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Thread: Front sight visibility in various lighting conditions - 2021 edition

  1. #1
    Site Supporter EricM's Avatar
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    Front sight visibility in various lighting conditions - 2021 edition

    A few years ago Mr_White posted a series of pics with front sights in a variety of lighting conditions that many found useful. Having just received a set of Trijicon's new DI night sights, I thought I'd put together a similar series of photos with what I had on hand, and just maybe I'd finally pick something to standardize on myself.

    I'll let you pick your own winner, but here are my general observations:

    • Larger diameter fiber does not compensate for shorter length. The Dawsons were clearly brighter than the Wilson or Trijicon DI. It may also be that concentrating the light into a smaller dot makes for greater apparent contrast.
    • Colored rings are implemented very differently by each manufacturer.
    • Some sights were more prone to glare than others. Serrations, angle, and finish are all factors.
    • In full darkness all the tritium was pretty similar, but the Trijicon DI and Ameriglo .140" Pro-Glo dots did appear larger than the .125" sights. Brightness seemed to correlate to age.
    • I think Trijicon should have included a set of lighter-colored insert rings with the DI sight. Yes they will be available for purchase, but they are expensive and IMO black should not have been the default.

    If there's a lighting scenario I didn't test that you think would be valuable, let me know. If anyone has experience with the latest from XS, Night Fision, or Meprolight, I'd be curious to hear if there is anything about them that could make them stand out over the sample of sights shown here. Okay enough words, on to the pics...here's the lineup:




    #1 - Bright indoor lighting from behind, dark background



    #2 - Complete darkness, dark background
    Note no attempt was made to charge the lime green Pro-Glos; both glow extremely brightly if charged.
    Also note the year mentioned in the labels up top, as brightness of tritium night sights naturally degrades over time.



    #3 - Small amount of light from behind, dark background
    (happened to be at just the right angle to reflect off the lenses of some sights)



    #4 - Bright indoor lighting directly above, dark background



    #5 - Bright indoor lighting from front, dark background



    #6 - Very low ambient lighting indoors, light background



    #7 - Low ambient indoor lighting indoors, light background



    #8 - Moderate ambient lighting indoors, light background



    #9 - Moderate ambient lighting indoors, dark background



    #10 - Very bright lighting from front
    (pointing out an open door to full sun)



    #11 - Outdoors with full sun in front, dark background



    #11B - Same as above, but with very short exposure
    The camera doesn't really match the eye's perception of how bright the Dawson fiber optics are, so in an attempt to illustrate it I used a very short exposure in the same scene with full sun.



    #12 - Outdoors with full sun from behind, light background



    #13 - Outdoors with full sun from behind, dark background

  2. #2
    Site Supporter CCT125US's Avatar
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    Outstanding! Thanks for putting this together!
    Taking a break from social media.

  3. #3
    Site Supporter
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    I'd prefer and orange fiber optic and surround on the Trijicon DI but it looks like it faired well in most all lighting conditions.

  4. #4
    There is quite a lot of sight above the dot on the DI front sight, which makes me wonder about shooting high when going fast and focusing on the dot and not the edge of the top of the front sight.
    Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.

  5. #5

  6. #6
    The R in F.A.R.T RevolverRob's Avatar
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    That 5-year old Wilson seems to be doing a nice job overall...

  7. #7
    The Nostomaniac 03RN's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GJM View Post
    There is quite a lot of sight above the dot on the DI front sight, which makes me wonder about shooting high when going fast and focusing on the dot and not the edge of the top of the front sight.
    I noticed that too.

  8. #8
    Very surprised, positively, by how well Wilson Gold bead performed, especially considering that its a “forever” sight with a decades old design.

  9. #9
    Site Supporter 1911Nut's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Maca View Post
    Very surprised, positively, by how well Wilson Gold bead performed, especially considering that its a “forever” sight with a decades old design.
    There are undoubtedly better options under variable lighting conditions available today, but (right or wrong) the gold bead has been my default sight for carry pistols in all my 1911's, and even on one Gen3 G19 that I carried for quite a while. But it just seems like the "right" sight on a 1911.'

    Thanks to the OP for such a detailed and informative post. Greatly appreciated.

  10. #10
    Damn Eric that was a lot of work and hugely beneficial. I'm not looking for any sights right now but thanks a lot for being super helpful and creating a post that's not political.

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