That is impressive. What does this device weigh? I do not remember.

 

1.9 lbs.

 

Is that pic using a kill light or just completely dark?

 

Kill light attached to the picatinny under the rail.

 

Beautiful ... thanks!

 

That's pretty cool 😎

 

That 1.9lbs = 1 lb 15 oz.

 

If anyone is interested the place below has the Garmin Zero X1i for $999.00

Garmin Xero X1i Crossbow Sight — Low Country Outdoors LLC.

SILENT RANGE BUTTON Mount the button in the best location for your grip so one finger can silently activate the laser range finder to give you the distance and exact aim point you need for the shot. RUGGED Built to withstand all hunting conditions, the scope will be ready in harsh weather or on a

lowcountryoutdoorsllc.com

 

$999 is a lot of money!!

However, I’ve used the same Optimizers and scopes for close to 10 years . I just got 2 used Jack Plates and have good rifle scopes on them and plan to use them indefinitely. Overall, the cost of the Optimizers/Scope is <$100/year, if I now took them off and just threw them away.

How long does it take the serious crossbow affendo to loose $1,000 just in depreciation alone? To me, optics are the most important, arrows/broadheads are next and finally comes almost all crossbows (unless its a SWAT series, of course ).

High end, sophiscated optics are practical in the big picture of things, imo.

 

$999 is a lot of money!!

However, I’ve used the same Optimizers and scopes for close to 10 years . I just got 2 used Jack Plates and have good rifle scopes on them and plan to use them indefinitely. Overall, the cost of the Optimizers/Scope is <$100/year, if I now took them off and just threw them away.

How long does it take the serious crossbow affendo to loose $1,000 just in depreciation alone? To me, optics are the most important, arrows/broadheads are next and finally comes almost all crossbows (unless its a SWAT series, of course ).

High end, sophiscated optics are practical in the big picture of things, imo.

I absolutely agree Steve. I just bought a VX-5HD for the Swat. Going to put either a Jackpot or a Tetra under it. Not sure what my limit is for optics but its up there!

 

Never had a Jackplate, but a light on the dial is a 100% gotta have for me. And a blue light on the optimizer yardage tape is about as good as it gets, It really pops out. Hunting out of a blind until dark has taught me i just won't hunt without it.

 

I have 2 Optimizers with the Burkholder lighting option. I have 2 Jackplates with Optimizer tapes on them - much prefer over the Jack Plate tapes. Even though I have to use a small, red penlight with the JP, I still prefer this setup to the Optimizer. To me, the fuctionality of the JP is much better, especially on the small SWAT, XP and X1 to come.

In time, I expect I’ll move on to a crossbow specific auto-ranging advanced sight. However, I’ll only do so IF the low light capability is better than what I’m using now.

 

Steve, aside from the cost, you may have to wait a long time for optics in auto-ranging devices to match what you have now.

 

I can’t remember not getting a shot because of not having time to range a deer and set the dial-a-range. I can remember countless times of getting a shot because of superb optics allowing a very low light shot.

 

I have missed several rutting bucks chasing does because I didn't have time to range and decided to try a shot anyway, Mostly low misses.

 

How far out were you shooting? With my 400 fps and faster bows I can put the 30 yard mark on for a high DL shot and the 40 yard mark will be on the deer for a low DL/heart shot. Same between 40 and 50 yards using the 40 - 50 marks. Dead deer either way.

 

Farther than I thought I was shooting, lol. I usually aim lower 1/3 to account for deer dropping. Rarely hunt with bows over 400fps.

 

I was just thinking the other day. Trying to remember a time i had to pass on a shot because i didn't have time to range the deer and couldn't. Now there have been several times my range finder wouldn't range because of fog or washed out the deer/Turkey. Or back in the day i just couldn't see the black read out. And times my scope let me down and times i just couldn't see the yardage tape either the ones i added to the xbr turret or the optimizer's. Those days are behind me now.

These new age scope/rangefinders have some big shoes to fill. But i'm keeping a open mind.

 

I think the time will come, maybe already has, when an auto ranging/reticle positioning , high quality optic will be available. This will make ranging, dialing in the yardage and aiming obsolete. I’d keep recommending aiming since our ARROWS can’t be guided after launch. At least not yet.

 

Although I have not really hunted with archery equipment that long, mid 1980's with a compound, I have seen an awful lot of changes in the sport. We were taught archery in school in the 50's and the school supplied some long bows for us to shoot, they were about the extent of the equipment then. I have seen the shift to recurves, on to compounds and now the advances in crossbows. Along with the bows, sights have gone from sighting along the arrow, to pins to scopes and now the auto rangers like Garmin and Burris. I think the time you are speaking of has gotten here and will soon be the norm instead of just being a new toy.

 

If they ever get to the point of being guided after launch hunting will become target shooting.

