Review of the SIG Romeo1 Pro

I’ve been using the SIG Romeo1 red dot optic for about three years now – going back to the 1st generation 3 MOA version I purchased for the original X-Five I started shooting early in 2017. That first 3 MOA Romeo1 was one of the first optics SIG released when they decided to jump into the optic market…and it wasn’t perfect out of the gate. Brightness was definitely an issue – the dot could be tough to see when shooting outdoors on a cloudless Summer day. But it was priced right, had a big window, and SIG Optics has a great lifetime warranty. “SIG SAUER Electro-Optics are guaranteed forever. It’s an unlimited lifetime guarantee.” Just a few months after I started shooting the SIG P320 X-Five/Romeo1 combination, SIG released an upgraded SIG Romeo1 with a 6MOA dot. So I bought one. Then I bought another. And another. The newer, brighter 6MOA Romeo1 was GREAT. I liked the larger dot, and it was definitely brighter. In terms of reliability, I never had any of my Romeo1 optics fail. And I have had five of them – all with a 5,000 plus round counts. My 6MOA Romeo1s have 10,000 plus rounds. My only complaint about them was the finish – it chipped off way to easily. This wasn’t a huge deal – I use them on my competition guns. They don’t need to look pretty – they just need to work.

Fast forward to January 2017 and SIG winning the US Army Modular Handgun System (MHS) contract. One of the few changes the US army requested for their M17/M18 variants of the P320 was that the firearm be manufactured with an optic mount footprint natively compatible with the Leupold Deltapoint Pro. So common sense would suggest that eventually SIG would release an optic that would also be compatible with the Deltapoint Pro footprint. When I visited with SIG at the 2019 NRA Annual Meeting, they showed me their new Romeo1 Pro – an upgraded version of the Romeo1 with improved battery life, an even brighter dot, a more robust design, and a new mounting footprint which matched the Leupold Deltapoint. Not much more was heard about the Romeo1 Pro until later in the Summer of 2019 when SIG surprised the competitive shooting world with the release of the SIG Legion P320 X-Five. This new version of the X-Five would be, like the versions before it, optic ready. But unlike previous versions of the X-Five, the Legion X-Five would have an optic footprint compatiple with the Leupold Deltapoint Pro…and of course the new Romeo1 Pro. Unfortunately SIG wasn’t able to time the release of the Romeo1 Pro to coincide with the Legion X-Five – it didn’t come out until October of 2019. I got to practice a bit with the new Romeo1 Pro, and then used it at the 2019 Kentucky Steel Challenge Championship where I came in 2nd place in the Carry Optics division:

The SIG Romeo1 Pro, in short, improves nearly everything about the previous generation SIG Romeo1. The biggest improvement for me is the upgraded finish – it seems far more robust. As someone who likes to take lots of photographs of their gear, I appreciate that the optic no longer looks “abused” after just a handful of uses. Beyond some minor changes in aesthetics with the finish/paint, the Romeo1 Pro looks nearly identical to the older Romeo1 model. The body/frame of the Romeo1 Pro is constructed from CNC aluminum versus CNC magnesium on the previous Romeo1. Many complained the magnesium construction of the previous Romeo1 just did not stand up to “duty” use. I never used it in this capacity – I used and continue to use the Romeo1s in a strictly competition setting which is not as demanding as the rigors placed upon a duty weapon.

In terms of brightness, SIG does claim that the Romeo1 Pro offers increased dot brightness, while at the same time delivering a battery life of up to 20,000 hours via the same CR1632 battery used in the previous Romeo1. Honestly, the improvement in brightness is not significant. It’s noticeable when you hold the Romeo1 Pro side by side with the previous model. But it’s not a particularly meaningful improvement. However, the battery life increase is huge considering the previous Romeo1 had just a 2,600 hour battery life, which assumes continuous use at a medium brightness, or 440 hours at full brightness. As significant as that battery life improvement is, I can’t say it will have a huge impact on me. CR1632 batteries are only a couple of bucks apiece – I usually changed them before any major match just for peace of mind if nothing else. There again, my requirements as a competition shooter will be different than someone using this optic for defensive/duty purposes – those folks will greatly appreciate the battery life improvement.

Beyond these changes, the Romeo1 Pro retains all the great features from the Romeo1 including MOTAC motion activation – if the dot/firearm remains motionless, the dot will deactivate to conserve battery life, and instantly re-activate with the slightest bit of motion. It also has the great top loading battery cover which means you don’t have to remove the optic from the firearm every time a battery change is needed.

DEFENSIVE USE?

I’m often asked if I would use the Romeo1 Pro on a defensive handgun. On one hand, I’ve no reason not to – as I indicated before, I’ve not seen any issues or problems with any of the Romeo1 optics I’ve owned. But on the other hand…why use it when the tried-and-true Trijicon RMR is a legitimate option? Yes, it’s more expensive to buy a non-optics ready SIG and have the slide milled to accept a Trijicon RMR. But I’m willing to pay a few extra bucks where my life and the lives of those that count on me are concerned. There’s nothing about the SIG Romeo1 Pro that makes me think it’s not robust and reliable enough for duty/defensive use. It’s just not compelling enough of a product to me me not use the Trijicon RMR. If it stands the test of time, the Romeo 1Pro could potentially convince me otherwise. But as it stands, I think the Romeo1 Pro is perfect for competition use.