AmeriGlo Independent Light (www.ameriglo.com) was kind enough to send a sample of their "Operator" 3 dot green/yellow tritium night sights for review. At my request AmeriGlo supplied sights for a Glock, and I installed them on my Glock 19. The sights install exactly as would Glock sights. (Glock, in fact, offers similar Trijicon night sights on new pistols.)

AmeriGlo night sights are powered by Trijicon tritium tubes, and so marked. In the words of AmeriGlo's Rick Callihan, "We make the metal here in Georgia, then send it to Trijicon where the tritium is installed. Trijicon sends it back to us and we then distribute the finished product." Those who haven't seen tritium sights at night but are old enough to remember radium numbers on wrist watches can visualize approximately how three dot tritium night sights look in the dark.

AmeriGlo's Trijicon front and rear sights use a tiny, sealed, glass vial of tritium with a guaranteed life of 12 years to produce the glow. A sapphire lens distributes the glow from the tritium for best visibility at night. The front sight's tritium insert is larger than the inserts in the rear sight to increase its visibility. To protect the glass vial containing the pressurized tritium gas, the glass container is silicon rubber cushioned in an aluminum tube. There is a white ring at the visible end of the front sight to catch the eye in daylight, and in daylight these flat top Patridge type sights are aligned normally.

The most popular Operator set, and the one sent to me for review, uses a green tritium insert in the front sight and yellow tritium inserts in the rear sight to aid alignment and avoid confusion in the dark. Green/green Operator sights are also available. The sight picture at night is three softly glowing dots, which are aligned in a row (green flanked on each side by yellow) on the target. Bang! The target is neutralized. At least that is how it is supposed to work. Fortunately, I have not had to try it for real, but the system works fine in practice sessions.

AmeriGlo sights are available online or through AmeriGlo dealers. The Glock set tested retails for $99 on the AmeriGlo web site. Tritium insert night sights do no harm in daylight (the glow from the tritium is not visible) and are a definite advantage over standard "white dot" sights at night so, aside from price, there is no reason not to have them on a pistol that may be called upon to serve in darkness.

Also available from AmeriGlo are standard, all metal (no tritium inserts) front and rear sight sets for Glock pistols. These black Patridge type sights are a worthwhile replacement for the stock Glock polymer sights when the latter start to show holster wear--as they do. The all metal sights don't glow in the dark, but they do provide a good sight picture in daylight and last a lot longer than polymer sights. AmeriGlo non-tritium sights cost $99 for an adjustable target set or $45 for a standard combat (non-adjustable) set.