Holographic sights have never really been my wheelhouse. I know they get pricey, and I know the usual knocks against them are battery life and reticle quality, but past that, I do not have a ton of experience with them. So when Vortex Optics sent over their AMG UH-1 Gen II to pair with the MAC IX I was reviewing earlier this year, I came into it pretty green. That being said, it ended up hopping onto a second gun before it was all said and done. Let’s dive right into my review of the Vortex AMG UH-1 Gen II Holographic Sight!Vortex Coverage @ The Firearm Blog:New Vortex AMG 1-10×24 FFP High-End LPVOTFB Review: Vortex Venom Enclosed 6 MOA Micro Red DotTFB Review: Vortex Optics Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Green DotTFB Review: Vortex Optics Crossfire II Solar 2 MOA Red DotTFB Review: SDS Imports MAC IX 9mm PistolSpecifications: Vortex AMG UH-1 Gen IIBefore the spec list, a little on how this thing runs, since it does not work quite like your average red dot. The UH-1 is an honest-to-goodness holographic, so the reticle comes from a laser instead of an LED dot bouncing off coated glass. The reticle on this one is Vortex’s EBR-CQB. That’s a big 65 MOA ring with a 1 MOA dot in the middle and a small triangle sitting at the bottom of the ring (more on that little guy later). All the controls are on the back. Press the + or - button to turn it on, use those same two to run the brightness up and down, and press both together to shut it off. There is a separate NV button you hold to flip into night vision mode, and you hold it again to get back to daylight. It remembers where you left the brightness in each mode. It also shuts itself off after 14 hours without a button press. If that bugs you, holding the button for five seconds turns the auto shutoff off (hold + for five seconds to turn it back on). The battery is a single CR123A under a toolless cap. The windage and elevation dials want a tool, a coin or a flathead. Mounting is handled by an integrated lever with a lock button, plus a tension nut on the opposite side. For anyone wondering what makes it a Gen II, Vortex dropped the original’s internal rechargeable battery and charging port for the CR123A and added the NV mode. Everything else carried over from the first one, more or less from what I have read.Model: AMG-HS02Magnification: 1xReticle: EBR-CQB (65 MOA ring, 1 MOA dot, CQB triangle)Eye Relief: UnlimitedParallax: Parallax freeBrightness Settings: 15 daylight, 8 night visionBattery: One CR123A (included)Auto Shutoff: 14 hours, can be disabledAdjustment Graduation: 1/2 MOA per clickTravel Per Rotation: About 16.5 MOAMax Elevation and Windage: 100 MOAMount: Integrated quick-detach lever, PicatinnyOptical Axis Height: 41mm (lower 1/3 co-witness)Length: 3.9"Height: 2.7"Weight: 11.6 ozWarranty: Vortex VIP Warranty The MSRP of the Vortex AMG UH-1 Gen II sits at $959.99. I will be honest, I did not realize it listed that high until I sat down to write this. That being said, I’ve seen street prices run much lower. It is covered by the Vortex VIP Warranty, which is unlimited, unconditional and lifetime, with no receipt or registration needed. That takes some sting off for sure but I get that it may not sway everyone. First Look: Vortex AMG UH-1 Gen IIBefore I get into the optic itself, I want to mention something. Nobody is paying me to say this (nobody pays anybody to say anything nice on TFB, for the record), but I have always had extremely good luck with Vortex. Back when I worked behind a gun counter, I helped customers get their optics taken care of, and Vortex was always great there. This time was no different. When I reached out about an optic for the MAC IX review, they were out of stock, so they sent what I can only assume was a trade show sample... the kind of thing they bring along to throw on guns so folks can look through it, not something meant to be sold. Then as soon as they had one in stock, they sent me a replacement so I could send the sample back. And they weren’t even expecting a review of the sight out of it. As for the optic, in person it is slimmer than it looks on websites and in product photos. Really not that chubby from the look-through ends. I would call it about what I expected, maybe a hair less. Height and length are another story. It is tall and it is long. It is a bulky optic. No way around it. I was a little wary of the toolless battery cap. I have had some poor experiences with caps that have the little cable tether, where something catches or kinks going back on and the cable snaps or the connection bits come loose from themselves. I’ve had no issues with this one so far. I get why it is there, too. You