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Pros: - Dual color, red or green, dot - Unlimited eye relief - Excellent battery life Cons: - 5 MOA dot is too large for long-range and precision shooting - Battery housing and rheostat design causes problems - Sun reflects off target window at certain angles

Welcome to our review of the Truglo Red-Dot Open Dual Color Crossbow Sight. This sight provides a 5 MOA reticle for quick target acquisition, and allows you your choice of a red or green dot, depending on your target/background and personal shooting preferences. It is an economical upgrade to traditional iron sights for your crossbow, pistol, rifle, or shotgun, but how well does it perform?

How Much Magnification Do I Get From the Truglo Red-Dot Open Dual Color Crossbow Sight?

This is an open sight, not a scope, so you don’t get any magnification from the sight.

How Good are the Optics on the Truglo Red-Dot Open Dual Color Crossbow Sight?

Truglo has placed an anti-reflection coating on the target side of the sight, but there is no coating on the other side of the sight. As a result, when the sun is at a certain angle, you will have problems with the sun reflecting off the glass. Granted, you have to be at a specific angle to the sun for this to happen, but sometimes the glare can be very problematic and I’ve had to switch out sights occasionally because of this.

The field of view through the 24x34mm window is quite wide, and I’ve never had a problem leading a target when it was on the run. The sight follows along with my eye easily, and the fact that I can shoot with both eyes open is a boon for rabbit and squirrel hunting, since I can lead them better.

The brightness of the dots is almost perfect, and the different brightness settings make it easy to adjust the brightness to your lighting conditions. The dot, however, is a massive 5 MOA dot, which is much too large for most longer range shooting conditions. Truglo advertises this as being for “quick acquisition,” but it seems to me that a trained shooter would fare just as well with a 1 or 2 MOA dot, and it would open the sight up to longer range usefulness. I bought this sight for rabbit and squirrel hunting, but it is simply unusable for that purpose, and the sight has been relegated to plinking and target practice.

What’s the Housing Like on this Crossbow Sight?

The housing is mostly plastic, which is to be expected for the price of the sight. It is, however, quite shock resistant as well as water resistant. I’ve used this particular sight on my crossbow as well as my SKS rifle and 12-gauge shotgun, and the sight has worked perfectly in every application.

There is, however, one major flaw with the design of the housing. The battery cover is mounted atop the rheostat for setting the brightness of the dot, and this means that every adjustment to the rheostat also tightens or loosens the battery cover. I’ve had the battery cover come completely off from the sight due to this a number of times, and it definitely affects the reliability of the sight. You may find that the sight refuses to turn on at certain times, even though you haven’t touched the battery cover, but as soon as you tighten the battery cover back down, everything works fine. This is a sloppy design, and could have been rectified by Truglo in a number of ways.

How Easy is the Truglo Red-Dot Open Dual Color Crossbow Sight to Mount?

With its integrated Weaver-style mounting system, the sight is very easy to mount, but you must have a Weaver-style mount for it to work. The sight’s mount is not compatible with smaller dovetail mounts. Mounting is quick and easy, taking literally seconds from unboxing to having the sight mounted and ready to go.

How Easy is the Truglo Red-Dot Open Dual Color Crossbow Sight to Sight In?

This sight has click windage and elevation adjustment, and is very easy to sight in. I was able to get the sight fully zeroed within just 6 shots from my crossbow, and less than 50 rounds from my SKS when I tried the sight on the SKS.

Is the Truglo Red-Dot Open Dual Color Crossbow Sight an Easy to Use Sight?

Yes, this sight is very easy to use. You just turn on the dot, point, and shoot. The only problems affecting the usability of the sight are the battery/rheostat situation and the extremely large 5 MOA dot. When everything is working, though, the sight is simple to use.

The choice between red and green dots is a very nice one to have, since you can switch back and forth depending on the lighting conditions and where you’re shooting. For instance, I find the red dot to be best for my use when I’m outdoors in low to moderate light, but the green dot seems easiest to use when I’m in a dark indoor range.