Trijicon MRO Vs RMR [Which Is The Better Optic For You?]

Let’s be honest, Trijicon makes some pretty cool optics…

They’re a well known name and they have a well-deserved reputation for putting out quality sights. On top of that, I think it’s pretty cool that Trijicon makes sights for the U.S. military… 

Now two of they’re most popular options right now are:

• The Trijicon MRO (See Price On Amazon – Over 341 Reviews)
• The Trijicon RMR (See Price On Amazon – Over 968 Reviews)

And in this Trijicon MRO vs RMR comparison, we’re going to see how these two sights stack up against each other in the following categories…

• Toughness And Durability
• Lens Clarity And Reticle
• Battery Life And Brightness Settings
• Extra Accessories Included With The Sight
• Price Comparison

In the end, I’ll tell you which of these sights I prefer, and you should have all the information you need to determine which one will work best for you…

Let’s jump into it!

Durability, Toughness, and Size…

Trijicon MRO

Trijicon has built up a reputation over the years for producing very tough optics. For years, the U.S. military has used the Trijicon ACOG…

…and the same high standards of ruggedness and durability have been put into the MRO. Now, MRO actually stands for “Miniature Rifle Optic”, and it’s Trijicon’s version of a micro red dot sight.

Like I said earlier, it’s built to be very tough. The site housing is made from 7075-T6 aluminum, and it’s hard anodized to help protect the optic from the elements. 

In addition to that, the windage and elevation turrets are recessed into the site housing, which prevents them from being snapped off or spun accidentally. 

The MRO is also waterproof and can be submerged in up to 100 feet (3 meters) of water. So it can easily handle rainy, snowy, or wet conditions…

…and last, it’s shockproof and can easily handle recoil from high-powered rifles, shotguns, or pistol caliber carbines.

At a weight of 4.1 ounces, the Trijicon MRO is a compact and durable little red dot sight, and it has a track record of reliability that goes back for a few years now.   

Trijicon RMR

The RMR is also a very durable little optic. Just like the MRO it has the Trijicon name and reputation behind it…

…and it was built with toughness and reliability in mind. Now instead of being a micro red dot sight, the RMR is a miniature open-style reflex sight.

In fact, RMR actually stands for “Ruggedized Miniature Reflex Sight”, and as I mentioned before, it was built with toughness in mind. 

The sight housing of the RMR is made from a forged military-grade aluminum alloy, and just like the MRO the windage and elevation turrets are recessed into the sight housing, which protects them from being bumped or snapped off.  

In terms of handling recoil and shock, the RMR Type 1’s did have some problems when mounted on pistol slides with the reticle flickering on and off intermittently…

It was basically a battery connection issue, and Trijcon completely corrected that issue with the RMR Type 2, which can easily handle the recoil from shotguns, high-powered rifles, pistol caliber carbines, or being mounted on pistol slides.

In addition to that, the RMR is extremely compact and only weighs 1.17 ounces… So it has become a popular choice as a pistol optic or a very minimal carbine optic. 

My one major knock on it in terms of reliability would be that it is an open-style sight, which means mud or debris could get into the open area and possibly block the emitter projecting your reticle (so you would have no reticle)… 

That’s just the way open-style reflex sights work, but aside from that, I think the RMR is a pretty durable little optic. 

Durability, Toughness, And Size Conclusions…

Ok so in this category, we have the MRO which is basically a micro red dot sight, and the RMR which is an mini open-style reflex sight…

Both of these sights are from Trijicon, so they’re both built with high-quality materials and toughness in mind…

…But because of the nature of the open-style reflex design and the simple fact that the MRO is a larger and beefier sight, I’m going to give the win in this category to the MRO.

Winner: Trijicon MRO

Lens Clarity And Reticle…

Trijicon MRO

The lens clarity on the MRO is pretty good. You do notice a slight bluish tint when looking through the optic, and honestly, I would prefer if it were more clear…

…but it’s not too distracting and I don’t think it’s a deal breaker. Trijicon says they put that coating on their lenses to make them stronger and to give you greater contrast when looking through the optic…

There is some truth to that, and even though I would prefer it to be more clear, you’re still able to get a very clear and clean sight picture through the MRO. 

