Osight has been iterating in public for about a year. The original model won people over with a simple physical battery and a price that undercut the big names.
Then the XR showed up with a top-mounted USB charging port, and a good chunk of us pushed back.
Osight finally listened and gave us what we want.
If you want the short version: this is the Osight I've been asking for. It's not trying to dethrone a Holosun or a Trijicon RMR HD.
It's its own thing, aimed at shooters who don't want to spend $500 to $800 on an optic right now.
A tray, not a charging port
The XR's top USB port was the sticking point. Even with the charger in hand, you couldn't just grab the optic and go. It needed time on the cable first, and that defeats the point of an optic you expect to be ready.
The XE AMRS fixes this with a recessed battery tray on the side. Pop the tray out, drop in a fresh cell, screw it back in, and you're running. I'm firmly in the physical-battery camp here: the swappable cell lasts way longer than a rechargeable, I don't have to keep track of a charger, and it stays easy to maintain even if I lose the tray itself.
There's a durability angle too. Cutting a charging port into the roof of the housing takes away some rigidity, and dropping it lets the optic stay fully sealed. My take is blunt, Osight should do this on every future release, but I thin
Build and durability
The housing is fully enclosed front and back, carried straight over from the XR. I even left it sitting in the snow at one point, leaning into that weather-resistant, sealed-emitter design. Everything that can sit flush does.
The turrets and battery tray are recessed, unlike the Holosun 507 X3, where the battery tray sticks out and has nicked my hand more than once when I'm not careful. That's a nitpick rather than a real flaw, but the flush layout is a genuine point in Osight's favor.
On fit and finish, I'll be honest about the limits of a first look. You can tell the quality is decent by eye, but you can't really judge an optic without holding it, and this is an initial review. Long-term durability is still an open question.
Glass, reticle, and brightness
The XE AMRS name points to the multi-reticle system. You get a clean 2 MOA dot combined with a larger 6 MOA dot, and you can toggle between a plain circle and a circle-with-dot.
The dot itself is crisp in the center, though there's noticeable distortion when you push it toward the edge of the window.
Brightness held up well. I tested it on a sunny day, cranked the setting all the way up, and could still see the dot clearly with the sun beating down, even with my sunglasses on. The one thing it doesn't have is forward light sensing.
Unlike Holosun's newer 507C X3 with a front-facing light sensor, this optic won't auto-adjust the dot to the lighting on the target plane. You set the brightness yourself.
| Spec | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Enclosed-emitter reflex (red dot) | Sealed front and back, so debris/rain can't blind the emitter like on an open optic |
| Reticle (AMRS) | 2/6 + 32 MOA multi-reticle | Switch between a 2 MOA dot, 6 MOA dot, 32 MOA circle, or dot-in-circle. Precision → speed in one optic |
| Dot color | Red | No green-dot option on this model |
| Footprint | RMR (Trijicon) | Drops onto any RMR-cut slide; also matches Holosun 407C/507C cuts |
| Battery | CR1632 coin cell, side-loading | The headline change — swap from the side without pulling the optic or losing zero. No USB port |
| Battery life | ~105,000 hours | ~a decade at a moderate setting, on a drugstore coin cell |
| Brightness | 8 daylight + 2 night-vision | Top setting stayed visible in direct sun with sunglasses |
| Shake/motion awake | Yes — wakes on movement, sleeps ~3 min | Always ready without draining the cell |
| Lens | Aspherical, parallax-free | Osight's claim; some dot distortion near the window edge in practice |
| Housing | 7075-T6 aluminum, CNC-machined | Same hard alloy as premium optics |
| Waterproof | IPX7 | Submersion-rated; sat in snow during testing |
| Backup sight | Collapsible Backup Rear Sight (CBRS) | Button-deploy rear iron; niche unless your slide lacks a rear sight |
| Window | Large (507C class, bigger than RMR) | Generous viewing area, easy dot pickup |
| Hardware | 4 screw sets incl. 6-32 + short Glock screws | High-tolerance; torque to spec |
| Weight/dims | Not published at launch | — |
| Price (MSRP) | ~$249.99 | Well under the $500–$800 enclosed competitors |
Window and profile
The window is big. It's similar to the Holosun 507 and noticeably larger than a Trijicon RMR, and that kind of sight picture gets me excited about a micro optic.
The deck height sits slightly higher than some competitors when you line them up side by side.
The lens hood leans forward a touch, but nowhere near as far as a Trijicon SRO, and on my Glock 19 it didn't interfere with the breech or ejection at all.
The pop-up rear sight
On the back of the housing is an integrated pop-up rear iron sight. Press the button to deploy it, and a solid detent locks it down. If you already run a rear sight, you can tuck it away.
I'll be candid: this is a niche feature. I don't personally need it, since my guns already have sights, and on a tall setup like the Ruger 5.7 it sits too high to be useful. But the value is clear. If your slide has no rear sight, or your irons aren't tall enough to co-witness, this gives you something to work with as a backup.
Mounting and hardware
Mounting is the same RMR pattern you've seen thousands of times, so it direct-mounts to any RMR-cut slide with no new learning curve. The included hardware is a step up from past releases.
The screws are much better this time, all high tolerance, and Osight ships four sets, including the common 6-32 size and shorter ones for Glocks.
As always, follow the spec and use a torque wrench to lock it down.
The turrets are a highlight. One thing I look for is clicks that are both audible and have positive tactile feedback, and these deliver. The turret and battery tray both feel really rigid. And while it's easy to think of this as a pistol dot, you can run it on long guns too. I had it mounted on an AR with a riser.
How it stacks up
Let me be direct about positioning. I don't consider the XE AMRS a head-to-head competitor with Holosun or the Trijicon RMR HD. It's something different on its own terms, built to a lower price.
I'd frame it as a better version of the earlier Osight, for the shooter who isn't ready to drop $500 or even $800 on an optic in a rough economy.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Swappable side battery tray, ready to go with no charging wait
- Fully enclosed, sealed emitter with a flush, recessed layout
- Large window with a bright dot usable in direct sun and through sunglasses
- Standard RMR footprint, four screw sets included, tactile and audible turrets
- Built-in pop-up rear sight for slides without irons
- Aggressive price against the premium options
Cons
- Some dot distortion near the edge of the window
- No forward light sensing or auto-brightness
- Pop-up sight sits too tall on some guns, such as the Ruger 5.7, and is niche for most
- Slightly higher deck height than some competitors
Verdict
The XE AMRS is a focused fix to the one thing people didn't like about the XR. If you liked the original Osight's simplicity and want an enclosed emitter with a large window and a built-in backup sight, minus the recharge-port hassle, this is the one I'd point you to. The price is low enough to make the $500 to $800 alternatives a harder sell for a lot of shooters.
The honest caveat is right in the name: this is an initial review. It looks good in hand and performs well on day one, but the real test is rounds downrange over time. For now, it's an easy recommendation for budget-minded shooters who want an enclosed dot without the charging-port baggage. I'll have more once I put more rounds through it.
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