The Sig Romeo 5 optic is a fantastic budget optic. It is inexpensive and most importantly, works well. I have purchased a couple of these optics and have been favorably impressed by them. Currently I am reviewing a M1 Carbine from Fulton Armory. Wanting to evaluate it with an optic, I ordered a Romeo 5. I ended up with a counterfeit Sig Romeo 5, and thought I would share what I learned.
This is just a quick little PSA to let you know that counterfeits of this popular optic are out there. If I hadn’t needed to mount directly to an Aimpoint footprint, I probably would have never noticed and could have excused all the defects I did notice. My apologies in advance; I was not a good documentarian and did not take enough photos. I was in a hurry to get the optic on the gun and get going with my review…then I was in a hurry to get it back and get a replacement. Mea culpa.
Counterfeit Sig Romeo 5: Clue #1
Amazon offers a number of Sig Romeo 5 Variations. Most are slight branding differences like the “Tread” version. I chose the cheapest one, at $106. This was only about $20 cheaper than the other versions, but hey, twenty bucks is twenty bucks, am I right? Additionally, I failed to check the seller: “Home Inspiree” does not sound like the name of a company selling tactical optics.
Some of you will blast me for ordering optics from Amazon in the first place. Honestly, I’ve historically had great luck and I will buy optics from Amazon again in the future.
Clue #2: Outer Packaging
The second clue something was amiss was the packaging the optic arrived it. It was in a cheap cardboard box that was too large for the smaller optic box inside. There was no bubble wrap or packing pager. And the box was damaged. And unlike most products on Amazon, it took several days to arrive. I was frustrated, but chalked it up to being a spoiled American expecting everything “right now!”
Clue #3: Unsealed Box
When I removed the box from the outer packaging I immediately noticed it was unsealed. Although I could not remember how, I know previous boxes have been sealed in some way. Upon receiving my replacement optic I verified this. Genuine Sig optics are sealed with a holographic sticker. At this point, alarm bells are ringing.
Clue #4: The Battery
Upon opening the box it was apparent something was wrong. First, the battery was already in the battery compartment, which is strange. The genuine optic ships with a battery stored separately, with a sticker over one of the contacts. I thought maybe I had gotten a model that had been returned, which absolutely happens. Additionally, while genuine Sig optics ship with Energizer or Panasonic batteries, this was an off-brand I’d never heard of.
Clue #5: The Optic Itself
Next, the tint on the objective lens was green, while the genuine Romeo 5 has a red tint. To be completely honest, I didn’t even notice this at the time, however, I did notice it in the photos when putting this article together.
What I did, in fact notice was the footprint. The Sig Romeo 5 has a Aimpoint Micro footprint: a screw hole on each corner, and a cutout for a recoil lug horizontally across the middle of the optic body. I noticed it lacked the recoil lug cut upon removing the optic from its AR-height riser. This prevented the optic from sitting in the Aimpoint mount on the Ultimak M6 Rail. By the way, Ultimak was a pleasure to deal with and I’ll address that more fully in the carbine review.
BOLO: Sig Counterfeit Romeo 5 Optics
Nothing major here; I’ll get my money back. If I hadn’t needed a direct-mount, I would have been stuck with a subpar optic, though, so I wanted to give you all a heads up that this is a thing. Again, I wish I had more photos of the bad optic, and again, I apologize. The genuine optic is on the M1 Carbine now, and I’ll update this article with pics of its mounting footprint when it comes off.
Stay dangerous!
