Garmin Bow sight
 

This looks pretty cool, kills two birds with one stone.

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/fi...tal-bow-sight/

Still over twice the price of having those two units separate. Not as easy to give your buddy a range, can’t use it for your rifle or another bow if you want/need to.
The thing that turns me off the most is the obscene price tag, but you know they’ll sell.

I hear IQ is making a version of it that's less than 1/3 the cost.

Remember Leupold Attempt?
 

I recall Leupold tried something, albeit not as sophisticated, a few years back and it didn't catch on. Time will tell but unlikely there will be one on my bows.

Looks pretty cool to me. With the price of my slider sight and my range finder, I’m pretty close to what that thing costs. If I had no worries about cash, I’d buy one for sure. Still trying to save for a new bow, and the price of this sight is almost as much as a new Hoyt!

At $1000 US for this sight, it is possible to hit that mark with stuff on the market, yes. I feel I have some of the best stuff out there, at least for the time it was purchased, and I’m not even at $1000 Canadian, and I’m more versatile in what I have.
I have no doubts that this will sell like wildfire though. It’s just not even close to desirable to me.

I wonder what the recourse is when the batteries conk out during a hunt?

It would be fun to try, I have to admit.

I cant wait for Mathews to team up with Garmin and make a bow that can draw and shoot for you :sign0176:

As with any battery powered equipment, carrying spares goes a long way to piece of mind for me. A set of batteries weigh ounces, a dead radio or rangefinder weighs so much more heavy on my heart and head.

The Garmin sight runs on AAA. I'm always carrying spares for my radios in that battery size, nothing to just use the spares for the sight if needed.

I may need to look at this sight once it comes down to at least 1/2 the current price.

J.

Good point, jcrawford.

I dont like the fact there is no physical pins....battery or sight itself fails and no sight at all?

what about rain, light snow, fog? Even my leica has a tough time in those conditions....if this thing doesnt get a clear range you dont even get an aiming point?

no thanks

You can program it with pins for certain distances so if you are good at ranging without a finder you can still shot like a normal 5 or 7 pin sight.

Ya but if the batteries die does it store your arrow trajectory info for when you power it back up?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

That I don't know.... Just started investigating myself. But that's a great question!

J.

[QUOTE=Jamie Black R/T;3712664]I dont like the fact there is no physical pins....battery or sight itself fails and no sight at all?

This would be my biggest issue. Also, imagine a freezing fog. It would ice up that reflective glass on that sight real fast. I'll stick to my spotthogg for now

I really like the idea of linking it to GPS which could be great for tracking and patterning, similar to GPS fish finders.

Yes but it's a standard sight with integrated range finder. Quite a bit different than the Garmin.

LC

Very cool product but man imagine if this was to break or stop working in the field. What a night mare that would be

I agree it looks like a really cool product. I would like to try it at a range or 3d shoot, but if I've learned anything about bow hunting.... if it can go wrong it will, and until I gained some confidence in it, I would be afraid of issues in the field.

Grittybowman just did two podcasts about their experience with it first with the people from Garmin second with the testers reviews where overall positive the biggest negative was the learning curve on how to use the sight. They where hunting in Texas and did miss a couple opportunities due to what they called user errors. Granted they where hunting with the sight after only two hours of setup. The one resounding positive they mentioned which I found interesting and apparently a unintentional from Garmin was while ranging there are as I understand it two circles you have to line up. What this forces you to do is have proper form and acts as a form check prior to shooting. Personally I don’t buy the cost justification that it replaces your hand held range finder. The sight only ranges to 100 which is plenty for shooting but I use my range finder for a lot more then just shooting. I would still carry a hand held. For the concerns above it battery life they estimate with normal use batteries should last a year. Sounds like a cool site that would of potentially got me my first moose last season instead of miss but the predicted cost way to high my opinion. I am looking at getting a new site but currently more interested in the Surelock Carbonix.

Its a neat idea but really nothing a range finder and good shooter cant already do without having something die. Heavy and expensive. I wouldn't buy one

I’m with ya Ill stick with my rangefinder and my iq bow sight they have treated me great for years.

I listened to this too. There was no mention of cold weather use in our Canadian climate, which makes me sceptical. They were shooting hogs in Texas. Sounds like they liked the sight though. I like how you can limit yourself to a predetermined range that you choose. If your target is further than your range limit you have set the sight for then no pins will pop up for you.

Spoke with Lawrence at Accurate Archery and although they are not stocking the Garmin, they will definitely order 1 in if someone wants it. FYI in case you would rather support a local shop as opposed to Cabelas/Bass Pro.

Maybe the rules will soon need to be changed in Target and 3D to allow
range finding sights ?

Or maybe a new class added, "Extreme free style" EFS.

If change and innovation in the equipment results in quicker and cleaner kills,
I've got no problem with that. It's a good thing then.
And if more people with less time take this sport on then it can only help lessen
bad stories of things gone wrong. So the new stuff could help with that.

Most of us old enough to know, you can't short cut things like this, know better.
Other's havn't learned yet and will find out in time.

Mean time I think this new stuff will help in less wounded or lost deer for those
breaking into bow hunting. So I think it's ok.
But I don't need one myself.

I like to take the time to learn.

I'd be interested in trying one for a few seasons... have yet to see them in stores.

I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think they'll be released until the end of March to retail outlets.

J.

Two things,

When I'm hunting its sometimes raining, not sure how well that would be with a lens?

When it's foggy my lieca has a hard time ranging things, I imagine the garmin would be as bad or worse.