I’m not the most technical of gun writers. My ballistic ignorance and general aversion to breaking down a gun is a source of constant wonder to Jon Wayne Taylor. Which is why I stick to political and personal defense stories, and take a long time to write gun reviews.
Still, I like technical stuff. Human ingenuity is intriguing. So when Laura Burgess marketing sent a story about the development of the Isreali Lt. Col. (Ret) Mikey Hartman’s MH1 Reflex Sight [after the jump] I was in like Flynn. I’m not entirely convinced, but I like the way Mr. Hartman thinks!
Over to you, gear heads: $650 for the unit and $49.95 for the remote control strap. Worth the coin?
The Top IDF Marksman Sets His Sights on Building World Class Sight Systems
In some companies, it is the marketing department that typically “develops” new products based upon voids found in customer research. Typically. But the firearms industry is not typical. Trends are not created to satisfy fashion needs or fill the latest technology vacuum. New products in the firearms industry are often created by users, whether they are on a shooting range wondering why a particular gun is not ringing steel or in the heat of combat when the “I could really use this right now” can mean the difference between life and death.
Sights are one of those product categories that unfortunately don’t often receive the attention they truly deserve from manufacturers. Often companies making guns or gear add sights to complement their brand with little thought to just how important a sight is to the user. It can make or break a competition, and it can save or lose a mission.
Mikey Hartman knows that full well. Growing up in southern California, most boys dream of surfing and girls. Mikey dreamed of joining the Israel Defense Forces and becoming a sniper. Through determination and focus, Mikey not only made it to Israel and joined the IDF at the impressionable age of 19, he quickly became Israel’s IDF shooting champion and as a young lieutenant in the IDF, he led the army’s marksmanship unit, and built the instructors course, as well as writing the entire IDF shooting doctrine.
After two decades and some half a million IDF soldiers trained under his watchful eye, Mikey retired from the IDF as Lieutenant Colonel, but his passion for training soldiers and helping them improve their shooting skills didn’t go away, if anything it grew stronger. As a consultant to the military and to security groups worldwide, Mikey became an entrepreneur and started companies focused on bringing the latest battlefield technologies to warriors, law enforcement and citizens across the globe.
After implementing most of the shooting weapon systems into the IDF during his 22 year career, it’s safe to say Mikey knew a thing or two about sighting systems and just how critical they are to the success of any mission. Mikey put several years of research and development into a sighting system that would shake up the industry and perfect the many flaws he saw with the current sights on the market.
Mikey tested his innovative sight under brutal conditions, adjusted, obsessed, readjusted and then retested it again and again, until finally he released his perfection, known as the Hartman MH1 Reflex Sight, out into the world. The MH1 sight is designed with the military, law enforcement, security personnel or the responsible civilian shooter in mind.
It offers multiple firsts: one being the largest field of view through the sight and the only wireless remote-controlled sight on the market, another innovation is the ability for the operator to customize the MH1 in a variety of options and finally, a very important feature, the MH1 resolves one of the number one complaints with electronic gear – battery life.
Hartman MH1 Reflex Sight
“The MH1 is completely designed with the user in mind. Your ultimate goal in a combat situation is getting the job done and the MH1’s features are designed to make sure your mission succeeds and you stay alive,” Mikey explained. “Every feature is benefit oriented, from the large window that allows for extremely quick target acquisition, which we all know is critical during the stress of combat, to the wireless remote control that allows you to quickly adjust your sight without taking your eyes off the enemy or your hand off your rifle.”
“The optics are very important in a battle sight,” Mikey added. “Our MH1 reflex sight, with its intricate internal mechanical collimating system, has allowed our team to adjust the distance between the LED and the aspheric lens to produce near ‘0’ parallax, resulting in increased accuracy. The reticle always stays on target regardless of where the shooter’s eye location is in the large window.”
One of the options available with the MH1 is something Mikey calls the PTT strap. “The Push-To-Transmit wireless remote control strap is very unique and allows the operator to activate the sight and control the brightness levels of the reticle, all without disengaging his supporting arm from the weapon, reducing his reaction time and keeping focused on the threat.”
