The Trijicon MRO HD is NOT the Worst Red Dot on the Market 

Hi Hop I’m the CEO for Trijicon and I have watched everyone of your videos and appreciate your feedback, we will study the issues and rectify them in 5 or 6 years.

He doesn't hate it! Clearly the 100k subscriber mark has addled his mind, we're gonna need to put Hop down now 😔

The best quote @8:52 "If your #1 requirement when buying an LPVO is red dot bright illumination, then the optic you should be buying is called a Red Dot."

Trijicon is so big and makes so much money off the ACOG that the people who make the MRO have never been introduced to the people who make the ACOG or RMR.

The other baffling thing is that Trijicon didn't just make a gen 2 with both ends at 25mm. But Primary Arms beat them with the MD25, and Bushnell with the TRS 25.

Hop, you are almost too well informed. Your video arrangements are a breath of fresh air from the other toobers winging their shit and talking out of their ass. This is actual journalism. Thanks I won't be buying an MRO but maybe a ACOG.

The SRS was a kick ass optic for sure and is 100% worth getting second hand if you can find one for under $600. I ran mine for a while and it did great with night vision and was a fantastic alternative for people that have issues with EoTech reticles turning into fuzzy bullshit. I've used mine for blasting hogs at night for a couple years and it works decently under night vision, but it would benefit from being just a hair brighter. I wish Trijicon would bring it back and it could absolutely have a place at the $600-$700 price range for how well they performed, but they aren't worth $1200. For the record, I ended up trading it recently for a CompM5 and 1.93 LEAP mount to some dude super thirsty for a SRS.

I wish we could get an SRS re-release at a better price point, I love the way those optics look.

For me, it's the MRO. The best red dot available. I even use it for top, offset and regular mounts and Trijicon is willing to oblige to make the mounts. One time I asked Trijicon for a lower 1/3 mount and they gave me three different mounts. I said, "Wow, three for free!" and the nice friendly Trijicon customer service worker laughed and said, "I'm going to call you 3-for-free!". Now the CS at Trijicon greets me with "hey it's 3-for-free!" and ALWAYS give me three mounts when I buy an optic from their website. It's such a fun and cool atmosphere at Trijicon, I go order from them at least 3 times a year for scopes, red dots, acogs, 1-2 times for a kill flash, and maybe once for a magnifier. I can get and can match my shooting needs. I even use my ACOGs on carry handles, it works great! What a great optics company.

Already commented on your last Credo video, but I will again with a different set of features I love because I am a huge Credo fan. The LPVO is not the end-all-be-all of optics choices, but the Credo 1-6 provides tremendous value in almost all aspects that would make a shooter select an LPVO: simple and usable reticle at close and long range, glass that makes the top-end maginifaction useable, capped turrets, lightweight-ish (18 oz before you put your Unity tall boi tanodized and double the weight), and a provided thread-in throw lever. Love not doing my job and watching your videos, keep doing what you're doing

It's amazing how bad Trijicon is at making 4x lpvos. Both the credo, and accupower were identical in suck factor. But the same goes for the tr24. The tr25 and credo 1-6's are both Vastly Superior to their 4x Brothers. I just can't fathom as to why.

I took a 2 day carbine course and I used an MRO sitting on a Geissele Mount. I honestly never had an issue. I can however see how that fish eye might annoy some peeps. It didn't bug me at all though and it performed very well!.

“You shoot red dots with both eyes open, your other provides field of view.” I am honestly glad you say this because so many serially online morons ignore this completely while having a jerk sesh about their favorite gear

Listening to him calmly yet methodically dismantle the value of certain products makes me squirm and I'm not even an owner of these products. Imagine being part of the company responsible and having to watch this pop up on your feed as you are trying to sip your morning coffee haha. Really enjoy the way that you break down features at the end user level, not the marketed claims of performance. Thank you for all the time and money you spend to share your experiences with us.

I will say, Trijicon customer service in my experience is top notch. I bought an MRO HD and 3x magnifier 2nd hand and was missing the longer screws for the riser on the magnifier. I emailed asking what the length and thread pitch was so that I could find them, and they emailed back a polite version of "don't do that you dummy, whats your address?" and sent me the replacement screws for free.

