Truglo TFX Pro Review – Upgrade Your Pistol’s Iron Sights

If you own a handgun for home defense or everyday carry use, you need it to function reliably regardless of what kind of conditions you find yourself in. And since most home defense scenarios occur at night, that means being able to clearly see and accurately aim at a potentially violent intruder.

You might already own a flashlight (preferably mounted to your pistol), but that's only half of the equation. A good set of tritium night sights is also something that no home defense weapon should be caught without – if your flashlight battery gives out or if you have trouble lining up your shot under a low light, high stress situation, it could be the difference between life and death.

Enter the Truglo TFX Pro sights: these combination tritium / fiber-optic day/night sights replace your handgun's standard irons, offering a clear sight picture whether it's the middle of the day or the dead of night. Let's take a closer look at these sights and what they have to offer you.

Overview

For those who aren't familiar with this type of sight, the Truglo TFX Pro is a set of replacement handgun sights that uses a combination of glow-in-the-dark tritium capsules and fiber-optic material that are ideal for virtually any application. Tritium is highly visible at night but almost invisible during the day, while fiber-optic sights are excellent for daytime shooting but hard to see at night.

By combining the two, Truglo has created hybrid pistol sights that offer maximum visibility in any lighting conditions. Not only that, the TFX Pro sets itself apart from some of the older and less expensive models by also having a high-contrast orange ring around the front sight dot, which makes target acquisition even easier—exactly what you're looking for in defensive situations where fractions of a second matter.

What's In The Box?

For this review, we specifically looked at the Glock sights, which are compatible with everything from the Glock 17 to the Glock 43—Truglo offers the sights for other makes and models of handgun as well, but their Glock sights are by far their biggest seller and we wanted to make sure our review covered the most common configuration they sell.

The Truglo TFX Pro sights come packaged with the front and rear sights, an allen wrench for adjusting them, and a Gen-4 only front sight screw (the front sight comes with a pre-Gen-4 screw already installed, so you can easily swap them out if need be).

Do you need anything else to install these sights? That depends. If you bought your Glock new, you probably already have the Glock front sight tool that you'll need to remove the original front sight and install the new one. If not, you'll have to buy one in order to install these (it's possible that you could use something else to get it off, but I wouldn't recommend risking it).

A sight pusher tool would also be handy, but it's a fairly pricey tool if you only plan on using it once, and you can get by with a little extra elbow grease and a bit of swearing.

In all honesty, if you lack the tools or just don't feel confident swapping them out yourself, it's not a bad idea to just take it to your local gunsmith – it should be a quick and inexpensive job and you won't have to worry if you got it exactly right or not.

Features

Hybrid Tritium / Fiber-Optic Design

This is the feature that sets Truglo sights apart from their cheaper competitors and imitators. Using both tritium rods and fiber-optic materials gives you great visibility at all times of day and in all light conditions, which is perfect for an all-purpose carry pistol or a home defense weapon. The Pro model's orange front sight post ring makes it even easier to quickly and easily line up your shot under pressure, and gives you a bit of extra contrast when shooting targets during the day.

Sealed Capsules

Tritium rods are actually fairly fragile, and most night sights leave them as exposed as possible to maximize the amount of ambient light they can pull in and increase the intensity of the glow. Truglo sights go the other direction, encasing the rods in CNC-machined steel and a “Fortress Finish'' coating that adds an additional layer of protection against rust and solvents.

This also ensures that the handgun's recoil doesn't loosen up the capsules to the point that they simply fall out, which can certainly happen with cheaper night sight products.

While this does result in slightly dimmer rods compared to some other night sights, it is a price worth paying for the incredible durability that it gets in exchange. If you are trusting your sights with your life, you don't want to find out that one of the rods has broken or fallen out at the worst possible moment.

Angled Rear Sight Edge

It may seem like a minor thing, but the Truglo TFX Pro's angled rear sight is actually a pretty nice feature, giving you something firm to catch onto if you need to manipulate the slide one-handed in order to reload or clear a jam.

While you obviously don't want to be stuck using a pistol with one hand, it's nice to know that this feature is here just in case. Tactical self defense means preparing for all sorts of potential situations, and it's not hard to imagine scenarios that would require you to use this, such as having to drag or carry an object or person, or if you are injured.

