Meprolight vs Trijicon Night Sights – Which Are Better? (ANSWERED)

meprolight vs trijicon, trijicon vs meprolight, meprolight vs trijicon night sights, trijicon vs meprolight night sights

Photo by Raymondclarkeimages / CC BY

Meprolight and Trijicon are both bad boys in the military realm. Meprolight, an Israeli company, has been producing optics, and iron sights for the Israeli army and police forces for decades. Trijicon is not a new company, but their name recognition came after a massive contract for optics to United States military. Outside of their scopes, Trijicon has been providing iron sights to both police and military forces around the United States.

Both companies iron sights are renowned for their quality, their dependability, and their strength. Both Trijicon and Meprolight produce night sights not only for the military and police but have been widely adopted by the civilian market. When you begin shopping for iron sights and you are looking for the highest quality night sights you are certainly going to stumble upon Trijicon and Meprolights. Deciding which brand belongs on your weapon—which will come out on top in the Battle of Meprolight vs Trijicon Night Sights—is the real question.

Pistol Night Sights – What to Look for:

The defensive handgun is one of the biggest markets for defensive based night sights. Night sights on a handgun allow users to have working sights in any situation. Night sights need to be able to glow brightly in a variety of conditions, both indoors and outdoors. Night sights made for defensive use need to be strong, dependable, and preferably made from metals.

Outside of the defensive realm night, sights are becoming more and more popular for low-light competitions. Low-light competitive shooting is growing as a subset of action shooting, and attempting these competitions without night sights is a sure way to lose. Installation of both sight types should be easy, and should only require a gunsmith for the least handy of people.

Trijicon Bright and Tough Sights (Meprolight vs Trijicon Night Sights Product 1)


Trijicon Bright and Tough sights are made from heavy-duty metal that is designed to take abuse and keep ticking. The bright vials of glowing tritium gas is kept in aluminum cylinders for protection against drops, falls, shock, recoil, and solvents. The Trijicon bright and tough sights are a three-dot variety, and options are available for Glock, S&W, 1911s, Sig Sauer, and more.

Visibility

The use of Tritium gas guarantees a bright and long lasting dark light sight for self-defense or competition. Tritium gas absorbs and retains light from external surfaces and can last up to a decade without dimming. The sights themselves are very bright, and the three-dot sights each have a tritium lamp installed. Each tritium lamp is capped with a sapphire window. This window distributes light evenly and protects the sight without reducing visibility. Trijicon night sights are difficult to beat for a defensive handgun.

Versatility

The intention of Trijicon Bright and Tough sights is purely defensive and it shows. The sight is compact for easy carry and use of most standard holsters. The sight’s tritium lamps are surrounded by bright white photoluminescent paint. This paint makes the sights easy to use during the day. This makes them versatile for defensive use, and still capable of action shooting. The sights excel in both day and night shooting, instead of focusing on being better at one or another.

Trijicon HD Night Sights VS Trijicon Bright & Tough Night Sights

Meprolight Tru-Dot Night Sights (Meprolight vs Trijicon Night Sights Product 2)

Meprolight’s Tru-Dot Night sights are designed to have a self-contained glowing lamp in a three-dot variety. Meprolight uses Tritium light sources that are enclosed in a metal base. These sights are maintenance-free light sources that do not require an external source of energy to use, and bright regardless of where the weapon is stored. The sights have a 15-year guarantee for usable light under all weather conditions.

Visibility

Meprolight’s Tru-Dot sights are incredibly bright and easy to see regardless of external light conditions. Meprolight night sights are the brightest night sights available, and sometimes it can be overwhelming. When using the sight in complete darkness, it can be somewhat overwhelming. At least, until your eyes adjust to it. This brightness level barely dims over the years and is very easy to use at night.

Versatility

Tru Dot night sights are available for nearly any firearm out there. This includes some less popular manufacturers like CZ, Walther, and, of course, the big boys like Glock and Smith and Wesson. Meprolight offers a very versatile set of adjustable night sights. This would allow users to adjust their sights to fit their shooting style and maximize their precision and accuracy. The sights do lack photoluminescent paint, and they are rather dim during the day, which is a difference between these and Trijicon sights.