The MRO would've turned out better if it underwent a training arc, then have Trijicon host a tournament arc to let the best red dot come out on top

Hop, your original MRO video was the reason I sold mine and got a T2. Especially under a EOTech 3x magnifier the difference was huge and the parallax issue was a total deal breaker for me. No regerts. Now if trijicon could just come out with an enclosed rmr with a battery tray...

I love how you guys cut through so much hype, marketing and general BS! Thank you!

I've had the 1-6x Credo for about a year now, I like it a lot. My 1x is slightly less than a true 1x, but I usually run it at 2 or 3 anyway

I’ve had my trijicon credo 1-6 bdc for about two years now. The glass is super clear and the build quality is nothing to scoff at. Best sub $1000 lpvo on the market.

You give, by far, the best reviews for optics and other gear. Keep it up my dude, really helpful for people new to the scene.

I bought a Acro C1 for my IPSC production gun and didn’t care much for it. Put it on my AR and are blown away. The small real estate and window are suddenly perfect. Good optics with clear glass and a fairly clean dot. Situational awareness are fantastic. Battery life is quite poor with 5-6 months life. I’m buying the C2 to get that problem out of the way. Another tip is the LPVO Swarovski Z8i. Pricey as hell but fantastic glass and clarity.

The credo 1-6 is super underrated. You need to get a video on it.

I bought an Aimpoint Pro secondhand too many years ago to remember when, and it’s still working just fine. Happy with all the drama I’ve avoided. LPVO’s on the other hand…

Similar experience here. I own an MRO and it’s a very meh optic. I don’t use night vision so those issues don’t affect me. I bought a Credo HX 1-6 a while back and have been saying for a while that it’s a very good LPVO. Glad you got one too and like it.

Another much appreciated honest review by The Hop!! Thanks for another awesome video! Currently saving for the EOTECH

Thank you for the honest, quick, and easy review. It's refreshing when there are so many people, even the bigger guntubers, who won't talk about the issues with optics\gear. I was considering the MRO for my next dot, and granted I hadn't done a ton of research on them yet, but I hadn't heard of some of the issues you noted. Thanks.

The SRS was my first expensive optic. I snagged it for $900 new with the proprietary QD mount. It takes a beating. The reflection is meh. But workable. Yhe illumination adjustment and holding both to turn it off are finicky. The kill flash grate really is aggravating so I didn't shoot much with it. And I ended up actually ditching it for the Primary Arms GLX 2x prism cuz dots smear in my eyes regardless. But it performed well (not compared to price byt well enough to work consistently) and you had no fear of dropping it down a flight of stairs...or using it as a projectile weapon. Field of view truly spoiled me. But I survived.

I am absolutely in LOVE with the credo 1-8s. And I had an old accupoint 1-4 that's been with me a long time with no issues. But trijicon is still trijicon and when I had the opportunity to trade a mro for a t1 I did

The most no nonsense reviews. Thanks Hop.

I just got a credo 1-6 sfp and have only had it out 2 times but really enjoying it so far.

I bought a Trijicon MRO HD from Midway earlier this year when they were on sale, and I have to admit that it surprised me, too. MUCH better than the original MRO, though I also agree that they should never have included the reticle option (which I don’t use). My MRO HD is currently on my BCM MK2 Recce-14, and it compliments that carbine well. The battery life issue doesn’t bother me because I change my red dot batteries every two years, but it would have been nice if they had preserved the original MRO’s battery life, at least (and not had to jack up the price $250 while doing so).

Underrated guntuber 👍🏻 Thanks for the concise reviews.

Honestly I was wondering what how the Trijicon MRO & HD stacked up against the Aimpoint RDS. Similar price points with pros/cons that I think make them a good match up. Great review as usual Hop.

I pretty much share all of Hop's opinions on the MRO - I could barely zero the first one I had because of the parallax issue. I also have a Credo 1-8 FFP and think its the shit. Glad to see that the 1-6 is an improvement on the 1-4.

I liked my Credo 1-8, but I did end up selling it. I'm testing a Sig 1-10 SFP right now and it's OK for 1/3 the price. The thing I learned from the Credo is that I'm not sure FFP is all it's cracked up to be.