I will say that the rear sights are pretty sharp, to the point that if you are having these installed by a gunsmith, I would recommend asking them to very slightly file the edges down. It won't impact their effectiveness, but it will make racking the slide with one hand significantly more comfortable.

Overall Performance

In all honestly, there isn't much to criticize about these sights. They're built like an absolute tank , they're much easier to use than the stock sights in both daylight and night conditions, and they give you an edge in home defense / self defense situations.

Do keep in mind that these aren't competition-style sights, which means you aren't going to be able to make fine-tune adjustments to them. They're designed to help you rapidly put rounds on a man-sized target at close range, so while they'll work just fine in most 3-gun settings, I would look elsewhere if you are interested strictly in competitive shooting.

If I had to nitpick, there are brighter night sights on the market, but that's because they leave the fragile tritium capsules fully exposed. Slightly better visibility doesn't mean much if your night sights are broken when it counts.

It's also worth mentioning that the Pro front sight is just a touch taller than the factory-standard Glock one, so make sure you check the fit with your holster before making it a part of your EDC loadout. It shouldn't be a problem with most holsters on the market, but if yours is already a super-tight fit, it might require a little filing to avoid snagging.

If you want the short version, here's a quick list:

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Borderline indestructible durability    

• Hybrid sight design for excellent visibility both day and night

• Easy to use one-handed if necessary 

Cons

• Slightly dimmer than some competitors 

• Not particularly budget-friendly 

Alternatives

1. Trijicon HD XR Night Sight Set

You're probably familiar with Trijicon based on their reputation in the optics world, and these night sights live up to those same standards of quality and durability (backed up by an excellent warranty). Like the Truglo sights, these use enclosed tritium capsules to protect the sights from damage, and they even feel a little bit sturdier.

I would say the Truglo sights are just a little bit brighter, but you would be hard-pressed to notice unless you were comparing them side by side. The front sight post is also a touch taller, which again could potentially cause problems with extremely snug holsters.

2. Night Fision Sights

3. XS Sights DXT2 Big Dot Tritium Sights

If you're looking for something a little bit different in terms of sight design, the XS Sights Big Dot certainly fits the bill. Instead of using the traditional cutout U-notch sight shape, the Big Dot uses a low-profile rear sight with no cutout, paired with an oversized, tritium-illuminated front sight.

The theory is that the large front sight allows for the fastest possible target acquisition, and since you don't need to spend time aligning the front and rear sight posts, you can get shots on target faster when those split seconds matter. I wouldn't expect to be making accurate shots out past 25 yards with these sights, but in CQB situations they make a compelling case.

4. Truglo TFO Sights

If the Pro sights are just out of your budget, Truglo's more budget-friendly TFO sights are still a very solid pick. They aren't built quite as tough as the Pro sights, and you lose out on the angled rear sight feature, but otherwise you're getting very similar performance for about half the price. If you simply can't stretch your budget, these are still absolutely an upgrade over the standard Glock sights, especially on an HD pistol.

The Verdict

Truglo TFX Pro sights are absolutely an option I would recommend for anyone who wants some extra peace of mind out of their EDC / home defense weapon. The absolute rock-solid build quality gives me confidence that these will get the job done, whether it's in a defensive situation or on a 3-gun course.

If you're looking for rugged, highly visible iron sights, and you're not satisfied with the underwhelming performance and so-so precision of your Glock’s factory sights, these sights will be a night and day difference –excuse the pun. They're not cheap, but they're worth every penny.

And if you want to alleviate some of the sting on your wallet, we recommend picking up your sights from a certified retailer on either Amazon or OpticsPlanet, both of which offer great customer service and some of the lowest prices you'll find on Truglo products.

Parting Shots

A good pair of sights is absolutely essential when it comes to getting the best performance out of your handgun, and if you're like me, you'll be amazed how much difference an upgrade can make. Faster target acquisition, better visibility, and an easier time focusing on the front sight post all contribute to putting more rounds exactly where you want them.

Do you have a pair of these sights on your Glock? Did we leave off any other alternatives that you think we should know about? Sound off in the comments below and let us know what you think! We love hearing from readers and your feedback helps us decide what topics to cover next.