MH1 Sight
“One of the biggest complaints any sight user will tell you is that there is never enough battery power and you can’t get it when you need it,” Mikey said. “Not only is it mission critical to have power when you need it, it is just as important to preserve power when you don’t. The MH1 does the thinking for you. The MH1 sleep mode and dual 30 degree motion sensors only activate the sight when a shooting movement occurs, preserving battery life. Also, the sight charges using a USB rechargeable battery that can be plugged into any wall socket, computer or lighter.
For back-up, the MH1 uses a single CR123 battery, just in case.”
“I have spent a majority of three decades training soldiers for combat and I feel I have a unique understanding of what the true shooter needs,” Mikey concluded. “The MH1 Reflex Sight is feature loaded, and every feature has a specific benefit to the operator. This sight will give the operator confidence, increase his overall accuracy, putting more rounds on target faster.”
Having been developed from the mind-set of the user instead of an engineer, several features of the MH1 are specific to the user needs, such as the ability to customize the user interface. Many of the MH1’s features can be customized for various sleep mode activation time, reticle brightness levels, motion sensors and others. The MH1 sight rear panel is designed to allow user easy access to engage the activation buttons, even when a magnifier or NVD is mounted directly behind the sight. A first-of-it-kind accurate reticle design was created to add accuracy using balancing lines and a range distance estimator.
Hartman Ltd. is the latest company started by the industrious and legendary marksman that is Mikey Hartman and the MH1 is the first product to roll off the production line. The MH1 Reflex Sight will make its official debut at the 2016 SHOT Show in Las Vegas at Booth # 12571. The sight is available for sale on the CAA-USA website.
“We are already working on developing a sight for sharpshooters and another for handguns,” Mikey said. “I see it as my honor to get the best reflex sight into the true user’s hands allowing them to get home safely to their families.”
See the MH1 in action on YouTube. Join the conversation on Facebook.
About Hartman Ltd.:
Hartman Ltd., a design and manufacturer of innovative optics located in Israel was co-founded by Lt. Col. (Ret.) Mikey Hartman of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). Hartman trained over half a million IDF soldiers in his remarkable 20 year command of the IDF Marksmanship and Sharpshooting School. Hartman Ltd.’s MH1 Reflex sight is the first optic developed solely for serious military, law enforcement and shooting sports enthusiasts. www.hartman-il.com
When I first saw the picture, I thought the guy was balancing a metal rod on the end of his rifle for some odd reason. Upon closer inspection, I realized there was a metal post in the background that just happened to be at the end of the barrel.
The IDF is so hardcore, they decided that the balancing a dime on the barrel wasn’t sufficient for practicing trigger squeeze.
LOL !!!!
“Worth the coin?”
Well, if you treat your precision electronic optics like the guy in the video – covering it with sand and immersing it in water, then maybe.
Otherwise, I’d rather drop $700 on another gun or more ammo.
+1
In an emergency, you can only carry/shoot one rifle at a time. What good will having 5 or 10 more (cheap) ones around that you can’t carry/shoot compared to having quality hardware attached to that one rifle that you ARE using? He who dies with the most guns, still dies.
I don’t know, if you can arm 5 to 10 people with your other rifles you stand a better chance than with a bunch of stuff on yours and no friends.
Because you can’t get good hardware for cheaper?
+++1
In an emergency, your $700 electronic gizmo will be in your safe with the rest of your guns.
I wish I had a spare $700 I would love to have one.
Very feature rich. Concerned about size and weight though, especially since a few of these features while nice are definitely in the ‘nice to have but not needed’ arena, like the USB charging mechanism and other USB functionalities for instance. A decontented version in the $400-500 area would probably sell better on the civilian market.
don’t know about that. you can hook up a cheap solar recharger, one of them battery packs, or a combo of the two and go out for an extended amount of time.
This^
I love USB rechargeable items. My phone, flashlight, rifle light, lighter, can all be recharged with the same power cord, battery pack, or solar charger. Adding rifle sight to the list is something I have wanted for a while.
Or you could just get a solar AA recharger, and run any of the numerous red dots and scopes that use AA batteries. It makes more sense, anyway – you can have one battery in the charger while the other is in your gun.
I got one of the SeeAll sights and have never looked back. $100. No paralax,No Batteries. And is 1/4 the size. But you can’t shoot Zombie Commies in the pitch black. You have to have some light.
