What is a Fiber Optic Reticle?
Posted by Monstrum on Aug 10th 2026
Reticle illumination is one of the most important considerations you can make when buying a new scope, but there are different methods of illumination depending on whether you buy a wire, etched, or fiber optic illuminated. We’ll discuss how illumination works with each of the three different types of reticles on the market today so you can choose the right one for you.
How Reticle illumination Works
Scope reticles are illuminated in two main ways: direct illumination usually from an LED light source or fiber optic illumination.
Direct illumination is the more traditional and simpler method of illuminating a reticle. It involves using a light source (usually an LED) to feed light directly into a reticle plate from either the side or rear which diffuses within the etched surfaces causing them to glow from within. Directly illuminated reticles can either be completely or partially illuminated meaning the entire reticle can be lit up or certain elements like an outer ring and center dot can be illuminated while other parts remain unilluminated.
The advantages of directly illuminated reticles are that they allow for a degree of customization, say if you wanted just the center aiming point lit up, and that they can illuminate all aspects of a reticle including fine markings like wind holds or numeration. This is especially helpful if you’re shooting at long distances in low light or against dark backgrounds where you might need to reference the smaller details of your scope’s reticle. The main disadvantage of directly illuminated reticles is that they can sometimes struggle to illuminate brightly enough for strong contrast in bright daylight shooting conditions—that’s where fiber optically illuminated reticles come in.
Fiber optically illuminated reticles are a newer innovation to rifle scopes that bring red dot brightness and simplicity to scopes. Sometimes referred to as fiber dot, fiber wire, fiber optic, or just daylight bright reticles - they are now being marketed in a number of scope lines such as the Leupold Firedot series or the Primary Arms ACSS Supernova series.
They work by using an optical fiber positioned behind the reticle to pipe light from an LED light into a lenslet (tiny oblong spherical cavity) in the center of the reticle resulting in a very bright central dot that can easily be seen even in bright conditions. The degree of brightness that fiber optically illuminated reticles can provide is often referred to as “daylight bright.” By comparison to traditional direct illumination, fiber optically illuminated reticles concentrate light into a singular bright point more as opposed to refracting it broadly across an entire surface.
The advantages of fiber optically illuminated reticles are that they are easily visible in bright daylight conditions and that they bring some of the simplicity and speed of a red dot sight to a rifle scope. The disadvantages of fiber optically illuminated reticles are that they can give shooters with astigmatism the same starry effect that red dots do.
Some optics combine both direct illumination and fiber optic illumination within their reticles giving you the best of both worlds. These are usually referred to as hybrid or dual illuminated reticles.
Different Types of Reticles and How They’re Illuminated
Wire Reticles
Wire reticles are the most traditional style of creating a reticle within a scope. They consist of a physical wire (typically platinum or tungsten) usually in a crosshair orientation and sometimes featuring hashmarks for MOA or MRAD, but never floating elements like wind holds or numeration. This is because the reticle has to be one continuous piece of thin metal material and it’s the biggest drawback to wire reticles.
Wire reticles are not typically illuminated, but the few that are are illuminated from behind the optic creating a halo effect visible from the front.
Etched Reticles
By far the most common method of creating reticles for modern scopes, etched reticles involve mechanically etching the reticle into a piece of glass. This method allows for much more complex designs with floating elements like wind holds, range estimation markings, or numeration.
Etched reticles can either be illuminated directly from an LED, with an optical fiber center dot, or both.
Fiber Optically Illuminated Reticles
Any reticle that uses a fiber optic for illumination can be considered a fiber optically illuminated reticle, although there are technically two types: passive and active.
Passively illuminated fiber optic reticles use an external piece of optical fiber that gathers ambient light to illuminate the reticle in the same way as direct illumination—just using an optical fiber in lieu of an LED. This is the system the Trijicon ACOG® or AccuPoint® scopes use for battery-free illumination. Passive illumination can get very bright, but it is used to illuminate large parts of a reticle as opposed to a single point.
Actively illuminated fiber optic reticles use an internal piece of optical fiber and an electronic LED light source to pipe light into a very bright single point. Because the sight picture of these optics resembles a red dot sight, these scopes are sometimes called “center dot” fiber optic reticles.
Conclusion
There are pros and cons to both direct illumination and fiber optic illumination for scope reticles. Direct illumination allows you to have either the entire reticle or part of it lit up whereas fiber optically illuminated reticles can accomplish the same thing passively or have a very bright center aiming point as with actively illuminated fiber optic reticles.
If you can’t decide whether you want a reticle with direct or fiber optic illumination, there’s a third option for you: hybrid or dual illumination. These scopes incorporate both direct illumination AND a fiber optically illuminated center dot into a single optic. This gives you all the advantages of both systems with independent brightness controls for each with the only downsides being added complexity and cost.
If you want a daylight bright fiber optically illuminated scope that won’t break the bank, check out our Panzer and Beast SFP scopes.
Our FIBR (Fiber Illuminated Bright Reticle) reticle lineup is featured in a number of reticle patterns - FIB01, FIB02, FIB03, FIB04, FIB05, and FIB06. Plus the BDC-C1 fiber reticle for LPVOs.
Scopes with Fiber Optic Reticles