I have a 1-4 Accupower that I bought right before they were discontinued and replaced with the Credo. Since they were just trying to dump the old models I got it for $480 and I absolutely love that optic at that price point. A lot of the issues with Trijicon's LPVOs would not even be mentioned if they were priced around $500-$700 instead of $800-$1000

Bottom battery loading RDS for pistols, are an automatic fail... No matter how "good" they are. Trijicon can have the top spot again, when they get with the times.

Glad the 1-6 credo worked out for you. I have a 1-8 and 2-10 and they're great.

My high contrast brain has decided that I now must sell all of my ACOGs.

I have credo 1-6 HX not the BDC reticle, the red dot with hash marks. Happy with it, no regrets 807.00 from EUROOPTIC.

I have two of the Credo 1-6's and I've got and had other well known high end scopes. I'll say this about the Credo's I have. The glass is crystal from edge to edge, and the closest 1 to 1 I've ever looked through. They aren't heavy at 18.9 oz yet there's a heaviness there that says It's built very well. I also like the on/off between each alumination. And the reticle sub tensions are 19" wide at their respective ranges. I would not hesitate to encourage someone to buy one for a 556 / 16".

I liked my issued ACOG. I thought if I liked that, I would like thier red dot. Turns out the MRO sucks. I thought I had a bad one, then found reviews including yours pointing out what I learned the hard way.

It is INSANE how different the 2 are. I bought an MRO green dot, returned it the next day as it was so bad it was unusable. I could only convince the store to the take it back if I got the HD. And it's awesome. Wtf... one version unusable, other version great?

My MRO HD justifications: -Better glass than MRO (less tint) -Better reticle options with segmented circle -Much better clarity under magnification -Good battery life on dot setting with the ability to switch to circle/dot if desired -Great aftermarket support with plenty of mount options -Theoretically tougher and better technology than something like Holosun Please feel free to blow holes in my logic here... I do own the MRO HD, so maybe I'm secretly hoping everyone agrees with me!

My desire for a Credo 1-6x is that it is the lightest/robust and most useful optic solution that i gamed out for a 7.62x51 "spotter" rifle to accompany a bolt gun. The 308 hunter BDC lines up well with 100m increments to 550m, and after that the drop begins to multiply and the bottom post tops at 976m with Swiss Saltech M80 ball. I could probably get away using an old Viper PST 1-6x but my ballistic calculations were making my eyes twitch.

I've got the 2.5-10 credo. I enjoy it, but it needs a parallax adjustment knob and a better eye box at 10x. If you move JUST ever so slightly off center at max power the ocular lense is a blackout lol

the quality and writing and critical takes of these reviews keep improving. really good content.

11:52 - . Spoiler: I just emailed them. They have now. ...Surprise!

“I have a learning disability” He just like me FR FR

Tenmile is a very good long range rifle option, IMO. They're still on a killer sale at EuroOptic and while there are better scopes out there, at the current EuroOptic sale prices, it's awfully hard to match the quality per dollar.

I wish red dots actually looked like they do in videos for me. God damn astigmatism. I did notice that green dots don't bloom as bad for myself.

Mro HD and Aimpoint T2 are the only red dots that didn’t look like an oil slick smear. The MRO HD reflection is negligibly annoying but if you running the circle dot reticle you don’t see it. Basically came down to price for me at the time it was cheaper than the T-2 with the scalarworks mount and I don’t own nor can afford night vision so half of the complaints are moot to me. The main reason to buy the HD is that it’s actually usable for people with astigmatism.

MRO being kinda middle of the road with middle of the road pricing just makes me not kinda like it. It doesn't do anything better than the t2, but then the better performance from other low cost value optics just seems lacking. Idk, just seems like a half assed trijicon optic to me

I really miss the RX01 mounted of those forward handle mounts, even though I hated the amber color I really liked how that sight just worked with no frills lol

I usually use a camera to tell if the smear I see is due to the dot or because of my astigmatism. For my cheapo Holosuns, it's always been my astigmatism. The dot looks perfect through a camera, but that MRO looks like what my dot looks like, but due to my astigmatism, through your camera. Wild.

