot that you got. Good stuff!

Hey gents, just wanted to put in my 2 cents on guys looking into SIG Electo Optics and give you a peak behind the curtain to let you know about the program.

The President and driving force behind SIG Electro optics is Andy York. Andys got about 20 years or so of optics design, engineering, and marketing under his belt most notably with Leupold designing and marketing their stuff for 10 years.

Its called SIG Electro optics because Andy's vision is blending more tech with optical instrments. You can see this with the addition of level plex in the Tango 6. There is some blended tech coming at NRA that is going to be awesome for the optics world.

Anyway, Andy has amassed a lot of bright minds from different companies like Leupold and Crimson trace as well as other leading manufacturers around the industry to create a team of forward thinking individuals to push the limits of optical design.

All of the design work is done in house and they own all of their IP. Manufacturing at the moment is outsourced to OEM manufactures which is pretty standard practice in the industry.

We sell a ton of product through our sister company sportoptics.com with very happy results. Their product consistancy is much better than other manufactures in their price point and without a second thought reccomend them to our customers.

If you guys have any questions about SIG or any other manufactuer just give me a ring.