Glock: Meprolight Tru Dot Night Sight

Rifle Night Sights – What to Look for:

While scopes and red dots are the new norm when it comes to rifles, iron sights will always be an important feature to any rifle. Both Trijicon and Meprolight make an AR 15 front sight that can be used at night. These night-sight AR 15 front posts are both rather unique and because the AR 15 front sight is used on so many different platforms that the front posts are interchangeable on several different rifles.

Trijicon Front Sight for Rifles (Trijicon vs Meprolight Night Sights Product 3)

The Trijicon front sight is a square shaped design that houses a tritium lamp. This sight is made entirely from metal and requires a small front sight tool, which is included with the Trijicon front sight. Installation is very simple and can be done without the aid of a gunsmith. The rifle will need to be zeroed with this new sight.

Visibility

The single front sight is superbly bright, like all Trijicon night sights. The lamps is filled with tritium gas that absorbs light, and provides an instant bright light feedback. Like Trijicon’s pistol sights, the lamp is surrounded by photoluminescent paint for precise daylight shooting.

Versatility

The sight is sufficient for both day and night shooting. The photoluminescent paint is handy but is not required for use at night. The standard design of a right sight makes it easy to use regardless of the paint. The sight itself is much more versatile than a standard AR front sight and is an affordable upgrade.  And if you want the rear sights also (as shown in the video below), you can always get the Trijicon front and rear sight package (see it here); but the package can’t ship to California or outside the US.

Trijicon AR-15 Night Sights

Meprolight Front Sight for Rifles (Trijicon vs Meprolight Night Sights Product 4)

This Meprolight front sight is a round, thin point designed for extremely precise shooting. This Meprolight front sight has an oval shaped lamp that is filled with tritium gas. The sight is very bright and easy to install. A tool is required but not included, but it’s cheap and convenient to purchase (see one here).

Visibility

Following their reputation as the brightest night sights out there, the front sight is quite bright also. The green glowing orb is extremely easy to see in all low light levels. This visibility is certainly appreciated by the police and military who utilize them.

Versatility

This Meprolight front sight post is not a square design, but a sharpened peg style. This allows the sight to be easily used in the day without the need of photoluminescent paint. The peg design makes daylight, long distance shots both precise and accurate. The Meprolight sights are effective in all environments and light conditions.

Meprolight vs Trijicon Night Sights – Comparison and Showdown:

Both the Meprolight and Trijicon brands are extremely well made and can be used across a wide variety of weapons. Both companies produce functional and effective sites for both day and night shooting. It’s hard to choose one over the other, but Trijicon is typically tougher and more expensive (check current prices, though). Meprolight sights have longer lasting tritium lamps but are not as strong as Trijicon models. The functionality of Meprolight sights makes them more versatile and precise, which are perfect for shooting sports. Trijicon sights are extremely durable and capable of going to war and coming back. Take your pick. Trust us, either will work fine.

  • Owner of Reloaderaddict.com, Boyd Smith is a major handgun enthusiast, and although he owns Glocks, he prefers the revolving wheel type. His go-to guns are a Smith & Wesson 642 Performance Center for carry and a Ruger GP100 in the nightstand biometric safe (he has kids). He loads both revolvers with old-school 148-grain Federal Gold Medal .38 wadcutters. It’s OK if you think he’s a wimp. Email him.

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2 responses

  1. I have an old original Kimberly ultra carry in 45 cal that I love. I purchased it when you could still walk into the Yonkers factory and leave your weapon for the custom shop I had the meprolight sights put on, loved them but they are not functioning now. I was wondering if fiber optic sights would be a better replacement (I AM 65 WITH GLASSES AND EYES NOT LIKE THEY USED TO BE) and would they be brighter and last longer and how difficult are they to install.
    Any feedback or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
    Semper Fi
    Gordon Shaw
    Email [email protected]

    • It’s hard to say. I use fiber optics on all my semi-autos–green fiber optics in the front and I totally black out the back so they look like Brian Vogel’s set. The front sight glows like a mini-sun during the day but is useless at night. I’d get this or, even if you’re using the gun primarily as a self-defense weapon, the XS Big Dots for night shooting.

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