Lol, I have the first generation of the MRO with the greed dot on a lower 1/3 Trijicon mount and it works good for me. Chews up battery way faster than the red, but I like it. That being said, my favorite Trijicon optics are my 3-9x40 AccuPoint (TR20-1G) with the duplex reticle, center green dot illumination, my 1-4 AccuPoint (TR24R) with the red triangle on a post reticle, and my 3.5x ACOG (TA11E) with the red chevron reticle.

I have a 1-8 FFP red/green and I love it

IMO, the best Trijicon LPVO is the Credo HX 1-6, emphasis on the HX. Daylight bright reticle if you're into that and everything else Hop requires in an LPVO. 😉

Good info.

I will just run around with my Truglo strapped to my HiPoint Carbine wildly whooping in the wilderness then rather than purchase the MRO All jokes aside, this is an informative review. I also like how you included the customer service side of things. It's nice to see they were prompt with returns and swaps.

You just found yourself another sub. You deserve to hit a million my bro

I bought MROs because I couldn't afford a T2. When I finally could afford a T2, I couldn't find that or an H2 in stock anywhere. I got an Aimpoint Duty RDS recently, and it's WAY better than an MRO. What do you do with an MRO once you have a replacement? Sell it on the secondary market for like $10?

100% Agree with you. I got the MRO some time ago. To begin with, the brand new MRO I got came in with a lens defect. Sent it back immediately. The replacement was good to go but all the flaws you mention are there. I wanted to love it. But dont. Should have gotten the Primary Arms MD-20 instead. At a 1/3 of the price. Which I do have on another build by the way. Far superior optic over the MRO. Yup. I said it.

My two complaints about my MRO HD are the visible emitter on some conditions and that the emitted light is too bright to use with PVS-14. However, the MRO HD works well with the 3x magnifier and the unity FAST mount and flip to center magnifier mount. I wonder if I should have bought an eotech.

i have a 152K serial MRO and I really like it, has thousands of rounds on it and its held up really well. there is def better dots out there but i think its in a good price point for what you get. the things pretty tough and the foot print is relatively small. i think i got mine for mid 300s and I would do it again.

To be fair to the MRO HD, you get a rated 2.5 years of battery life if you use the red dot alone on the same setting. So in realistic red dot settings that will put you at a year-ish. Using the circle around it is what draws so much extra battery due to it's inefficient LED design relative to say Holosun.

10:36 is a riot

Love your stuff Hop. Great video.

As a side note, you would not have liked the SRS either. Heavy, shitty battery life, square hali around dot. I bought one thru 3.5 and got the 50% discount. I played around with it on a couple of platforms. It worked best with my Flir T50.......for a red dot. It sucked under Gov't PVS14. Sold it for $50 more than I paid for it on ARFCOM. Buyer seemingly got a good deal price wise. Also, the Credo series still takes a back seat to the older TR24 that is still lightweight Champion.

Only Trijicon product I own is the RMR. I've looked through and ACOG but never shot a rifle with one. ACOG has a great battlefield rep so... I have one LPVO, a Weaver 1-5x that fits my needs and the glass is excellent. Other ARs have either an EoTech or Aimpoint on them. They work great. So many choices out there now with some good and others not so good that I can see why beginners get confused and don't know what to do.

I just wanna say that I like your little narcissistic bombshell you dropped, it made me smile, thanks Hop

Doesn't matter. They sell two screws and a plate with holes in it for 99 bucks. You can get the same results with sheet metal from ace hardware, a drill, and a dream. We just need to wait for their patents on fiber optic lighting to expire so we can get more optics that can self-illuminate.

“All these mags are empty. I guess I’m dead.”

Now we just need a better reticle for acogs.

Ive tried so many different Trijicon offerings over the last 6 or so years, prior to that my red dot experience wasnt great. I really cant remember what the names of the red dots id tried before were but they were all brand new for 2009 and 2010, and they were terrible so i was soured on dots for awhile. Of all the Trijicon sights i picked up since i got my 1st TA01NSN in Jan 2017 the only one that stuck was a TA31RCO-M150 and thats ONLY because i nerded out and built a super accurate gwot M4A1 clone lol. There just isnt much they make that i lve had good experieces with outside of the sit'n'shoot ranges my grandpa likes us to go to whenever my dad is visiting. I got a smokin deal on a used EXPS3-2 from a buddy last spring, he only wanted tree-fiddy. Its been an awesome sight and i dont see me getting rid of it anytime soon

Aimpoint micros are 18mm ocular and objective. Good video either way.

