Tritium sight longevity

[Blckmrbl]

I've heard that tritium "night sights" only last about 10 years before they dim to marginal levels. Evidently this is because they use a radioactive gas which has a half-life and degrades over time. Who has had tritium sights for a while? How have they held up? I am considering getting one but don't want to get stuck with one that's been on someone's shelf for a couple years. I'll probably buy from one of the online vendors that gets a lot of business and turns over a lot of product to avoid this. Any thoughts?

 

[rcmodel]

The half life of Tritium is 12.33 years.

That means that in 12 1/3 years, the brightness will only be half as bright as it was in the beginning.

But not all colors are created equal.

Green & yellow are guaranteed for 12 years by Trijicon and Meprolite.
Orange and other colors only for 5 years.

This is due to the phosphor that causes the color degrades faster then the tritium gas that makes it glow.
The tritium gas doesn't glow itself, but only excites the phosphors.

Tru-Glow and some other brands are only guaranteed for 5 years regardless of the color.

I have green Meprolites on a Glock I put on in 1995.
Or 15 years ago.
They are getting very dim, but are still usable, if just barely.

rc

 

[Bliggida]

I've open-carried tritium sights on a duty weapon. And I'm very pleased. All-told this particular set of sights dates back to 2005, so they still have life on them. Dunked in solvent, dirt, mud, pocket nummies, and they still shine bright. Smacked and plowed them into every hard inanimate object known to man, other than scuffs (usually gouges whatever it contacts) they are indestructible.

My only complaint is that I didn't order a set for my personal weapons too.

If I do get another set, I'll look for amber rear dots, green front dot, solely for low-light sight alignment. 3 green dots can get "confuzzy" if you don't do some night shooting regularly.

 

[AK103K]

I've taken night sights off used guns I've bought that were about 10 years old or so, and they were pretty dim compared to a new set.

I've always just bought the replacements off the web, and all of them were current to the year I bought them, so I dont think you have much to worry there.

I've also sold the old sets on EBay for about half of what a new set costs, so you can still recover some money from them. Last set I sold fetched $45. Selling the old ones has paid for two MGW sight tools, so its sort of self serving all around. New Mepros can be had for as cheap as $65 a set, and are easy to do yourself with the tool. The tools can also be used to adjust your sights.

 

[Blckmrbl]

Thanks guys. This is good stuff.

 

[jaysouth]

Sig represents that their factory "Siglights" will last 5 to 10 years. I have a Sig 225 made in 99 that has had dead night sights for three or four years. Sig wants full price to send me new sights or get my slide and install them at Sig. The lamps are not replacable like Trijicons.

Meps installed new on two glocks in 2003 are going dim. One more than the other. There is not way to replace the lamps on these unlike Trijicon.

I just had Trijicon replace the lamps on my 3913. The gun was made in 89. the lamps were dead when I got it used in 2005. They will pro-rate the cost of new lamps if the lights worked less than 12 years.

The kimber/meps appear brighter that the Trijicons when new. However the kimber/meps do dim in a hurry.

Do the numbers, the kimber/meps cost 80% of new Trijicons and lasted 50% as long.

 

[benEzra]

My wife has a set of green Trijicons on her G26 dating from 1996 or 1997, and they're dimmer than they were when new but are still usable.

I recently put a set of Trijicons on my 3913, green front and orange rears. I know the oranges don't last as long, but telling which one is the front sight in the dark when all three dots are green and the same size can be trickier than you think, and can slow you down.

I figure when the orange phosphors on mine get too dim to be usable, I'll send the rear sight to Trijicon and have them install new lamps, or just buy a new rear sight, but it's a price I was willing to pay in order to have a stark color/brightness difference between the front and rears.

I will say that the Trijicon dots are probably sharper than other brands because of the lens design.

 

[AK103K]

I have some Meprolights that I installed new about six or seven years ago now, and they seem to be about as bright as the new set I just put on a Glock I picked up. I dont see that they are any shorter lived than the Trijicons, and Meprolight warrants them for 12 years anyway.

Back when I first started using the Meprolights, they had bigger vials, a brighter dot, and the vials had a white ring around them, which the Trijicons did not. The last set of Trijicons I just replaced seemed to have larger vials and did have a white ring, although the rings were starting to crumble, so it seems Trijicon has upgraded somewhat.

While Trijicon may replace the vials at a discount, for the few extra bucks it costs for a new set of Mepros, and what I recover selling the old sets, I'd rather just go that route and not be down the gun time sending it or the slide back in to have it done. Then again, I do my own, so its a 5 minute job and I dont have the smith issue either.

I've always preferred the all green sights over the mixed colors. The green are the brightest, and have the plus of being the longest lived. I've never had any issues with confusing the dots, which some people seem to have trouble with. I dont really understand what they are doing to get them confused, but if its a problem, then use what works for you.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

I figure it's about 50 cents a month (if they last 10-12 years) for glowing sights that don't need to be "charged" by sunlight. ever. I spend more than that squeezing off the first shot or two at the range.