hate to lose a cap. Clicks on the windage and elevation are very positive. Needing a coin to turn them is not a nuisance for me, since I keep a pretty overstocked range bag. But the average Joe probably does not, and a dime, a penny or any flathead screwdriver is going to do the job just fine. Out of the box I did have to touch the tension nut to get the lever to clamp down right on the MAC IX’s rail. After that, I never touched it again. It does not co-witness with the MAC IX’s irons, so going back to irons meant pulling the optic. The quick-detach lever made that a pretty painless swap.Range Time: Vortex AMG UH-1 Gen IIOnto shooting! Over the course of its review, the MAC IX ate roughly 200 rounds of Remington Range 115gr, PMC 147gr and CCI Blazer 147gr subsonic, and the UH-1 rode on top for my range testing. At 25 yards the groups did not leave a lasting impression on me. Honestly, that was the gun and that ammo more than the optic, and suppressed subs opened things up a bit more. When I pulled in to 10 and 15 yards, the groups shrank way down. Speaking of the triangle, that is what I was using at 10 and 15. The optic sits a good bit higher than the bore, so up close your rounds land under the dot. The triangle is Vortex’s answer to that. It marks where you will hit at 10 yards and in, so you don’t have to think about the offset. It did what it said it would. Simple as that.But I wanted to be sure the optic was not the one messing around at 25, so I pulled it off and tossed it on a Rossi R95 Triple Black in 30-30. Going from the MAC IX to the Rossi, there was no fiddling around whatsoever. The lever clamped right down. This was more of a fun “toss this on that” exercise than anything, so it only saw about 10 rounds of what I believe was Federal hunting ammo, at somewhere between 50 and 75 yards if memory serves. It grouped plenty well to clear the optic. I re-zeroed for the Rossi and never bounced back to the MAC IX, so I cannot tell you how well it returns to zero after a swap. On a little 16.5" lever action like the R95, it looks like an out-of-place growth. Not going to lie. That being said, it was extremely comfortable to shoot with. On the MAC IX, it felt much more at home, and that classic subgun look is what I was going for when I paired the two in the first place. Now the reticle. It is definitely pixelated. You can see black pixels in there, and it is not a solid reticle. When the light changes and the sight ends up brighter than it should be, things get more pixelated and fuzzy, and that tiny triangle kind of becomes a dot in and of itself. If you dial it on the fly to a little less than the light you’re in, it gets comfortable and firms up. Something to keep in mind, folks, if you are coming from red dots.Otherwise, no flicker, no pulsing and no hiccups the whole time. The battery it came with still hasn’t run out, and it has been somewhere around five or six months since this thing showed up. As for NV mode, I don’t mess with night vision (my hobbies are as expensive as they should get), so I can’t speak to it.Final Thoughts: Vortex AMG UH-1 Gen IIAll that being said, I like the UH-1 Gen II a lot. It ran clean on two very different guns; the clicks are great, the triangle did its job up close, and the original battery is still kicking. The knocks are about what you’d expect from a holographic. It is bulky, it is tall, and the reticle is pixelated. Running the brightness a touch under the light you’re in takes care of most of that last one.Who is it for? I am not a holographic guy, so take this with a grain of salt. Vortex pitches it at MIL/LE and close-quarters work, and after my time with it I can see why. That big ring and the triangle make a lot of sense on a PCC, a subgun-style build like the MAC IX, or anything meant for work up close. If you run night vision, the NV mode is there, but you’ll have to ask somebody else how it does. If you want small and light, this is not it. The $959.99 MSRP is a lot of money. Street prices take some of the sting out of it, and between the VIP Warranty and the way Vortex treated me on this one, I would feel fine putting my money there. I’ve grown pretty fond of the big goofy thing.In closing, I want to say thank you to Vortex Optics for allowing TFB and myself the opportunity to try out their AMG UH-1 Gen II Holographic Sight. That is greatly appreciated. Also, we would like to know what all of you guys and gals think. Do you run a holographic, or do you stick with red dots? Would you put an optic this size on a lever gun? Is the UH-1 Gen II worth the money to you? Let us know all of your thoughts in the Comments below! We always appreciate your feedback.