Great review and insights! Thanks Hop!

Did some extensive testing of the MRO, eotech and aimpoint for selection of an issued optic. MRO seemed to get the most favorable reviews. Eotech guys liked the circle dot reticle with added battery life, aimpoint guys were glad to have the option of just the dot. Would I put one on my personal gun- eh. I picked up an aimpoint RDS before it hit the general market, and I think it’s perfectly acceptable and the price is right. I’ve owned plenty of T2s, comp series etc so I’m definitely team aimpoint. But $900+ for a compm5s (or any red dot) is ridiculous. Trijicon does a few things right, but seem exceptionally resistant to innovation. I just want a side or load RMR and a mil reticle in a Acog.

My favorite lpvo are my SIG Sauer Tango 1-4 FFP. I like Primary Arms optics but I just keep going back to the SIG Sauer Tango's.

Time for Trijicon to get on the GWOT retro bandwagon and throw all the improved tech into an SRS shaped red dot. Time is a flat circle anyway.

Surely that battery life for the MRO HD is wrong? that only comes out to 1800 hours on a dim indoor brightness. That's almost as bad as holographic optics, what the hell?

I still struggle to see how MROs are people's go-to choice. If you want a good red dot and your budget is around $500, how can you NOT choose aimpoint?

Hop back again with another high quality video. Highest quality right now im a huge fan dude.

5:56 now THATS a red dot

I bought 3 MRO's within 2 weeks and was so bad they got placed back in their boxes and 3 EOTech EXPS-2'S were procured and no issues since. Now, just what to do with the MRO's.....

I own lots of high end red dots and LPVO and not a single shitter (holosun), like the RMR Type 2, EXPS 3-4, T2, COMP M5b, MRO HD, ATACR 1-8, MK 8 1-8, VCOG 1-8 and another 6 that I can think of. I do not however own night vision. The MRO HD is decent, I will admit that circuit board is a bit obnoxious. If they aren’t going to fix it, in my opinion it is a $400 dot at most. The blue tint doesn’t bug me whatsoever though. As for your review on the Credo, I have never looked through one but guys get caught up on “daylight bright”LPVO. I have said it maybe 20 times on RU-vid and I will say it again…You don’t need Aimpoint bright for an LPVO. The reason for this is even if you are shooting on a perfectly clear day, in Antarctica at high noon on something that is white, the contrast of the etched reticle will do the job, and vice versa, if it is sunset and even if shooting at a darker target with the sun at the back of the target, the dot will be bright enough to contrast the dark target. You said it spot on “if you need an LPVO to be red dot bright, get a red dot.” Even my S&B dual dot 1-8 doesn’t require me to put sunscreen on like an Aimpoint does on max setting. 🤦🏽‍♂️

Trijicon SHOULD watch this channel as I am watching to help me decide whether or not to buy a Trijicon LPVO and I'd bet there are 100'0's more just like me. And I love my MRO on top of my MP5

Glad I waited for the review. I'll stick with the T2! Thanks again for the hard work!

My MRO (which is probably the original) has been on since I bought it over five years ago. The rifle it's mounted to has been through 3 carbine classes, dropped a thousand times. I'm not a diehard MRO guy, I got it no mount, dot only on sale well under $400.

Awesome review. I really enjoy watching your videos.

You are definitely one of my favorite Guntubers.

Haha I'm gonna forward this link to trijicon.... Just for funsies Good video as always man! -Walsh

Thank you again for the quick honest videos

I paid 300$ for my MRO and for that price I'm very happy with it. I haven't really had too much issues with it.

The acog is awesome still if you run caps and keep the front closed the acog works same as a red dot with both eyes open

Fantastic review as always brother!

I like that you are self aware

Good shit hop 🙌 your content is spectacularly different than most pew tubers and I couldn't give you a better compliment

These days everyone is paying for all the interest rates going up just to live, Not to many people can afford the high life, There is other companies out in the world with just as good equipment as them, And way less, Good vid.