I'm looking to get night sights for my XD9, and I'm looking at diamond speedsights. Not having had the chance to shoot in low light conditions, do you find tritium in the front to be sufficient, or do you recommend full tritium front and back? I'd rather not spend the extra money for full tritium, but since this will be my primary HD firearm, I'll gladly pay extra if it helps. Alternately, do any of  you prefer a tritium front only set-up? I'm wondering if it will help me to focus on the front sight.

I have 2x pistols with Ttirium sights, one of which I use for home defense. In my opinion, having just the front sight is not sufficient in a pure no light scenario. You might be able to get away with it in a low light situation but I think it will make getting a proper sight picture harder.

I have the poor man's night sights on one of my pistols, i.e. phosphorescent paint.

 

I painted just the front dot first, killed the lights and realized I would either have to settle for "I hope that's close enough" or take a loooooong time to set up a sight picture by "blocking out" the front sight with the invisible rear sights until I was sure I had a good position.

 

Painted the rear dots and sight acquisition was super fast.

 

 

NB: I'm not recommending glow paint, BTW. It's not really reliable (has to be "charged" by bright light to work and fades within minutes). I only have it on that gun because it's a back up to a back up.

Night sights are ideal for finding your gun in the dark.

 

If it's so dark that you need need sights, perhaps your should rethink pulling that trigger until you can positively identify the target.

 

Yes, I know, you could have a surefire light underneath the barrel or the perp is lit and you are in the darkness.    I suspect that it's very rare for there to be a situation that allows for deadly force that is so dark that you can't see your sights.

Reality .....
In a HD situation <10yds..... You will be point shooting... And after first shot the flash will prevent your eyes from seeing the sights for a bit regardless .....

Go to the range and practice holster draw and firing without using your sights ....

 

Point Shooting I found was an great skill to practice for these situations....

 

SigSauer Academy has a whole 1 day course dedicated to this one skill....  One of the best classes I ever took

Thanks all. I do have a weaponlight, and I figure worst case scenario, I can just keep a flashlight nearby for now. I just signed up for a GFH low-light class tomorrow, so hopefully that will help.

Reality .....

In a HD situation <10yds..... You will be point shooting...

 

This^

 

I measured all the distances in my place. The furthest that I would be taking a shot is 23 feet (<8 yds) (downstairs rec room) unless I happen to be in this one corner and I'm shooting all the way across the opposite corner, which is extremely unlikely. And even that's only 35 feet.

 

Bedroom, living room, ktichen area, all 10-20 feet.