TFB Review: Meprolight MPO-F Open Emitter Pistol Sight

The Meprolight MPO-F is an open-emitter pistol sight with an RMR footprint. It was designed for a full-sized handgun in the USA and is made in the Philippines.

MEPROLIGHT was nice enough to send one out for a review. I’ve reviewed the optic for a few weeks and will give you an unbiased write-up of my findings. We’ll talk about some issues I ran into with it and compare it to a Holosun407 at the end of the article.

Specs and Features

Specs: MPO-F

3 MOA Red Dot, with a selectable 33 MOA Circle/ Dot configurationRMR footprint20,000 plus hour battery life

Features: MPO-F

Automatic / Manual Brightness AdjustmentShake AwakeBattery, hardware, tools, and cleaning cloth includedIPX7 WaterproofMEPROGUARD WarrantyFog proof

Package

The MPO-F comes in a nice box, with a few extras. It comes packaged with a tool to assist in installing the optic. The tool is a combo screwdriver that has a Torx bit to help install the optic mounting screws on one end, and a small retractable flathead screwdriver on the other end to use for the windage and elevation adjustments. In the box are 3 sets of screws, for different optic mounting scenarios. The screws have pre-applied Loctite. A cleaning cloth and a good instruction manual are also included. I would apply just a dab of removable Loctite to the screws if I had a tube available, but the Loctite included on the screws would probably hold. Also, I would install the optic with a torque wrench, but the included tool is adequate to install the red dot sight if you don’t already have a torque wrench and bit. Note, that the optic does not come with a Picatinny mount.

Features

The optic comes with all the features you would want in a modern red dot pistol sight. It includes both an up and down brightness control. It has a side-mounted battery tray, which means you can remove and reinstall the battery without having to remove the optic. The optic offers an automatic brightness control, with a front-facing brightness sensor. You can manually adjust the brightness as well, and the buttons feel nice. The optic offers a choice of three different reticles. You can choose between dot only, circle only, or dot/circle combo. Note, that the bottom of the circle is not fully closed, which is pretty common for pistol red dot sights. Personally, these are my favorite reticle options. You can choose the red dot-only setting for precision shots, and if you want a larger reticle to pick up a little easier on the draw, you have that option as well. I carry a pistol with the same type of reticle options and leave it on the circle-only option because it’s a little bit more forgiving if you draw and haven’t dry-fired in a while. Your reticle option is saved, so it should be on the same setting when you pick the gun back up.

The optic has shake awake as well. This means that you can put the optic down, and the reticle will turn off to save battery life. When you pick the optic back up, the optic will sense the motion and turn back on.

On Meprolight’s website, they claim the MPO-F is engineered to be sleek and low profile to reduce snags and allow for a quicker draw. I think I’d agree with this sentiment. The battery tray sits flush inside the body of the optic, and the optic has a pretty well-rounded/ shaved feel. The optic window looks to be a pretty decent size, while not being as large as a competition optic. It’s a good sweet spot of a window size, where the window is big enough to feel confident in seeing the dot on the draw, while not being super tall. The deck height on the optic is also relatively low, and there are backup iron sights milled into the optic body, which is nice.

Compatibility

I have a Glock 19 that was custom-milled for a Holosun 407. It was milled by Maple Leaf Firearms, and I think they did a really good job. Unfortunately, the MPO-F did not fit my milled Glock. Maple Leaf does such a good job at milling a deep and tight pocket, that the slight overhang of the MPO-F made the optic not fit. I don’t consider this to be the fault of the milling company or the optic manufacturer, my gun was milled to perform the best with one specific optic, and the MPO-F was just off enough that it wouldn’t work with my firearm. I’m sure the MPO-F would most likely work with the Glock MOS system or any pistol optic system that uses plates. I’m sure it would have worked if I had sent my Glock with the MPO-F to the milling company as well. My optic pocket was just a little bit too deep for the MPO-F because it wasn’t milled with this optic in mind.

I have a Beretta 92 optic plate, and this optic would’ve worked just fine with it. Unfortunately, I don’t have the Beretta 92 in hand at the moment. I mounted the MPO-F to a Meprolight Picatinny rail mount and mounted it on an MP5 clone for this review. The Meprolight Picatinny rail mount comes included with their MPO-DF, which is a more budget-friendly optic option.

Performance

I looked through the optic in various lighting conditions, did some dry fire practice with the optic, and shot a box of ammo through the MP5 clone with the optic attached. I would have loved to do a more serious torture test, but time was short, and it was also on a PCC.

At home in my office, I noticed I would sometimes see the ghost of the dot in the optic window when the brightness was up too high. It didn’t create a true double-dot, but did show as a reflection of the red dot reticle in the optic window. I also noticed when the dot-only reticle was selected, you could sometimes catch a glimpse of a shadow of the circle reticle option. In some lighting conditions, the dot was nice and crisp. In other conditions, the dot looked a little blurry, and in some conditions, the dot would have traces of a red circle, and a little shadow around it that kind of looked like the James Bond Spectre logo, where it looked kind of like it was bleeding.