Actually…. Go to Ebay or wherever, and find some strontium aluminate powder. This is the super glow in the dark stuff. Get one of the bright greens, they are usually the brightest and longest lasting. Now carefully pour the powder down into the hole in the Fiber Optic Block, the one that goes through to the screw for the sight block. Fill it with this powder AFTER you have the sight zeroed. Then cut a very small circle of the clear packing tape and put it over the hole filled with GITD powder. The clear tape allows light to recharge it and it provides just enough light for about an hour or two of shooting after a “charge” with a flashlight…
You could fill it with epoxy mixed with the SA GITD, but then you have no elevation adjustment… this way you can do adjustments. For the most part, $3 will get you a lifetime supply of the powder from ebay or wherever.
Good luck, and I like my See All Open Sight as well….
Thanks. Good idea. I love the little sight. I’ve got mine on my HD/Zombie//Turkey hunting shotgun.(MKA-1919XN) Perfect for a shotgun. Would be fantastic on my M1 carbine or any carbine for that matter.
Interesting. I’d never heard of these. Think I’ll give one a try after the holidays.
Not many people have, there is a review on here. Recoil dosen’t seem to be a problem as I’m using it on a 12ga semi-auto. Shooting 3 in mag turkey loads. Other red dots/scopes rattled and fell off / loose or broke. Two things i don’t like about it – No click on adjustment and the securing screws go down into the rail instead of on the sides. Also if your rail is NOT spec it will be a chore to put on. Very tight tolarance. If you call you can speak to a real amercian (the people who build them and sell em’ answer the phone) and it is 100% made in the USA with a real warr. The logo has been removed from the sight picture. I’ll be getting another to put on something…….
A tritium-illuminated SeeAll appears to be on the near-term horizon…
There is a new product alert in my planner for SHOT Show for the tritium powered “See All Nite” so I’ll be checking it out in a few weeks. Going to be trying to get a T&E unit sent to a friend that writes for a major publication.
hmm. Now i have a viable replacement for that EOTech sight I was planning on picking up next year. Is it even available yet?
That’s the sugar booger. Sexy as an Israeli model…no?
I am pretty sure I missed it, but I didn’t see anything about battery life in any of the modes, POI shift due to temperature (ala EO Tech).
On the website they do mention a 2 MOA reticle and that it weighs 13 (thirteen) oz.
Would like to see a review on the nuts and bolts of it, but for $650 how does it compare with any AimPoint? With no other info, at that price, I would stick with a new or used AimPoint or a Vortex Sparc 2.
13 oz for a sight is a bit much. That’s 2 oz heavier than my (now returned) EXPS3 and more than three times the weight of a T1 micro. Harking back to the P229 vs G19 debate, 9 oz is not an insignificant weight difference. (Especially when it’s on your rifle.)
13oz for a 1X, and there’s not even a tube to protect the beam from obstruction
$650 for the unit and $49.95 for the remote control strap. Worth the coin?
Yes, but only if they throw in the gun.
Other things aside, I wish I could disable any feature I want, like, keep the thing constant on, block wireless transmission against interference, keep 2 NV settings and 3 daylight settings only, and hope the programs don’t screw up the sight when the CPU gets damaged.
The smart wakeup is really important to me. For those that keep rifles as truck guns or handy for home defense… turning on an optic wastes a ton of valuable time.
I think Holosun also does this with their 500 series optics.
I saw that some of you were wondering how it compared to other red dots on the market so I leave you with this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXOFt5TKpRQ
I will say the bias in the review is pretty obvious and some of the reasoning behind the scoring is lame but it is a decent comparison otherwise. Again this is for the MH1’s predecessor from 3 or so years ago.
In any case, I think the design is more appealing than other red dots and I really like the auto on/off feature. The only negative I see is the primary battery, as it is not easily interchangeable. Yes, it has a backup battery that is interchangeable but I wonder how hard it would be to replace the primary battery once it starts acting like my old iPhone 4 battery. *dead*
Yes, this is the much anticipated reincarnation of the MSE AQC 1 series. I bought, what must have been the last 3 MSE AQC 1C sights left in North America, after the company was dissolved by its financially troubled parent company. There is a 4 part video out there of Mikey explaining what went into the MSE sight. 3 choices of red dot, sleep mode with instant on when you pick up your rifle. The PTT cable controls it all without having to remove your hand from the front stock. Now they just need to resurrect the flip out magnifier scope.