In addition to that, the MRO has a 25mm objective lens, which gives you a huge field of view. This is an awesome feature…

…and it really sets the MRO apart from other micro red dot sights because you’re simply able to see more of what’s downrange when looking through your sight. 

Now the reticle on the MRO is a simple 2 MOA (Minute Of Angle) dot. I’m a big fan of the 2 MOA dot reticle on my red dot sights because it captures your eye very quickly when taking aim…

…but at the same time, it’s small enough to give you a fair amount of precision when shooting at small targets in the distance. 

Basically, it’s simple, fast, and precise, and I’m glad Trijicon decided to go with a 2 MOA dot reticle rather than something larger like a 4 or 6 MOA dot.  

Trijicon RMR

The lens clarity on the RMR is also very good. Just as with the MRO, there is a noticeable bluish tint when looking through the sight…

But again, you still get a clean sight picture, and the lens is very strong and gives you great contrast.

Now you can get the RMR with either a 3.25 MOA dot reticle or a 6.5 MOA dot reticle. Personally, I prefer the 3.25 MOA dot because similar to the 2 MOA dot on the MRO…

…it gives you more precision, but is still quick and easy for your eye to pick up.    

Lens Clarity And Reticle Conclusions…

Ok so in this category we have some similarities and some major differences between these two sights. First of all, they both have a slight blue tint on their lenses…

Again, I would prefer they both be a bit more clear, but it’s not a deal breaker, and the blue tint is the same on both sights…

Now, I do prefer the 2 MOA dot reticle on the MRO over the 3.25 MOA dot on the RMR because it’s just a little bit more precise and just as fast and easy for your eye to pick up.

In addition to that, I love the 25mm objective lens on the MRO, which is obviously much larger than the lens on the RMR, because it gives you a huge field of view when you’re looking through the sight. 

So in the end, I’m going to give the win in this category to the MRO because of the more precise reticle and the much larger field of view.

Winner: Trijicon MRO

Battery Life And Brightness Settings…

Trijicon MRO

The Trijicon MRO uses 1 CR2032 battery which is able to power the sight for 5 years of continuous use (on daylight brightness setting 3)…

I love ultra long battery life like this on my red dot sights. I’ve had red dot batteries die on me in the middle of range trips and it gets pretty annoying…

…but the more important reason for have long battery life on your optic is that you can keep your sight turned on all the time so that it’s ready to go if there’s an emergency…

All you have to remember to do is swap out the battery once a year, and you can leave your sight turned on without having to worry about it dying on you. 

It keeps things simple, which I really like. Now with the MRO you get a total of 8 brightness settings… 5 daylight, 2 night vision, and 1 extra bright.

The daylight brightness settings get very bright, and you shouldn’t have any problems seeing them even on a sunny day. 

And if the conditions get really extreme, you have that extra bright setting as well. Most people won’t ever use the night vision settings…

…but some people with NV equipment will and I like that Trijicon includes them at no additional cost. 

Trijicon RMR

The RMR also uses 1 CR2032 battery which can power the sight for 4 years.  Even though that’s not quite as long as the MRO it’s still pretty impressive for battery life…

…and as I mentioned before, I like my red dot sights to have very long battery life because you can keep them turned on and ready to go all the time. 

Now the RMR has 8 daylight brightness settings, 2 night vision settings, and 1 extra bright setting. Just as with the MRO, the daylight brightness settings get very bright even on a sunny day and you still have that extra bright setting for very extreme conditions…

Again, even though most people won’t use them, I like that the 2 NV settings are included at no additional cost…

But in addition to all that, Trijicon includes an auto adjustment feature in the RMR. This feature allows the sight to adjust to whatever your lighting conditions are automatically…

I think this is a pretty cool feature, but if you’d rather control the brightness levels yourself, you can switch the optic over to manual mode pretty easily.  

