EOTech EXPS3 HD

The EOTech EXPS3 HD represents EOTech's belated attempt to modernize their holographic weapon sight platform, announced at SHOT Show 2026 after competitors like Holosun had offered similar features for years. The "HD" designation brings an all-aluminum body (eliminating the plastic battery compartment that plagued earlier models), a side-mounted rotary dial for brightness control (replacing the button interface), adaptive auto-brightness that adjusts to ambient lighting conditions, and shake-awake technology with selectable timer modes (10 minutes, 1 hour, 12 hours, or disabled). The reticle remains the classic 68 MOA ring with 1 MOA center dot—EOTech chose not to implement the multi-reticle flexibility that Holosun pioneered years ago.

This modernization effort comes from a company with a profoundly troubled quality history. In 2015, L-3 Communications (EOTech's parent company) paid $25.6 million to settle a civil fraud lawsuit alleging they knowingly sold the U.S. military defective optics since 2006. The thermal drift scandal revealed EOTech sights experienced point-of-aim shifts up to ±4 MOA at extreme temperatures (-40°F and 122°F), with reticle distortion affecting accuracy by over 20 inches per 100 yards in cold weather. Beyond the settled lawsuit, EOTech continues to face ongoing delamination issues where moisture incursion causes the holographic reticle to dim or disappear entirely, requiring users to max out brightness settings just to see the dot.

The EXPS3 HD's aesthetic is polarizing—the all-aluminum housing and rotary dial create an unconventional appearance that many describe as awkward or unattractive compared to the classic EOTech silhouette. At approximately $1,000, the EXPS3 HD costs $250+ more than the standard EXPS3 while delivering similar battery life (~1,000 hours) and fewer total brightness settings. For a company attempting redemption after years of quality failures, the EXPS3 HD feels like too little, too late—modernization that arrived only after Holosun forced the industry to evolve while EOTech clung to outdated designs.