 

[gym]

10-11 years on my G23, just put new one on

 

[benEzra]

I've never had any issues with confusing the dots, which some people seem to have trouble with. I dont really understand what they are doing to get them confused

Do a very fast one-handed presentation in very low light with a compact pistol with a black slide and fire the instant you get a flash sight picture. Bonus points if you do it from a hasty grip. Unless you have unusually good hand-eye coordination, slow way down, or use a Zebco draw, it is very easy to track the wrong dot with your eye and line them up R-R-F instead of R-F-R like you're supposed to, at least for me.

For me personally, I'd rather have a single green dot on the front and no tritium rears than have three greens. Some people use green bars on the rear for the same reason, but I just prefer different color dots, and I want the front markedly brighter than the rears because the front is the one I want to pick up first, so I decided to go with the orange rears with the green front. I really like the setup.

 

[DBR]

I have several sets of Trijicons (the only brand I will use) that are dated 1995-96 that still work fine once I am at least partially dark adapted.

I find that if I have a enough light to identify the target I can get either a normal sight picture or a silhouette sight picture with standard sights. At 5yds or less I don't need the sights for a man sized target.

These days I mostly use the night sights to find my gun in the dark.

 

[AK103K]

I've never had the problem (so far) at any speed or condition. Maybe its how I present the gun and track the front sight, I dont know.

I do know I have to work at getting the dots out of order, and it looks wrong and feels wrong when you do force it. But again, thats me.

Then again, maybe its all just the bazzillion practice presentations and shots up til now that fix proper alignment into my brain.

Hey, whatever works for you is what you should use, thats all that really matters. I've been using three dots so long now, the dots are what I see first day or night, and have to shift focus to get a traditional sight picture.

 

[basicblur]

Ye (old) olde bed gun is still my POS Sigma (SW9E, all black), with night sights dated 1995 (Trijicons have the date printed on 'em). They're not nearly as bright as my new XDSC9's Trijicons, but they're still plenty usable.

Been upgrading a few guns with Trijicons and have done a bit of research:
1. Thought 'bout going yellow/rear, green/front per conventional wisdom, but went all green as Trijicon's front sight is bigger/brighter than the rears (don't know if they've always been that way), and my focus in naturally drawn to the front sight, so I skipped the colors.
2. I think it would be darn near impossible for me to confuse the sights-while under stress weird things can happen, it's hard for me to believe I could have the gun cranked far enough left/right to confuse the front/rear sights.
3. Trijicon will refresh my tired old Sigma's sights for $18 each, which includes return shipping (slide only)-$54 plus whatever shipping I spend to get it to 'em.

 

[MrCleanOK]

My Trijicon night sights have the year of manufacture printed on them, so you know they haven't been on a shelf for a few years.

 

[thriftyjoe]

yup it only makes sense to get green night sights if they are guarenteed for another 7 years

 

[rcmodel]

Green & Yellow.

If you want contrasting F & R sights, yellow is also good for a 12 year warranty from Meprolite & Trijacon.

Orange is only five years.

rc

 

[gym]

They would have charged a few dollars to change out the 'vial" and reinstalled the sights for free, but I didn't want to tie up the pistol, or spend the money on shipping. Trijicon is very nice about that. I also only use the front night site, the rear is a low profile ghost ring on my G30. If you have a problem call them direct instead of a distributor, they will explain the warantee period and replacement policy.

 

[YaNi]

I have a side question about tritium night sights.

Are they bright enough to see them in daylight or dim conditions? I'm colorblind and unless I shoot at white/light colored targets, my sights totally blend into the target. Yes, I focus on the front sight, but the white dots don't help any. It's like staring into a black hole if the target is dark colored (black, brown, red).

 

[rcmodel]

Bright is a relative term.

Are they brite enough to see in dim light or totaly darkness against a dark or light backround?
Yes.

Just like the luminus dial on a watch.

If you can't see white-dot sights in daylight though, you won't be able to see tritium night sights either.

rc

 

[basicblur]

Are they bright enough to see them in daylight or dim conditions? I'm colorblind...

Don't know what problems being colorblind is gonna cause you, but if you want the brightest night sights for daytime (and dim?) conditions you might check out TruGlo.

I went with Trijicons since they seemed to be sharper than some I've seen, but I've seen TruGlo on some guns at the shop and they are probably the brightest night sights I've seen for daytime use.

 

[gym]

So you cannot tell light from dark, would that be a function of colorblindness, or another condition. The night site looks like a little led light, if that helps.

 

[benEzra]

If you want contrasting F & R sights, yellow is also good for a 12 year warranty from Meprolite & Trijacon.

Orange is only five years.

Yep. Trijicon actually recommends yellow over orange for that reason. I wanted more contrast than green v. yellow, though, so I went with the orange rears. That's what works best for me, but it wouldn't necessarily be the case across the board.

 

[Blckmrbl]

Has anyone ever tried sights from Kensight Mfg?

 

[rm23]

Is it possible to replace the tritium on the trijicon acog?

When I say possible, I mean possible for an average guy who is by no means a gunsmith or optics specialist.