Trijicon HD Night Sight Review – 2022 Coverage

Night sights have been around for a long time now. From cheap options to ultra-expensive tactical variants. The market is crowded with options.

But one company that is renowned for manufacturing the best of these is Trijicon. With their HD night sights being widely trusted by both civilians and defense personnel.

Let’s take a look at why these sights are popular and if they’ll suit your needs. 

Trijicon HD Specs

• Illumination: Tritium-phosphor lamp capped with sapphire jewels
  
  
• Sight Posts: Front blade sight with a big dot. ‘U-notched’ rear sight
  
  
• Sight Post Images:

• Front Post Dimensions
  • Overall Height: 0.268" (6.80 mm)
  • Blade: 0.215 x 0.144" (5.46 x 3.66 mm)
    
    
• Rear Notch Dimensions
  • Overall Height: 0.321" (8.15 mm)
  • Notch Width: 0.169" (4.29 mm)
  • Blade Height: 0.231" (5.86 mm)

Pros

The Trijicon HD night sights are fairly renowned in the law enforcement, military, and self-defense spectrum. These sights have some distinctive features that make them amazing and stand out from the competition. Let’s elaborate on it further. 

Tough and Reliable Construction

These sights have been manufactured using the best weapon-grade metal. The tritium-phosphor vials are enclosed inside a tough aluminum tube that is further encapsulated inside the exterior housing. 

Apart from that, the end of these vials is capped with sapphire jewels that not only protect the paint but also help with better light distribution. The base features some silicone rubber casing which makes the sight impervious to shocks from handling or recoil.

Self-illuminating Tritium with Long Life

The sights offer bright aiming references in low or dark situations. Thanks to the tritium-phosphor lamps. Tritium is a self-illuminating element that has a half-life of 12 years. Which in simpler terms means that the posts will continue to glow for the coming 12 years with a very minimal difference in brightness. 

Adding to this feature, Trijicon also covers the tritium-phosphor lamps with a 12 year warranty. The self-illuminating design eliminates the need for any batteries and keeps the sights lightweight. 

Quick and Enhanced Target Acquisition

The big yellow/orange dot on the front sight makes target acquisition extremely fast. Which is an exceptionally helpful feature for high-stress situations. Trijicon HD sights are one of the brightest night sights available on the market today. 

These sights are exceptional for close range engagements due to their brightness and notch/blade size. 

Single-handed Slide Manipulation

The rear sight in this set has been hooked slightly to help with single-handed slide racking. While this feature may not be essential for most users. But nobody knows what’s going to come up in an SHTF situation. 

Single-handed racking helps handle medical emergencies or any other important tasks at hand while keeping you in the fight. 

Cons

Like every coin has two sides, almost every product has a few downsides. The Trijicon HD night sights don’t have any significant cons. But rather miniscule considerations to help you with deciding the best uses. 

More Expensive than Most Other Sights

Quality often comes at a price. When you’re out looking for a night sight that is trusted by LEO’s, military, and pro tactical shooters. Price is not always a concern. However, if you’re on a tight budget. The Trijicon HD night sight may seem a tad expensive.

Eventually, it’s your need and preference that’ll decide if this is a con. 

Not Best for Longer Range

These sights feature a thick front sight blade that covers a large portion of the rear U-notch. While this is a great feature for quick target acquisition. This will cover your target to a significant extent over longer distances respective to handguns.  

If your purposes include covering longer ranges, you should go for the Trijicon HD XR version. 

Requires Dedicated Installation

Trijicon recommends getting these sights installed by a gunsmith. Which will further depend upon your level of expertise. However, installing these sights will require a proper sight tool and due care. 

Additionally, the rear sight has no windage/elevation adjustments. A slight drawback If you’re looking for them. 

Best Uses of Trijicon HD Night Sights

Night sights were designed to be used, well… in the night. But that doesn’t render them useless during the day. The Trijicon HD night sights feature tritium-phosphor lamps that are easily visible in the day and offer astounding visibility and clarity in low light/dark situations.

The first and most obvious use of these sights is defense. It can be home defense, self-defense, or active duty. Especially when the distance of engagement is under 40 yards. 

The big front dot and the rear sights with black outline and a U-shaped notch deliver quick reference points for instantly and accurately slamming copper into a hostile. 

Since handguns are fairly common for EDC self-defense and home defense uses. You can equip your pistol with these sights and a good flashlight. Additionally, the non-dependence of batteries and a half-life of 12 years make these sights ready at any moment.

These HD sights have an anti-glare surface and can be used as leverage to rack the slide single-handedly. Making them suitable to be mounted on handguns intended for SHTF uses. 

As far as competitions are concerned, these sights will work great within the appropriate range as mentioned above. On a side note, these sights are also great for people with weak eyesight. 

What Do I Need to Know About Mounting Trijicon HD?

These sights are manufactured to suit specific handgun models. This particular variant has been designed for Glock handguns 17, 19, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 33, 24, 35, 38, and 39. There’s a wide range of options to choose from so no need to fret. 

Mounting these sights is fairly easy if you have the right set of tools. As mentioned earlier, Trijicon suggests taking the help of a gunsmith if you are not familiar with the procedure.  

The tritium-phosphor lamps have been capped with sapphire jewels that protect them from cleaning solvents. While replacing your OEM sights with these, make sure you do not interchange the mounting screws for the front sights. 

The sight is self-illumination and does not need charging under light to glow. So it stays ready all the time. Doesn’t matter if it's day or night. The clarity offered by these sights is amazing which is why they are marketed as HD sights. 

Conclusion 

Trijicon HD night sights feature self-illuminating tritium lamps which glow bright and offer quick target acquisition regardless of lighting conditions. The sight is very rugged and allows for single-handed slide manipulation. These sights are a tad more costly than their competition, but the quality and performance are definitely worth it.