Olight Osight SE Review — Game-Changing Red Dot?

Today we're taking a look at the Osight SE, and it's a different animal from the other Osights we've reviewed in a couple of big ways. First, it's a closed emitter — completely enclosed. Second, and this is the real departure: it runs a changeable CR1620 battery. Every other Osight has been rechargeable with the little charging hood, and this one operates like your Holosuns, your Sigs, your Shields. Olight is advertising up to 75,000 hours of battery life, presumably on a lower setting, it's IPX7 rated, and the housing is 7075 aircraft-grade aluminum. Super sturdy.

For the crowd that swore they'd never trust a rechargeable optic — what if it fails, what if the battery dies, yada yada — I poke fun, but there's some validity to it, and now you can swap your own batteries. Meanwhile my original Gen 1 Osight has been on a gun for over a year with zero issues: never lost zero, never died, and the charging hood makes topping it off at the nightstand stupid easy. So Olight's track record with me on these is clean.

I ran the SE on the Canik Mete MC9 Prime — funny enough, this was my first time shooting that gun too, I'd literally gotten it the day before — and it looked perfect on it. It's got my favorite reticle system, the 2 MOA dot with a 32 MOA circle. Out at the range, most Osights I've handled are almost spot-on right out of the box, and this one followed the script: I was hitting steel without touching a single adjustment. I mounted the optic and that was it.

The grouping told the story — a tight cluster on an 8-inch plate from 25 yards, just a little low and a little left, with one thrown shot that was on me and an accidental bullseye in there for good measure. The elevation adjustment is on top, windage on the side, both with really nice tactile clicks, and after a quick tweak up and to the right, it was hitting right where I looked. I didn't even have the brightness on its highest setting and the dot was clear; turned it up a notch and it was crisp even outdoors.

The honest question with any newer optic line is longevity. The Holosuns and Sigs of the world have been torture tested and battery tested to death, and the Osight line just hasn't been out that long. What I can tell you is that after more than a year on my original, I've had zero issues — no lost zero, battery lasts forever. And the checklist on this one is all there: nice battery life, super clear glass, no distortion, bright circle-dot, good housing. I don't know what else you could ask for.

Who's it for? If you wanted the Osight performance but the rechargeable thing was your holdout, this is the answer — sub-$200 MSRP for a closed emitter that hangs with optics costing more. I've run an EPS Carry on my P365 AXG Legion for a long time and love it; first impressions say this hits all those same marks.