Nitesiters - Quick Look

"TRANSFORMS YOUR PLAIN SIGHTS INTO NIGHT SIGHTS" - Visit the Nitesiters website, and this is one of the first lines you'll see. A company so confident in their product, they're willing to commit an Internet faux-pas equivalent to shouting every word in a sentence. Was it worth it? Wildecard has a look!

Overview

What? Adhesive UV activated night sights

Who? By Nitesiters LLC
Where? Nitesiters.com

How Much? US$11.98 - US$16.98 (plus postage)

I attended a rather excellent introduction to AIPSC style shooting last weekend and was chatting with the organisers (here's a quick and rather unashamed shout out to REDCON, in particular Pete and Matt who hosted). As we were shooting in low light conditions, a pistol light was of course my first choice of accessory but the discussion then moved onto "where are your sights?" - we were shooting parts of the course in pitch black darkness. I hadn't really thought about that -- I had been point shooting the whole course using my torch, but after further discussion, I left convinced that I had to have enhanced sights that would work in low light.

The standard TM G18C sights are what you would expect. A front dot with a u-shaped rear open sight. Passable in broad daylight but practically invisible once the ambient light levels drop off. Something had to be done. I searched for Tritium sights on the internet but baulked at the price, eventually I found out about Nitesiters on a random post over on Arnie's Airsoft and popped over to the site to have a look.

For a little over £7 (not including p&p) Nitesiters promise to provide a solution that is 5 times brighter than Tritium and usable in all lighting conditions. Intrigued? I was!

In the box

Nitesiters provide two main options, a pack of the smaller 1/16" inch and also a pack of the larger 1/8" dots that also includes strips. The second pack was promoted as ideal for Glocks - due to the inexpensive price and my own uncertainty about the application of this product, I ordered both.

The smaller dots are bundled 8 to a box, with the other package split 4 dots and 4 strips. Very good value for money, you can easily equip several weapons with Nitesiters with some forward planning!

Arriving in an impressively speedy 4 days after ordering (including a weekend) in a nicely padded envelope, I was dismayed to open it and find two Nitesiters packages that looked exactly the same. Afraid there had been a mistake during processing I checked the slip on the envelope which confirmed I had ordered one of each different option pack. Fudge, I thought - might as well open one up. Turns out Nitesiters puts both option types in the same packaging (right down to accompanying codes, etc). The first pack I opened had the Glock-friendly strips in it. Phew!

Inside accompanying the Nitesiter dots and/or strips are a couple of cotton buds and small tooth picks to help with precise positioning. A sharp razor blade to prise the Nitesiters out of their box and some super-glue to use in addition to the "industrial adhesive" backing already on the Nitesiters. Not pictured: an alcohol swab to aid with cleaning your gun sights ready for application - Beware, it will take the paint off your TM sights! 

Well written and easy to follow instructions are also provided, though most people can probably get by on intuition alone here, which is a major strength of this product.

Installation

Fitting the Nitesiters was extremely easy and reading through the included instructions probably took longer than it did to apply the first dot! Here's the 10 second (or less) version:

- Clean your sights with the swab and let them dry.

- Use the razor blade to remove the Nitesiters

- Slide them off the razor using a tooth pick and apply pressure to stick them in place

Very, very easy, even without a vice to hold your gun still. 

Glock 18C sights before...

..and after!

Performance

I found the 1/16th" dots to be perfect for the existing front dot sight on my Glock. The strips were also perfect for width but I did have to cut them to length to fit the uprights of the rear sights, a hassle-free and minor modification. 

A quick ten-second shine of a tactical torch made the sights glow extremely brightly and they could be seen even indoors in a well lit room. Impressive! Nitesiters LLC suggest that 5 minutes of sunlight, close lamp light or UV light will provide many hours of luminosity. So far I've given maybe a total of 30 seconds of tac torch light (from the rather excellent Klarus XT10 on full blast) and the sights have stayed visible in complete darkness for 90 minutes now. 

Though this does come with a caveat. They have faded quite badly by now -- that said, they are infinitely more visible than the stock sights, so I would still suggest this is a tick in the "is it an upgrade?" box! Not bad for a quick charge.

 I was very impressed with the initial results on the Glock and unpacked my HK45 for the same treatment. As before the front dot went on very well. However, the rear dots, which are slightly recessed and bowl-like were a bit more fiddly to install. The Nitesiters are flexible enough and you can prod them to sit in the recess. However, the additional force does mean the dots can slip out disconcertingly. Attempting to adjust one of the dots in the situation almost caused it to pop out onto the floor. Almost!

I didn't use any of the supplied glue this time around, but in future installations and for peace of mind, I'd recommend that the glue is used. In any case the results were just as impressive as with the Glock. Here's a photo of stock dot versus the Nightsiters on my HK45.

The stock dot is the one on the left (if you can see it)!

Final Thoughts

Obviously this is only a very quick look at Nightsiters and I have yet to field test them. Time will tell if the standard 'industrial' strength adhesive will be enough to secure the dots without additional glue. I'm planning to skirmish over the next few weekends so hopefully I'll be able to provide an update in the near future.

In the meantime, here are some quick pros and cons.

Pros

- Inexpensive

- Good value for money

- Easy to install

- Bright and easily charged

- Excellent, quick, no hassle service from Nitesighters LLC

Cons

- Require an external light source to charge
- Standard Adhesive may not last in some applications

Recommendation

Based on my initial experience of Nitesiters, I would recommend them for anyone wanting to try some night sights without putting down a lot of cash. Fortunately, in Airsoft, the extra time spent charging your dots before an engagement won't mean you'll be killed to death in Real Life. 

What you'll get for your effort are an enhanced set of sights that have truly better visibility in all lighting conditions, with quicker acquisition in low light.