At the range and while dry firing, the dot issues weren’t concerning because I was focusing on the target. I think if you’re running and gunning and shooting, it’s probably not noticeable. I just noticed it and I know some people care about the crispness of the dot reticle, so I wanted to include that if that’s important to you.

The automatic brightness adjustment worked pretty well. I used a flashlight in a dark room and shined the flashlight both toward and away from the optic. When the flashlight was shined toward the optic, the optic pretty much instantaneously increased in brightness to a level that allowed the dot to be seen despite the flashlight glaring into the optic. The brightness can also be turned up to a blinding level manually. I aimed the optic out of a dark room into the outside on a nice sunny day with the automatic brightness adjustment on. I noticed when I was in a dark shadow, the optic might stay a little bit too dim to see the reticle as clearly as I liked when aiming at an object in full sun. I guess maybe the best course of action is to use the auto mode at night, and the manual mode during the day.

I poured some water on the optic to see if it was truly waterproof. It held up fine, and I didn’t have any issues.

The glass on the optic is very clear and distortion-free. It does not have the fish bowl/ fish eye effect. The objects along the edges of the optic housing look true to life and aren’t distorted. The optic is also a pretty good size. I usually switch between Glocks and other handguns. If I shoot any other handgun for a length of time, then switch back to the Glock, the nose of the Glock is usually a little bit high on presentation and I have to remember to push the nose down. This optic window is a little bit taller, so it’s more forgiving in this situation. The tint on the glass is good as well.

The optic performed fine in dry firing and live firing of 50rds. I removed it and reinstalled it, and the screw heads held up just fine. I think it’s important to note, Meprolight is a company that has been around since the 1990s. According to their website, they were “founded as the primary red dot sight, sighting system, and battle optic supplier to the Israel Defence Force (IDF).”(https://www.meprolight.com/vision-mission/) Their website mentions quality control is a very high priority for them. All this to say, I don’t think Meprolight is a fly-by-night operation or a company that is just slapping its name on cheapo red dot optics. They look to stand behind their product, and I think this optic would probably do pretty well long term.

Aesthetics

I like the matte black coating on the optic. The optic itself isn’t flashy or glossy. I like the muted logo. The backup gutter sights milled in the optic are a nice touch. It has a white backup aiming reference in the middle of the gutter sights. This aiming reference is described as a “phosphorescent tertiary aiming reference mark” in the manual. It’s a piece of phosphorescent material that I believe is inlaid into the body of the optic, that glows in the dark when charged with a flashlight and acts as a backup aiming reference. It’s not crude paint, it looks like it was done well. There is no logo on the left side of the optic, just a small model number. It’s not meant to stand out, which is what I want for a pistol optic.

The bezel around the optic glass is pretty thick, and I think it would probably hold up to a drop or two on the concrete.

Comparison to Holosun

I have the Holosun 407A3. I believe it’s just a bare-bones version of the 407C. It’s one of the cheapest Holosun red dot sights they make. I’m not comparing MSRPs, I just have the Holosun in hand, and I think a lot of people would want to compare these two.

The reticle on the Holosun is a little bit better than the MPO-F and gets a little bit brighter. Note, that this Holosun does not have multi-reticle options, but some do.

Holosun may be one of the most popular red dot sight manufacturers at the moment, and the general consensus is they are very reliable. Meprolight red dot pistol optics are newer to the market, but the company boasts about complying with stricter quality standards.

Both seem to be pretty good optics.

My thoughts and opinions

I like the optic. I think there are some pros and cons to this sight, but I think it is splitting hairs. The glass is nice and clear. The choice of reticle options is a great pro. I think there are just enough reticle options. If there were any more, it may be a chore to cycle through them. The optic is intuitive to use. You hold down the down brightness button to choose a reticle and hold down the up brightness button to change between auto-brightness or manual brightness. You tap the up or down button in manual brightness mode to adjust brightness manually. The auto-brightness mode is very usable, as long as you are not pointing from a dark room into a super bright area.

I don’t think the reticle itself is perfect, and I think I’m getting some reflections from the emitter on the glass in certain scenarios, but I think it’s usable. I don’t have astigmatism, and most other red dots look pretty good to me. I’m not saying the reticle on this sight is bad, I’m just saying I’ve seen better reticles. It probably takes a ridiculous amount of nerding out to notice the difference, and it probably won’t even be noticeable on the range.

The optic is not made in China, which is a pro in itself. I think it’s not good for one country to manufacture all of the red dot sights. It’s nice there are options to diversify. I’m sure for some this is a huge selling point.

For now, I’m going to leave it on my MP5 clone. I shoot my MP5 clone for fun at the range and occasionally compete in local matches or steel challenge matches with it. This optic is a nice little addition that enhances the experience.

I wouldn’t have any issues with the optic on a pistol, PCC, or rifle for home defense or carry use. I would shoot about 500 rounds through it to make sure it’s good to go, just as I would with any other optic.

The Meprolight MPO-DF can be located here: Mepro MPO-F – Meprolight

Meprolight’s YouTube channel can be found here: Meprolight – YouTube

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