TFB Review: Viridian Weapon Technologies Closed Emitter Optics

The market for weapon lights and optics has become flooded with domestic and foreign products. When a manufacturer is organic to the United States, it is always well received, but when the products are engineered and manufactured domestically with some overseas manufacturing, it is a noteworthy achievement. Viridian Weapon Technologies' weapon optics and other accessories are nearly completely indigenous from start to finish, with a small part of their production overseas to keep costs down. The green machine is draped in red, white, and blue.

Who is Viridian

Viridian Weapon Technologies started in 2006, focused on domestically engineered and assembled lasers and lights. As the company grew in size and reputation, the logical path led toward optics. Today, Viridian has a large swath of choices in lasers, lights, and weapon optics. As the privately owned business grew, so did its reputation; with the onset of bespoke weapon-specific lights and lasers, the company offered universal products to their growing inventory alongside its model-specific products. The optics being examined in this article are the RFX44 and RFX45 closed emitter micro dots.

RFX 44 & RFX 45

The RFX 44 and 45 are closed emitter, low-profile green dot weapon sights. This optics duo is unique compared to many of the weapon sights in the “micro dot” optics realm, utilising state-of-the-art technology and years of end-user feedback. These two optics are as at home on a pistol as they are mounted directly to rifles or running as a secondary optic.

The closed emitter micro dot optics market has become commonplace for both civilian and professional use. Long gone is the belief that weapon optics have to use massive objective windows, and the designs push to offer small, robust, and effective weapon sights that can operate reliably in all conditions while retaining a user-friendly interface and being as at home in low light as well-lit environments.

What is Common

Mini or micro weapon sights are not a new phenomenon, but the closed emitter variation has become more desirable for end users anticipating harsh and wet environments. The RFX 44 & 45 are mini and micro sights that embody a basic shared design with a few differences. With the intent of being a pistol-mounted weapon sight first, the now common Acro footprint was chosen, given the market prominence and choice by professionals nationally and globally. The clamp-on design and interface provide rapid attachment and detachment with excellent repeatability, and the footprint has found itself to be used as both primary and secondary optics on rifles for all uses.

The RFX 44 & 45 have the “lunch box” or square appearance, lending their design to be impact-resistant while being fast to index. This design focuses more on effective use and durability than aesthetics and weight. Another smart design is the top-mounted battery compartment. By choosing this approach to battery location, it allows rapid access to the battery without compromising the zero on the optic. Another design cue was to move the emitter from the bottom of the optic to the top, located with the battery. This allows the RFX 44 &45 to maintain a lower-mounted profile. On a pistol, this equates to improved co-witness of iron sights and on a rifle, slightly lower height over bore. In both cases, this provides a better solution regardless of how the optics are mounted.

The shape of each is nearly identical, with the front and rear windows being treated for improved performance and sealed and pressurised to ensure flawless operation in every environment. The shape at the front of the optics is tapered, with the top protruding further out than the bottom in the front to assist with shading and rain. This attention to detail is greatly appreciated, given that I have shot in heavy rain, and any attempt to assist with rain on the front is an improvement. The illumination controls are side-mounted and tactile, with 8 visible and 2 night vision selections. Both the RFX 44 & 45 run on a single CR2032 with an estimated 50,000-hour operation. Optic reticles for both are the trademark green with a 5-MOA dot. 

What is Different

The differences between the two optics are minimal. The primary difference between the RFX 44 & 45 is the window and width of the optic housing. The RFX 44 has an overall shorter footprint and total length, coupled with a slightly narrower width than that of the RFX 45. It’s the window that leaves individuals deciding. The RFX 44 window is narrower but slightly taller, fitted for a slimmer pistol frame like the Glock 43x, while the RFX 45 has a slightly shorter window height but noticeably wider, intended for full-size slide width. This leaves the end user deciding what best suits their needs.

Application of Use

The use of the RFX 44 & 45 on a pistol is a no-brainer, but its other uses showcase some excellent ideas. The choice of the Acro footprint leaves the optics able to readily interface with pre-existing optics mounts without the necessity of an adapter plate in numerous cases. For example, the Swampfox Kraken, while an excellent closed emitter optic and in direct competition with both the Acro and RFX optics, has its own proprietary footprint and necessitates the use of an adapter plate.

The RFX optics, despite their minor size difference, still share the exact same Acro footprint, allowing either to mount onto rifles or optics. In my case, I mounted the slightly smaller but taller RFX 44 on a 12 o’clock Midwest Industries 34mm ring to support my Vortex AMG 1-10 LVPO. This slightly taller top-mounted secondary optic provides an excellent optic if magnification is dialled in for spotting target area, reflexive fire at close range, and passive co-witness with night vision. The robust housing and construction, coupled with long battery life and NV setting, provide an amazing optics package for a day/night defensive and offensive fighting rifle. I mounted this optics package on my Midwest Industries Combat HD 16” precision fighting rifle. I keep a Zenitco Perst 4 day/night laser on the front with a Witt Machine and Tool TuTuThree direct thread suppressor. This package provides an extremely well-thought-out fighting rifle that, with the Criterion Core barrel and MI precision trigger, makes this weapon as at home at 600 meters as it is at 25 meters.

Incidentally, I mounted the RFX 45 onto a Midwest Industries MK2 lower 1/3 co-witness Acro mount. The combination keeps the package light with a small footprint on my AEA Perun X16 PDW. The 8” 5.56 PDW is lightweight, low impulse, with a day/night light laser combination device coupled with the Viridian RFX 45 and an offset thermal for scanning. This package provides a compact truck gun that can be easily concealed in a small bag and employed even inside a smaller vehicle for manoeuvring. This creates a fast, light, and highly manoeuvrable package that can defend in constricted environments and still reach out reliably to 200 meters if need be; soft armor and light barriers are easily overcome, and the small Viridian RFX 45 doesn’t conflict with the much larger thermal optics at the 45-degree offset.

The optics are extremely daylight bright, with the dot easy to index and manipulate. The long battery life, combined with shake awake technology, provides instant use when needed but saves your insurance policy for when required. The optics look amazing, and the robust appearance is a welcome addition to any professional gun “vibe”. With the cost being $300 less than an Acro, there is sure to be a few smaller drawbacks if you are conducting a 30K AGL HALO jump into the Gulf of America and patrolling into the jungles of Central or South America hunting NARCO Terrorists; but for us civilians the chances of seeing a true need for those extenuating circumstances may be not worth paying the extra $300 for nearly the same optic over all. Brand names aside, this becomes more a matter of being a brand-name buyer rather than a mindful one.

Conclusion

The Viridian RFX 44 & 45 are a domestically designed and manufactured closed emitter micro dot optic designed to handle the worst of conditions with maximum performance and a price point made to attract professionals and private citizens alike. The current state of more modestly priced domestic and foreign optics has come a significant distance. I commonly say that the price point has caught up to the technology. There are so many well-produced optics that simply do not cost the same as some of the industry legends, and with the lifetime warranties, proven track records, and performance, companies like Viridian are making a strong name for themselves and their products.