Tritium night sights, fiber optic, or neither…and why?
Whatcha got?
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I use all of them. Each my pistol has a different configuration, except two, I’m currently using.
When I started buying pistols I was experimenting with different sights and eventually found that the best setup that worked for me was fiber front and red dot.
In 99.9% I’m using red dot, but there’s still a moment, especially during quick draw, when I’m looking for dot… In such case my fiber front is the great indicator how I’m aligned and simple muzzle drop finds the dot.
Fiber is the brightest and fastest to be found for me.
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Red fiber?
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My carry and home defense pistols have a tritium front surounded by a bright orange ring. I find that combo draws my eye to the front sight the quickest under the widest range of lighting conditions.
I did try a fiber optic front for a little bit. The smaller dot may have given me a hair more precision for longer shots but I found the sight harder to pick up unless it was in fairly bright light.
I just entered the world of red dot sights by putting one on my competition pistol. Definitely more precise, except when in darker conditions with my glasses off where my astigmatism makes it look larger than my old front sight. But I need to work a lot more on my speed and consistancy with it. Especially when shooting from unstable positions or on the move.
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This mirrors my experience. Fiber optics are bright when it’s light, but not so bright when it’s less light and in darker conditions where I can PID a threat the fiber optic is often no more visible than plain flat black inert sights. Tritium front with a bright colorful ring around it and all black rears is my go-to…with or without an RDS.
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I can’t see tritium except when it’s too dark to identify my target. I do like them to help me identify where the grip is under those dark conditions, like when things go bump in the night. But I use supplemental light to identify potential threat(s). At that point I can no longer see the tritium due to the supplemental light.
I like fiber optic front sight in sunny outdoor conditions because they seem really bright. Red is my preference because it is brighter to my eyes than green. My bump in the night protection has tritium and fiber in both front and rear sights.
At the end of the day, I have not bothered changing out good old three white dot sights except in the bump in the dark protection. My primary EDC came with tritium night sights and I do think I will probably swap them out for three white dots eventually because the current dots don’t stand out much, even in good lighting.
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My dominant eye has astigmatism, but I don’t wear corrective glasses. I tried RDS on a pistol once and hated it for the reason you posted.
Strangely, RDS on a rifle doesn’t bother me as much.
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I have not seen any posts from you lately @Nathan57. Maybe you’ve been on threads I don’t read. Regardless, thanks for starting a self defense related topic 
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I took a leave of absence from basically all social media for awhile. Which, wasn’t that big of a change as I don’t have very much social media given my general opinion of that space. Honestly, I don’t really think I missed much of anything. I read some more books.
I’m going back, ever so slightly, into a couple, to see how it goes. Okay just this and one other…though I may go back into youtube we’ll see
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This is one area I diverge from some others.
I encounter variable lighting conditions. Meaning, the threat/target may not be in the same amount of light as the defender/their sights.
A common real world example to picture is an attacker in a doorway or threshold where there is light, and the defender is in a corner or recessed area or simply in a shadow. Gameplanning/running dry around houses and other structures as well as some low light competitions and classes have found the same.
It is very similar to why candela/hotspot is so valuable on lights…“photonic barriers” are another way of saying variable lighting conditions, all within the area of the incident.
Best way to see it for me is to be in my bedroom when a target/threat comes down the hall, the hall lights are on, the basement lights are not…completely unable to see a fiber optic sight, can easily see tritium, brightly lit threat in the doorway/hallway
This is why I don’t use fiber optic (unless it is backed by tritium) on defensive firearms. Rather, I use tritum (and red dots now…my rifles, shotguns, pistols, all have self illuminated optics/reticles now)
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It used to be tritium years ago but as those die I’m replacing them with fiber optic only in the front and blacking out the dots on the back sight with permanent marker. I find it’s faster for me to acquire the front sight.
For carry? RDS
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All the above. Mostly depends on daytime or nighttime.
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I have tritium sights on all my pistols. It makes a big difference in getting a bead in low light situations.
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Red.
I was testing green fiber and green optic with combination with red fiber and red optic and found everything red the best for my eyes (or brain)…
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For my shotgun and AR I use XS Sights tritium front sight only. Iron sights for everything else, less to dick around with.
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Tritium night sights, on my pistols
A green dot on one.
Old eyes just seem to see the green better than red.
I Really don’t need to have a site on the home defense shot gun .
Probably wouldn’t even take the time to shoulder it.
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Do you mean less to mess around with as in less to change on the pistol because it doesn’t have night sights or a fiber from the factory so you save having to swap?
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Not addressing the question, but laser is better. Crimson Trace all the way for me. When your eyesight goes, there is not much better solution. I’ll crawl back under my rock now.
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I don’t think I’ve found any SME, established trainer, LEA agency or training, military outfit, anybody, who would say a laser is better than an RDS. I don’t compete a lot but when I have, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone with a laser but the majority of shooters have an RDS now
But for the sake of discussion, what in your experience makes a laser better?
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