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Pros - Inexpensive upgrade from iron sights - Great illumination settings - Excellent mounting system Cons - 5 MOA reticle covers too much of the target beyond 20 yards - Cheap plastic construction - Does not hold zero

Welcome to our review of the TruGlo Red-Dot 40mm Crossbow Sight. This sight is designed as an upgrade to the traditional iron sights on your shotgun, handgun, rifle, muzzleloader, paintball gun, or crossbow. How well does it actually perform, though? That’s what we are about to find out!

How Much Magnification Do I Get From the TruGlo Red-Dot 40mm Crossbow Sight?

Since this is a simple 40mm red dot sight, there is no magnification of the target image. This sight won’t help you get a closer view of your target, but it will help you quickly and easily find your aiming point than with iron sights alone.

How is the Optics Quality on the TruGlo Red-Dot 40mm Crossbow Sight?

The optics on the TruGlo Red-Dot 40mm Crossbow Sight are multi-coated for fog resistance, water resistance, and scratch resistance. The sight is clear and crisp, and the clarity of the target image is pretty good.

The red dot is illuminated with 5 brightness settings, and the brightness settings are well-matched to real-world lighting conditions. My biggest complaint about this sight is the 5 MOA reticle, which TruGlo says is designed for quick acquisition but I say covers up too much of my target for the precision shooting I’d rather do with the sight. TruGlo does make models with a 2.5 MOA reticle, but the model we’re looking at here has a reticle that is great for close-up shooting but horrible for long-range precision shooting.

What’s the Housing Like on the Crossbow Sight?

The housing of the TruGlo Red-Dot 40mm Crossbow Sight is plastic, which is very unfortunate. I suppose for a sight in the $60 price range, this is to be expected, but aluminum isn’t really that expensive! TruGlo says this sight is shock resistant to 1000g, but I wouldn’t want to test that by dropping the sight. With that said, it has worked perfectly on my crossbow for a couple of years now, with the exception of the lens cap breaking off.

How Easy is the Sight to Mount?

If you have a Weaver-style rail on your weapon, the TruGlo Red-Dot 40mm Crossbow Sight is very easy to mount. It mounts in seconds, and the mounting system uses Allen screws instead of thumb bolts. This is definitely a plus, because you can tighten the screws down tighter with an Allen wrench than you could by hand. This is a very important capability with a sight that holds zero as poorly as this one. More on that in the next section.

How Easy is the to Sight In?

The TruGlo Red-Dot 40mm Crossbow Sight is easy to sight in, requiring just a few minutes of your time to have tight groupings from 20 yards with a crossbow. Unfortunately, it does not hold zero very well. After a few weeks of daily shooting, I found my impact points wandering, and had to sight in again. Not what I would have expected, even from a budget sight.

Is the TruGlo Red-Dot 40mm Crossbow Sight an Easy to Use Sight?

At short ranges like 20 or 30 yards, this sight is very easy to use and is a good upgrade over iron sights. As you move further back, though, you’ll find that the 5 MOA red dot covers up too much of your target to be useful, and you’ll have to really guess where your shot placement is going to be.