Inside the SIG Romeo5 XDR
The Romeo5 XDR has ten total settings, 8 for daylight shooting and 2 for night vision. The controls for the optic are nestled on the top of the optic. A + and – sign which predictably lowers and raises the brightness level of the optic. They also turn the light on, simply hold it down for a brief second and it pops on. To turn it off you do the same. To swap reticles you hold both buttons down for a moment. Not that the instructions or any instructions I can find online will show you that. I just got lucky and guessed correctly.
The optic is rated to an IPX-7 level meaning it can be submerged in 1 meter of water. The optic also features the utterly awesome MOTAC feature. This feature shuts the optic off when it fails to sense motion and turns the optic on when it picks up motion. Leave it on all you want and the optic will shut itself off and preserve the battery. As soon as you pick it up you are good to go.
The controls and battery compartment make everything ambidextrous and easy to reach. It’s a great touch when it comes to those poor unfortunate lefties. This is a compact optic with a 20mm objective lens and weighs only 5.6 ounces.
On the Range
Mounting took all of ten seconds and that little tool SIG includes is quite nice really. Zeroing is just as easy and the tool’s opposite side has a flat head driver to make the adjustments to the optic. Just handy and something I’ll be keeping around for other optics.
I dialed the scope in at 25 yards figuring this would be a good zero up to 100 yards. At 100 yards there is hardly any drop. I’m not likely to try to make shots past 100 yards with a 9mm rifle. Once zeroed I back off the 50 and then 75 yards and set the reticle a hair high and it was striking with boring regularity into the target’s chest cavity.
I really prefer the Eotech style circle and dot for red dots and this made me fall in love with the Romeo5 XDR. At close ranges, all I have to do is fill the 65 MOA circle with the target and then I let the lead fly. It’s very fast and it because the circle is so big it takes only a fraction of a second to pick up with your eyes. The stadia on the bottom of the 65 MOA circle could be used as a holdover point with a longer range weapon like a AR 15.
When I move back to longer ranges it becomes about me and the 2 MOA red dot. I sit back and shoot with a bit more precision. The reticles design makes it really easy to switch from close encounters to medium and distant encounters on the fly. Obviously, the downside is that this more complicated reticle will drain the battery a lot faster. Not a big deal when you are talking thousands of hours.
Parting Shots
The SIG Romeo5 XDR is a simple but robust little optic. It’s lightweight, small, and easy handling. The Romeo5 XDR is an awesome optic and it seems unfortunate SIG doesn’t do much to advertise this model. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the speed and precision it adds to my Scorpion rifle and look forward to spending more and more time with this little optic and I may just purchase another since I still have plenty of empty rails lying around.
