Sight advice


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Thinking about going to a pendulum sight for hunting. Would like input from those that have had experience with them. Am interested in one that has a lighted fiber optic pin. Wanting to know of any noise problems, issues of pendulum sticking, accuracy, ease of set up.....etc. Thank you. This is my first post here.

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The big problem with projected dot sights like the Summit is the dots are just as visible to the animal in front of you as they are to you.

That little flash in the corner of their eye will get you BUSTED!

You can certainly use sights like that successfully if you keep that limitation in mind.

BTW, same thing happens with pin illuminating lights.

IMO, best to get the brightest fiber optic pin you can or even a tritium lit one. Less to think about is better.

Honestly, I've come to the conclusion there is absolutely no real good reason for a pendulum sight if you are going to limit your shots to 35yds and under. Many bows nowadays shoot plenty flat enough to put the arrow in the vitals out to 25yds, some even further. Set your first pin so that it hits 3 inch high at 5yds. Then figure out at what distance it hits 3 inch low. You might be able to shoot a lot further than you think with just one pin. No need for a pendulum inside that distance.

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I use an Impact " all terrain" pendulum sight and love it. It puts the arrow on the mark from 0-35 yds from an elevated position. It also locks down and is adjustable for ground shooting with a slider and yardage markers. Great for 3-d and great for hunting with just one pin. I had missed several deer in the past with a 3pin sight, pins were set @ 20,30,40yds, when the deer would walk by my tree at 0-5 yds I would shoot high and completely miss the deer.The kicker came when I went to Illinois for the first time and had the buck of my lifetime(so far) go by at less than 5 yds.Expirience told me to hold my 20 yd pin low,so I put it about a foot or so below the deers chest and just BARELY spined that buck. After getting down and putting an arrow through his lungs(at 20 yds) and finally killing him I realized that another half inch higher on that first shot and that deer keeps running....If I had a pendulum on that day, I'd put that pin on the sweet spot and hit sweet spot....alot less margin for error and as long as its inside 35yds you don't have to think about distance. Bass Pro shops had them on sale a little while ago for like $80.

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Thanks pateski and leo, the more info I get the better decision I'll be able to make. Where I hunt I would rarely get a shot in excess of 30 yds. And so far in 14 years of bowhunting have not had a shot beyond 25 yds with 90% of my shots being 20 yds and under. That is the reason I was considering a pendulum sight. Have shot fixed pin sights since day one and just considering making a change.

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Guest ohbowhntr
Thanks pateski and leo, the more info I get the better decision I'll be able to make. Where I hunt I would rarely get a shot in excess of 30 yds. And so far in 14 years of bowhunting have not had a shot beyond 25 yds with 90% of my shots being 20 yds and under. That is the reason I was considering a pendulum sight. Have shot fixed pin sights since day one and just considering making a change.

BO,

I'd honestly tell you to stay away from a Pendulum site, and just try shots at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 yds pretty regularly from and elevated position and see how they hit. Even with a medium speed set-up, my older bow I just got rid of was about 260FPS, and I pretty much knew that my 24yd pin was gonna be about 3" high at 14-15 yards, no matter what I did, but the straight down to 5 yd shots were actually RIGHT on, 10 a touch high, 20 about the same, and 24 was back to dead on. I also would may advise against getting a single pin, unless you're getting a slider, because that longer range practice helps you refine your form a little, and makes those shorter shot like "lay-ups." Just my $.02, but that's what I've done and helped a couple friends do, and it's worked well. Good Luck either way.

