TrijiconNight Sight Sets for Glock Pistols

After much research, I settled on the Trijicon HD night sights (orange front post) for my daily carry Glock 19. Bottom line up front: these are some of the best sights I have used on a handgun. They are not without their limitations, and not for everyone, but for me and my needs, they are just about perfect. What do you get in the box? A rear and front sight, all metal construction, of the same height. Rear sight is blacked out with 2 tritium lamps, front sight is a tritium lamp surrounded by orange or yellow phosphorescent paint.First and foremost, I am traditionally not a fan of tritium-filled night sights. I am, generally speaking, a fiber-optic kind of guy. Most of my training and time behind tritium pistol sights have shown me that their uses are limited. Generally, they only glow in very dark environments -- and in those environments, target identification is paramount, thus the use of a hand-held or pistol-mounted light -- thus, your night sights go away because the area is too bright. It's an ultimate catch 22. Fiber optic sights have always circumvented this problem. How did the Trijicon HDs change my mind on tritium?Ultimately, it boils down to a handful of reasons. 1) the tritium lamps here in the rear sight are very bright - enough so that they glow in-doors even in the late afternoon. Much brighter and easier to pick up than other tritium lamps I have seen. 2) The large orange dot on the front sight is highly visible in the day time, and phosphorescent enough that it shines/ reflects somewhat when using a light in total darkness. This is excellent, and helps you acquire a sight picture in many lighting conditions.Why these sights over a different name brand? A handful of very clever design decisions give these sights an edge over the competition and worth the high asking-price. The tritium rear sights all but disappear in day-time light - acting as blacked-out rear sights. This makes the sight picture less busy and acquiring the orange front post very fast under stress. The back of the rear sight is cross-hached, making it less likely that the rear sight will attract glare in the sunlight, and on a Glock, the Trijicon HD's rear-sight extends to the very back of the slide (unlike the stock sight), improving the sight radius slightly. Furthermore, the front-end of the rear sight is U-shaped with a slight hook, aiding in one-handed manipulation of the handgun such as racking the slide off of a belt buckle, etc. Lastly, the notch on the rear sight is notched in a U shape rather than a traditional squared shape. This aids in front-sight acquisition and fits the orange (or yellow, depending on model ordered) front sight perfectly.Why might these sights not be for you? The sights seems designed more toward speed than precision. The bright orange dot is very easy to keep track of during follow-up shots and rapid strings of fire. If you're looking for sights that will help you hit a silver dollar at 25 yards, you'll want to look elsewhere (much cheaper sights are available for that purpose). If you're looking for sights that will help you shave a few fractions of a second off your ability to draw and put 5 rounds into an 8-inch plate at 7 yards, these are what you've been looking for.Some room for improvement? First up, the tritium on the front and rear sights is all the same color- green. Although the front sight is surrounded by orange color, this can be hard to see in the dark. Having green rear and orange front tritium would be nice. Next, the paint on the front sight does glow when exposed to light... but not nearly long enough, and needs to be exposed to a lot of light before it starts giving off it's own light. If it could be "charged" with a flashlight and last a few hours, that would be nice. If it could glow for a few minutes after just being exposed to a street light at night, that would be even better. Last - the rear sight has some sharp points at the top of the notches. It has yet to interfere with my draw, poke my skin, or anything of the such after thousands of draws, but it's there, and it might be a snag hazard depending on your concealment garment.Over all - the sights changed my opinion on tritium sights. These are useful and visible in a wide variety of lighting conditions, indoors and outdoors, and have some very well-thought out design choices to help give them an edge. For a self-defense minded shooter, these are hard to beat.

Fantastic product that cannot be beaten for the price. Easily some of the best sights you can buy. I had no problems with shipping, receiving the wrong product, or a used product (as some reviews indicate). Overall very satisfied with my purchase.Pros:-Bright tritium inserts, inside rubber anti-shock bushing with sapphire caps for excellent visibility in low-light and dark conditions. These puppies are BRIGHT, I have no problem at all seeing them in the dark.-Solid metal construction, feels like a durable, quality product. Leagues above stock sights or sights that feel like plastic. I feel these sights will last a long time even with a fair amount of abuse.-Intelligent design and execution. The rear sight widens towards the front allowing your eye to track the front blade through a greater horizontal angle. Serrations on the back of the rear sight all but eliminate glare and the rear sight extends to the back of the slide for longer sight picture. The front blade is narrow for pinpoint accuracy and the dayglow orange dot is easy for your eye to pick up and track. These sights are fast for instinctive shooting but also allow for a high level of accuracy when needed, a great balance between speed and accuracy overall.-Sturdy tight fit to the slide without the need for pins, punches, or tiny allen keys/hex wrench. The last set of sights I had used two .050 hex screws to fix the sight in place and they were a nightmare to remove or adjust.Cons:-These sights required hand-fitting for my Glock 19. This wasn't a problem for me but might be for you and does require some tools. If you already have a good file, a sight pusher, a 3/16ths narrow-neck socket with a flat face, some Loctite, and some Patience and knowhow you are good to go. Otherwise, be prepared to buy those tools or have your local gunsmith do some work for you.-No instructions. For better or worse, Trijicon does not hold your hand here. They expect that you already know how to fit your sights or that you will take your firearm and sights to someone who does for professional installation. It's not difficult to do, but you may have to watch a few videos online if you haven't done it before. (might be a con for some people)