Trijicon Tri-Power Initial Impressions.

[Chuck R.]

I got back from an exercise yesterday and found my new TX30 waiting. I bought it from CS Gunworks on “special”, the list is about $527.00. I promised a couple of you an initial review, so here it is, starting with the “good”:

The new TX30 is made of a milled piece of aluminum. The weight is about 4ozs greater than the older synthetic version. It feels like a solid piece of equipment, the optical clarity is excellent. The reticle is a red chevron with a limited range finding use. The reticle seems a very good combination of speed with precision capabilities.

The fiber optic system works great in outdoor use. The illuminated chevron increases and decreases brightness rapidly with changing light conditions. The only problem I saw was while standing in a shaded area and looking at a brightly lit white target in direct sunlight (my neighbors white garage). The chevron then washes out. This can be prevented by turning on the battery in daylight “high” mode. I played with the un-mounted sight for two days, and the fiber optic covered about 98% of the conditions I was in. I tried looking from inside to outside, and outside to inside, and in all cases I could see the reticle. We had a briefing in the post theater today and I took it along to see how it would work indoors with the lighting conditions. The theater was partially lit, and I had no problem seeing the reticle. The bottom line was if you have light, you have a lit chevron and it is sharp.

The battery back-up (or maybe night-time primary) works well. The controls are simple, and they work as advertised. The reticle is very clear and precise until cranked up to daytime maximum, then it blurs a little. The batteries have a 110 + or - hour battery life. Considering my intended use, the battery life is a non-issue for me, about 99% of my shooting will be in the daylight using the fiber optics. Even during the longest nights 12-14 hrs, it’s about 9 days of continuous use. I think there will be very few instances when the batteries will be needed during day time.

Now the cons:

The night time tritium illumination was not so hot. In fact, it was bad. After allowing my eyes to adjust to dark (10-15 minutes), both inside and outside, I still had serious problems seeing the tritium illuminated reticle. I’ve read on another board that the tritium system was dimmed in this newer model to be compatible with NV devises. If that’s true and my sight is “typical”, the tritium is useless without NV. The owner’s manual and literature says that the tritium provides a “vivid” aiming point, so maybe it depends on your definition of “vivid”. To me, it’s not vivid, it’s hardly visible.

Also, my unit also had what I think is a defect in that the chevron has a noticeable 15-20 degree cant to the left. I spoke with a customer service rep and he said to send it back ASAP, both the cant and dim tritium weren’t considered “normal”. So now it’s on its way back to Trijicon to be checked out for the chevron cant and tritium illumination.

I’ll post a follow up when I receive the unit back. Hopefully it will include a positive customer service review.

Chuck

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Also worth noting if you plan on using this sight in a night-vision environment is that activating the battery power (even with the cover over the fiber optic) will cause a bright glow to shine from underneath the cover when viewed through NODS.

 

[Chuck R.]

Also worth noting if you plan on using this sight in a night-vision environment is that activating the battery power (even with the cover over the fiber optic) will cause a bright glow to shine from underneath the cover when viewed through NODS.

Yup, the fiber optic works both ways. If you use the daylight settings without the cover on, you can see the glow with your naked eye.

Chuck

 

[SpookyPistolero]

Thanks much for the review, I've been waiting to see how this would turn out. And do let us know what it looks like upon return. Sounds pretty decent.

 

[Chuck R.]

Well, my Tri-Power made it back today, 20 days total. Reticle cant has been repaired. The note with the scope stated that the Tritium was within spec and functioning as designed.

I mounted the scope to my DSA SA-58 with a new Larue mount, and out into the dark I went. There’s a half moon tonight and a clear sky so it’s pretty bright in some areas. With the fiber optic cap off, the reticle is clearly visible. It’s kind of amazing how much light the fiber system picks up. The reticle is about one or two steps dimmer than the lowest battery setting.