Battery Life And Brightness Settings Conclusions…

Ok so in this category the MRO can run for 5 years on the same battery whereas the RMR can run for 4 years…

In terms of brightness settings I think they’re pretty on par with each other because they both have bright daylight settings, NV settings and an Extra bright setting…

And last, the RMR has the auto adjustment feature, which can be turned off if you prefer to manually control the brightness on your optic. 

This is a close one, but even though the RMR battery life is pretty good, the MRO’s battery life is better, and for me, that’s the most important feature in this category…

So I’m going to give the win here, again, to the MRO.

Winner: Trijicon MRO

Extra Accessories Included With The Optic…

Trijicon MRO 

So when you pick up an MRO you have quite a few options available. You can get the Trijicon MRO with no mount, with a factory low mount, with a lower ⅓ co witness mount, or with an absolute cowitness mount. 

The low mount will make the MRO pair nicely with a shotgun, an AK, many pistol caliber carbines, and any other firearms platforms that favor mounting your red dot low…

The lower ⅓ cowitness mount and the absolute cowitness mount are both for use with an AR-15 (or another AR platform carbine, pistol, or rifle)…

Personally, I prefer an absolute cowitness with my back up iron sights, but there are many shooters who like the lower ⅓ cowitness.

In addition to that, there are many companies making aftermarket mounts for the MRO. QD (Quick Detach) mounts, ultra light mounts, and super strong mounts are all readily available…

So if you have a mount in mind that you’d prefer over the factory mounts, I think it’s good that Trijicon gives you the option of getting the MRO with no mount for a slightly lower price… 

Trijicon RMR

Just as with the MRO, you can get the RMR with no mount, a low mount, a lower ⅓ cowitness mount or an absolute cowitness mount.

Again, the low mount will be useful if you plan on mounting the RMR on a shotgun or an AK, and the higher mounts are for use with an AR-15…

There are also many aftermarket mounts including QD mounts made for the RMR, so it shouldn’t be difficult for you to find a mounting solution no matter what type of firearm you have…

Last, if you intend to mount the RMR on a pistol slide, the RMR footprint is one of the most popular footprints out there. So again, it shouldn’t be difficult to get your optic mounted.  

Extra Accessories Conclusions…

Both the MRO and RMR can be purchased without mounts, with low mounts, and with high mounts. They’re also both very popular optics, so many companies have made aftermarket mounts for them…

I don’t see much that separates these two in this category, so I’m going to have to call this one a draw.

Winner: DRAW

Price Comparison…

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to give exact numbers in this category because the prices of these sights are changing all the time…

That being said, you’ll generally find that the MRO is around 50 to 70 bucks less expensive than the RMR. So the slight winner in this category is the Trijicon MRO.

Winner: Trijicon MRO

Trijicon MRO Vs RMR – Final Thoughts…

So to sum it all up, in the Durability and Toughness category, the MRO came out on top because it’s a larger and more robust design…

In the Lens Clarity and Reticle category, the MRO also came out on top because I prefer it’s slightly more precise 2 MOA dot reticle…

Next, in the Battery Life and Brightness Settings category, the MRO was once again the winner because it has a little bit longer battery life than the RMR…

After that, in the Extra Accessories category, I called it a draw because both sights can be purchased with a variety of mounts or no mount at all…

And last, in the Price Comparison, the MRO was the slight winner because it’s just a little bit less expensive than the RMR…

So which of these sights do I prefer? I prefer the MRO…

The MRO is an awesome optic for any tactical rifle, carbine, or shotgun… First of all it’s super tough and can handle any abuse you throw at it…

But it also has a great reticle which is fast and precise, and it’s battery life is extremely long so it’s not going to die on you. On top of all that, it’s a little less expensive than the RMR…

Now if you want a sight for your rifle, carbine, or shotgun that is super lightweight and compact OR if you want a pistol optic, then feel free to go with the RMR because it’s still a great sight…

Either way I hope this comparison was able to show you the major differences between these two awesome sights from Trijicon!