Good things happen when you combine the best of two excellent handgun sights. That is exactly what AmeriGlo did when they developed the I-Dot Pro sights. They combined the innovative front sight from the Hackathorn sights and excellent rear sight from the I-Dot sights. The results are amazing.
You can't miss this front sight! This picture approximates the shooter's point of view (on a Glock 17 RTF2 for reference). Click to enlarge.
Stats
- Front sight width: .140″ (note: this is slightly wider than the standard I-Dot front)
- Rear sight notch: .180″
- Price: $89
Front Sight
The I-Dot Pro sights borrow the front sight from the Hackathorn sights. It is slightly taller to work with the taller I-Dot rear sight and slightly wider (.140″ versus .125″) to accommodate a large red-orange ring around the tritium vial insert. This red-orange paint makes the front sight amazingly fast to pick up in daylight conditions. It reminds me of a red dot sight or a fiber-optic front sight. You really have to spend some time with this front sight on the range to appreciate it. It works extremely well in low light as well thanks to the tritium vial insert.
The bright red ring on the front sight is borrowed from the Hackathorn sights. Click to enlarge.
Rear Sight
The rear sight is identical to the rear sight used for the I-Dot sights which is to say that it is excellent. The notch is relatively wide (like most AmeriGlo rear sights) at .180″. This makes it faster and easier to find the front sight when the gun is brought to eye level on the draw stroke. The rear sight is also undercut which really cuts down on glare.
The bottom corners of the notch are rounded similar to a u-notch (unlike a true u-notch, the bottom is flat). These rounded corners serve to remove all of the hard edges from the sight picture except the important ones.
The rear sight features a single tritium vile insert that does not have a white outline which makes it appear smaller than the insert in the front sight. Everything about this rear sight is designed to help you focus on the front sight.
The I-Dot Pro rear sight features a single tritium vile that is not outlined and a wide notch with rounded corners. Click to enlarge.
The rear sight has many of it’s edges melted so it is snag free. However, the leading edge of the rear sight is left squared so that the sight can be used to cycle the slide in an emergency by catching it on a belt, holster, table top, or any other suitable surface. This may be an important feature if you train one handed manipulations.
The I-Dot Pro rear sight has mostly "melted" corners except the leading edge which is intentionally left squared. Notice the slight undercutting of the rear sight. Click to enlarge.
In Use
These perform very well on the range. The wide rear notch makes finding the front sight very fast and easy. I didn’t see much of a difference in my splits between the I-Dot Pros and the standard I-Dots but there is something very confidence inspiring about knowing that you will be able to find that huge red dot quickly. The red dot becomes even more brilliant in sunlight. It is tough to miss.
I didn’t see any measurable accuracy decrease from the wider front sight (versus the standard I-Dots). If anything, the wider front seems to align more intuitively than the narrower front on the standard I-Dots. I was less distracted by the “daylight” showing on either side of the front sight. This may have to do with the proportions of the front sight to the wide rear notch.
The 2 dot set up is very intuitive in low light. The front tritium vial insert seems brighter and it grabs my focus naturally. Low light shooting is difficult enough as it is so it is nice that these sights really seem to work with you rather than against you as with some 3 dot night sight set ups.
AmeriGlo continues to innovate. By combining the best features from two successful sight sets, they have created a set of sights that is more than the sum of its parts. The I-Dot Pro sights offer a balance of speed and precision while performing exceptionally well in both daylight and low light conditions. These sights, at this price, are pretty hard to beat.
Check out the AmeriGlo I-Dot Pros at AmeriGlo’s website.