Thats the single worst gear comparison video I have ever seen.
Some of these features are dubious. E.g. who needs a USB-rechargeable battery, when modern red dots can work for 3 years on a single CR2032, and for 8 years on a single AA?
I’m also curious about “largest field of view through the sight” being a real first here. Judging by the photos, it doesn’t look bigger than Mepro Tru-Dot. Auto-off based on motion detection is definitely not new, either.
To clarify something in the interest of fairness – the viewport on this sight is indeed larger than on Mepro (much less Eotech). According to the listed specs for both, viewport size is:
Meprolight Tru-Dot: 33×20 mm
Hartman MH1: 35x24mm
Trijicons new MRO dot sight has a 5 year always on battery life from a single CR2032 battery which means you can just leave it on all the time.
It also only weighs about 8 ounces.
The sight in this article looks like a solution to a nonexistent problem. It is a cool looking reticle I suppose.
I don’t know… it looks cool and all. The weight scares me off a little though…and it’s difficult to beat the known quantity of an Aimpoint T-2 on a Larue QD mount. I used to be hung up on FOV (got an Eotech just because of that), but eventually realized that when shooting with both eyes open, FOV almost becomes irrelevant, as everything else just fades out and all you see is the target with a red dot superimposed on it. What then becomes prominent for me is the weight (and reliability). And every little ounce adds up and you can quickly end up with a rifle that is slow to bring on target. That’s what separated me from heavy Eotech-style red dots more than anything. The whole point of a red dot is fast target acquisition (in all light conditions), and they can quickly diminish their own returns when they get too heavy and slow you down.
We’re all here looking for a better option because of Eotech’s unreliability and their red dot laser is visible from the front at night. Talk about advertising “here I am”. It’s also wonderful knowing Aimpoint’s batteries will last years after you’re dead, due to the fact their lenses reflect the sunlight and gave away your position to be sniped. How many years has coating technology been around, really! The trijicon MRO looks to be the balanced option here but with the mount, the $700+ hurts pretty bad. These sights will be a nice addition to the mix but I too am worried about sending it back every 5 years to get the rechargeable battery replaced.
I’m not sure who “we all” are here that you need to worry about lenses giving you away to snipers. But if that is a serious concern, just use screw-in killflash – Aimpoint makes one for their red dots.
Hey Rob, IDK where you are shopping, The Trijicon MRO can be had WITH the absolute best QD mount on the planet in a Scalarworks Low Drag Bundle for a mere $550. (when is say “mere” I mean relatively low $$ for what you get) The optic is a T-1 killer. See all the reviews on the MRO on You Tube …start with Tim from Military Arms Channel.
I used to cringe at the thought of buying an Aimpoint. That cringing is over.
The MRO is the best, most affordable product that Trijicon has ever offered! I am generally not a Trijicon fan because of their grossly over price stuff. The MRO is the best deal in USA made optics. I do still like the 55,000 hour Primary Arms Chinese made micro. But it is the Trijicon MRO FTW!
https://scalarworks.com/shop/optic-bundles/trijicon-mro-bundle/
I HATE rechargeable items. How are you going to recharge in the field every freaking day? The USB port is a weak link for water intrusion. The sight weighs nearly a freaking pound with the CR123 and all the options. NO WAY!!! What was this guy smoking? AND the optic is mostly POLYMER! I actually loved his discontinued MSE. See video. It was lighter, no USB, multi reticle, etc see the video. He took this concept and ruined it with bloat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXOFt5TKpRQ
For $550 get the Trijicon MRO (Aimpoint T-1 killer) WITH the best QD mount in the world included! 5.5 ounces and a larger objective than the T-1. No tube/tunnel effect. 55,000 hour battery life. ONE single ambi rheostat. 2 MOA dot. That’s it.
It is a step op from the 55, 000 hour Primary Arms micro. The MROj is even a step up from the T-1 for a lot less $$.
https://scalarworks.com/shop/optic-bundles/trijicon-mro-bundle/
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