I know I have one mounted on mySpringfield Armory SAINT riflethat is my primary home defense gun.
Also, having platforms capable of easily accepting them prevented growth of this market.
The 1X optic is compact and light, weighing .62 of an ounce and featuring a 16mm diameter lens.
Possibly the best feature on this optic is the always-on, auto-brightness 3 MOA red dot.
The system eliminates the reliance on manual switches and controls that have plagued some miniaturized optics.
The optic uses a single CR2032 battery that is rated to run for up to two years.
I set a reminder on my phones calendar app and will swap the battery in mine out every year.
Throughout this Swampfox Optics review, the battery worked perfectly.
Tiny Titan
Physically, the optic is small enough to fit on most pistols.
With anRMSc footprint, it mounted directly to my Hellcat FDE with no adapter plates needed.
Yet, the window seems large to my eye without any sense of constriction.
Construction of the Sentinel looks like it’s top-notch.
The body is made of 7075-T6 aluminum with a hard-coat black finish.
For the window, Swampfox uses fully multi-coated glass for clarity across all environmental conditions.
The pricing is quite attractive.
The M model has 10 brightness setting modes.
On the Range
The proof of any self-defense gear is on the range.
So, that is where I went to give the Sentinel a workout.
After mounting the optic with the included screws and drivers, I sighted the optic in.
I made a few gross adjustments then minor fine-tuning with the included screwdriver.
Once locked in, I never needed additional adjustments.
Durability is always a concern for pistol optics.
I was confident the Swampfox Sentinel would perform better than that and it did.
While it is a relatively easy shooting pistol, the Springfield Armory Hellcat is a subcompact 9mm.
With+P 9mm ammunition, the recoil can be a bit snappy.
Even so, the Sentinel soaked up every cycle of the slide with no obvious issues.
The glass showed no signs of weakness, nor did the dot lose zero.
I pressed against the optic with every manual cycle of the slide.
Again, the Sentinel seemed to absorb the use without any problems.
The red dot was quick and easy to find when presenting the pistol.
As advertised, the auto-brightness feature kept the dot bright for an obvious aiming point.
At no point did the dot become too bright and overwhelm the sight picture.
It was my experience that the sight worked well throughout my testing.
I had zero complaints and no hesitations on recommending it to others.
The Swampfox Sentinel is an example of what you should expect from these sights.
It really seems to be the complete package.
One of my major concerns about some optics is the amount of manual input they need.
My Swampfox red dot automatically adjusted to the ambient lighting to provide an appropriately bright aiming point.
With the constant-on feature, I never had any issues with waiting on the dot to turn on.
Go to forum thread
SwampfoxSentinel
Hellcat3" OSPTM
