Gideon Optics has been around for a little less than two years; it's a fairly new entity as this sort thing goes and are JSD Supply’s optics division. Because the company is so new, it wasn’t until summer 2023 when it officially started the very first wave of brand-new products. One of these is the Gideon Optics Omega, a sight I’ve been shooting on-and-off since October 2023. So far, it has been featured in two different Shooting Illustrated reviews that I wrote, and know it’s time to discuss it directly.
Gideon Omega Overview
The Gideon Omega reflex sight is an open-emitter unit with a larger circular window measuring 22.3mm tall by 27mm wide at its widest axes. Visually, the Omega takes some styling cues from Trijicon’s popular SRO model, and naturally some will be curious comparing them. The “roundness” of the Omega’s window is more squat and slightly wider directly compared to the SRO’s window, which is more “circular.” Finally, Omegas are both shorter in length and height than SROs.
Omegas can be had with either red or green emitters and with reticle choices consisting of single 3-MOA dots or a combination of a 45-MOA circle with a central 3-MOA dot. It uses a CR-1632 coin battery that sits in an easy-to-reach place and requires no special tools to access. Using average settings, the battery life on the Omega can last up to 50,000 hours. Shooters can select from eight different daytime brightness settings along with two modes that are night-vision compatible. These sights have a pair of brightness adjustment buttons that sit on the left side of the base and the sight is zeroed via slotted dials found on the top of the sight base and on its right side. Omegas use the popular Trijicon RMR footprint, which is one of the pillars of the industry today.
With convenience and additional value in mind, each Omega also ships with three different pairs of screws (6-32x.374 inch, 4-40x0.25 inch, M3.5x.6x11mm) to assist with mounting along with a basic Picatinny compatible mount, a T10 wrench and an adjustment tool to dial it in.
My Experiences With The Omega
The specific Gideon Omega sight I’ve been shooting with is one of the earliest units to hit the shelf, as I first got my hands on it last October. Mine has the green 3-MOA dot, and I’ve mounted it on two different handguns and two different rifles, using an offset 45-degree mount on the rifles. Shooting-wise, I’ve shot north of 800 rounds of 9mm between the two handguns it has been mounted to while using the Omega as the primary sight. As a companion sight on that 45-degree offset mount on either carbine, it has withstood the firing of a several hundred rounds of 5.56 NATO and even more .22LR, along with the use and handling that is part and parcel to a modern carbine with a 2-point sling. My shooting experience with the Gideon Optics Omega reflex sight has consisted of training courses, self-guided practice, regular range time and local matches. From a durability standpoint, the Omega has held up quite well under normal use. I have not experienced any issues with its refresh rate or wandering zeros. The window size and form factor haven’t been issues in my ability to quickly focus on the target or transition between targets.
My chief complaint has been the maximum brightness level. I found that even at full power, the reticle was faint and hard to see in broad daylight which certainly affected my experience shooting it, especially in matches where finding the dot without even having to think about it is critical. That being said, Gideon Optics has already remedied this, as the company has gone to a more powerful emitter system. Anything you’re likely to purchase from Gideon today will be appropriately daylight bright. Prior to writing this, I’ve had the chance to not only look through newer Omega sights with other models with the upgraded emitters. The only other quibble I had with the Omega, which is extremely minor, is that I found the slots on the windage and elevation dials to be slightly narrower than what’s found on most other red-dot sights.
The Takeaway
As soon as reports of the dimmer emitters reached Gideon, the company summarily made changes to improve its sights and this speaks volumes. As a company they face stiff competition in the optics category, but their measure of proactiveness makes Gideon a company to watch. As for the Omega, it has a real world retail price of $230. With the mount and extra hardware, that’s a solid value proposition.