With the cap on, Tritium only, the reticle is still visible, not “vivid” but visible enough to shoot in the dark. When aiming at lighted areas, it does washout some, but that’s where the batteries come in. Other than street lighted areas or lighted windows, the Tritium seems to work pretty well.

I can only surmise that I didn’t give it enough of a test when I first got it. Either that, or having the scope mounted on the rifle helps your eye “find” the reticle. It still doesn’t look “vivid” like the literature describes, but it is usable.

I’ll probably zero it at my range this weekend.

Chuck

 

[spacemanspiff]

up here in the land of snow, daytime shooting can be frustrating with my first gen tri-power. i'm hoping for at least some improvement in the reticles visibility against bright white backgrounds.

my theory about why the acogs dont wash out as easily is that the acogs reticle is (i dont know how else to describe it) 'fixed', as in, it shows up as black if theres no light for the fiberoptic to pick up. and since the tri-power was designed to be used either up close or as long eye relief, trijicon couldnt use the exact same reticle.

and now i'm debating between the new tri-power and the uber-tactical ta31-rco. decisions decisions....

 

[Chuck R.]

spacemanspiff,

I went out and zero’d it today, 9 shots total (3 adjust, 3, then 3 confirm), I love it when I read the directions and things come together.

My range has overhead cover, so the fiber optic was drawing less light than the target area. I shot at both 50 and 100 yards and the reticle showed up fine without the batteries. Accuracy was slightly better than the irons, about 1.5 –2” groups at 100.

We’re forecasting some snow for the weekend. I’ll take it out then and let you know what I think. It does washout some on my neighbors white garage when I’m in the shade. IF the sight is in as well a lit area as the tgt, it seems to do fine.

Chuck

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

spacemanspiff, the ACOG reticle is etched into the glass and the tritium illumination supplements it. The upside is you always have a usable reticle. The downside is it is subject to parallax like any other magnified optic (though no parallax in the vertical plane).

On the Tripower, it has extended eye relief and parallax-free sighting; but the price for that is no etched reticle. So when the lighting is less than optimal, instead of a black reticle, you get no reticle.

 

[Chuck R.]

spacemanspiff,

After two days of playing with it off and on in the snow, it works pretty well. I checked it out in the following conditions:

Overcast with snow; the reticle was very visible. Even from inside near the window, it didn’t wash out.

Darkness with snow; worked as well, maybe a little better than without snow due to the eatra ambient light.

Sunlight in snow; it is very bright, no washout problems. I tested it while standing in the shade, and sighting out into the bright light and it still worked. The only thing close to “washout” was my neighbors white garage in bright sun, while I was standing in the shade. Even then I could still make out the reticle.

It looks as though as long as the sight and target areas have the same illumination, the fiber optics works great. The only problems I could see were when going from a shaded area into a bright lit/bright background area. Turning on the battery would eliminate this in short order though.

So far, I’m pretty impressed with it.

Hope this helps,

Chuck

 

[Thin Black Line]

Thanks for the review. I was stuck between chosing the Reflex II and
the Tri-Power just over a year ago.

Interesting note on the tritium cant you had as I observed something
similar in my Relfex II (one with the mini cyalume backup). I wrote it
off as an imperfect carry handle mount and headed off on deployment.
(Sorry I can't review the RII in the sandbox for you since I ended up
with some different weapons altogether when I got there!).

Very slight cant aside, I've had a couple chances since I've been back
in the US to shoot outside in the snow w/ the RII and have been very
impressed with it's brightness in the daytime. It is extremely bright at
night. I've had no problem finding the amber chevron reticle in the snow
on overcast days, but I would probably have to use the haze filter on
a bright sunny day out on a flat snowy field.

I will probably live with the cant as it hasn't affected my shooting since
my bullet placement is at the very tip of the chevron. My eyes are old
and I don't plan on using it for targets past 200 yds BTW, the carry
handle mount does NOT allow you to insert the cylume sticks. A flat
top mount would, though.