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ok im gonna throw my two cents in also. imho save your money and invest in some geometry lessons thats what i did. i honestly can't remember the websight i read a few years ago but in a nutshell it goes like this: depending on how flat your setup is this may differ alittle. ok i hang my stand at 15 feet with a 25 35 45 pin set, so a rough 25 yard shot at 15 feet up is roughly the same as 10 yard level shot putting your 25 yard pin dead center. the same thing applies for my 35 and 45, they will be like taking a 25 and 35 yard level shot with those pins dead center. this has worked for me for years maybe you can have some luck with it but it might need some adjusting depending on your setup

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Guest ohbowhntr
ok im gonna throw my two cents in also. imho save your money and invest in some geometry lessons thats what i did. i honestly can't remember the websight i read a few years ago but in a nutshell it goes like this: depending on how flat your setup is this may differ alittle. ok i hang my stand at 15 feet with a 25 35 45 pin set, so a rough 25 yard shot at 15 feet up is roughly the same as 10 yard level shot putting your 25 yard pin dead center. the same thing applies for my 35 and 45, they will be like taking a 25 and 35 yard level shot with those pins dead center. this has worked for me for years maybe you can have some luck with it but it might need some adjusting depending on your setup

Not exactly Will. It has to do with "Horizontal distance." If your 20feet up, and a deer is by line of sight 40 yds away, you'd better use your 40yds pin unless you want to go home hanging your head. With today's FAST bows, the biggest change you'll see is going to be closer, rather than farther away, and the variation isn't really going to be that much, but 3" especially on a 45 degree angle of ENTRY makes a big difference between a dead deer and a SLICED backstrap.

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Thinking about going to a pendulum sight for hunting. Would like input from those that have had experience with them. Am interested in one that has a lighted fiber optic pin. Wanting to know of any noise problems, issues of pendulum sticking, accuracy, ease of set up.....etc. Thank you. This is my first post here.

If you haven't tried the Summit Hot Dot you don't know what you are missing.I can shoot 0 to 45 yds. in a tree stand and not worry about yardage.You can also set single pins there are six single dots by just turning a dial.I shot a doe at 45 yds. and a nice buck right under my treestand 20' up.Its nice looking at just that little red dot. Great in low light.You can brighten dot in day time or dim it in low light.Everything is inclose and only weights onces. Best sight I' used in 20 yrs. of bowhunting.You have to try it to see how good it realy is.It is pricey but worth ervery dollar.Mil.

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Thinking about going to a pendulum sight for hunting. Would like input from those that have had experience with them. Am interested in one that has a lighted fiber optic pin. Wanting to know of any noise problems, issues of pendulum sticking, accuracy, ease of set up.....etc. Thank you. This is my first post here.

Personally i have used both Keller and Tru-Glo pendulum sights. I have taken deer with both sights without any problems. Although, the Tru-Glo pin was easier to see..Both are great sights..

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If you haven't tried the Summit Hot Dot you don't know what you are missing.I can shoot 0 to 45 yds. in a tree stand and not worry about yardage.You can also set single pins there are six single dots by just turning a dial.I shot a doe at 45 yds. and a nice buck right under my treestand 20' up.Its nice looking at just that little red dot. Great in low light.You can brighten dot in day time or dim it in low light.Everything is inclose and only weights onces. Best sight I' used in 20 yrs. of bowhunting.You have to try it to see how good it realy is.It is pricey but worth ervery dollar.Mil.

I did a little more research on this sight because of your comments.

I now have to humbly eat my own words about the game seeing the light on all lighted sights. Apparently, and this should be no surprise to Summit fans they have addressed that issue with this sight. Leave it to Summit to figure it out! Light from the sight ONLY goes to the shooter. According to their website NO light is visible to the game! This is a MAJOR improvement on these types of sights and is very significant.

The sight can be toggled from pendulum or multipin mode with the flip of a switch. So if you decide you don't like pendulum mode, no biggy. Just flip the switch and your pre-programmed multi-pin settings pop up.

The sight has a "Sleep" mode. It automatically turns off when motionless for 5minutes to conserve battery power. The big difference here is this is a real "Sleep" mode. As soon as you pick up the bow or move it (ie. to draw it) it automatically turns ITSELF back on!

Thanks for your post. You've got me looking seriously at this sight now. This is a different critter than I first thought it was.

Note: Because of the battery power, it may not be legal in every state. So check your regs.

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