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