 

Due to an increase in manufacturing costs, the cost of the Garmin X1i will increase $400 beginning 5/1/21. Also, TenPoint will be increasing the cost of their packages that include the Xero, but that increase will be coming at a later time, so I am told. If anybody is interested in the Garmin, now would be a good time to make that purchase.

 

I saw that oh Wyvern’s page . They went the wrong way. That scope was over priced to begin with and now with the Burris at 899 I don’t see many buying the garmin


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

$1800. WOW!

 

Looks to be a nice product DPMS. IMO, it's simply just too expensive for what it delivers. The price jump of $400 to $1,799.00 is significant. Unless the Burris and Halo prices jump, that may kill the viability of the Xero for most.

 

Looks to be a nice product DPMS. IMO, it's simply just too expensive for what it delivers. The price jump of $400 to $1,799.00 is significant. Unless the Burris and Halo prices jump, that may kill the viability of the Xero for most.

Heck buy both of them and put about $300 back in you pocket.

Guys, just think, if Robert had the Garmin XERO, he would not have clipped that vine and missed that turkey last month.
The obstruction detection (apex check) technology on the XERO would have alerted him of the problem.

Also, if Robert had the Excalibur TwinStrike, he would not have been fumbling to load the Ravin R20 (or R10 was it?) again and would have taken Tom down that day.
😎
Just sayin' that for some, it is worth the price of admission to play around with the latest do-dads, funorkle tubes and muffler bearings...just because.

I'm sure Garmin will continue to exist with less sales.
I'd be darned if there are 100 each of the XEROs, Oracles and Halos sold this year.
I would guess that 75% - 85% of xbow owners have not even heard of them yet and are quite content with their factory scopes.

 

I think Garmin just priced itself right out of an awful lot of budgets. If I had not gotten one at the price I did, at $1800.00 I would not even consider a Garmin and would buy the Halo or Burris.

 

Heck buy both of them and put about $300 back in you pocket.

 

Glad I " pre-ordered" the Burris,just in case!!!

 

Glad I got my Garmin for $999.

 

Me too!! That was a short window of opportunity and a reminder of why to strike while the iron is hot.

 

This is another tool, much like the many variations of scope configurations we have and use today that appeal to some and not others. Techies and younger gen. will most likely be more open to adopting it.

I picked up the ATN scope 3 years ago and have come to love most things about it. It's not only a very unique scope with laser but it adds HD picture and video and night vision at an amazingly reasonable cost.

In the course of my xbow journey I've used traditional multi-reticle scopes mostly but have owned and used an HHA setup as well. I can't say I was a big fan of that technology at that time but it is without question a very functional system as are the traditional multi-reticle scopes. All can work well and can kill deer.

Until you use a laser scope and hunt with it I don't think you will appreciate it's simplicity vs any other system where a step to range is involved. Being ON the target with the xbow in shooting mode is a HUGE improvement over having to use a rangefinder. I believe it also has the potential to make you a better shooter. The mental aspect of the shooting process changes and especially with usable magnification added to the laser. A good friend of mine shared an experience he had this past week taking out a rather pesky varmint on his farm. Without a smart scope he would have never attempted a 53 yard shot at such a small animal with his xbow. Both the exact range info. and magnification helped that happen.

Gene's comment on surprise encounters is one I have had as well and more than once. A very close encounter with a 140-150 class deer that surprised me coming out of nowhere at what I thought was 20 yards and moving into brush before I could get a read on him. After he was gone that 20 yard guess was 30 so only 10 yards off...... My biggest buck encounter happened in 2019 in NW Missouri. I had slowly turned my head to look to my right for maybe 10 seconds letting a 180 class deer pass by me on a trail about 40 yards in front of me. I saw him for 2 seconds as he walked out of a shooting lane. IF I had been looking forward, that buck would have only been in a shooting lane and visible for a few seconds and little time to range. I know today that shot would be possible with my ATN.

The point I'm trying to make is that these scopes are excellent tools and very possibly something that can make you a better hunter. I'm patiently waiting on the Burris launch as well as the Halo. Both could be game-changing scope options. Really!

Keep up the good reporting Gene!

 

The point I'm trying to make is that these scopes are excellent tools and very possibly something that can make you a better hunter.

There is no doubt, in my opinion. When I started shooting the Garmin and spent more time with it, I became convinced that this technology will do more to help you become more successful than any crossbow you put under it. If someone has a budget they have to stick to, spending more of that budget on a laser rangefinding scope and whats left on the bow has a lot of merit.

I never felt more confident in the woods that last fall when I had the Garmin on top of a moderately priced crossbow.

Keep up the good reporting Gene!

Will do!

 

In Roberts case my worry is. Would the rangefinder in the scope ranged the vine? Lite up the wrong aiming dot and he still had a miss.

 

Nothing is perfect and we can't see what Robert saw, i.e. where the vine was relative to his target.
Considering that the XERO is 3.5X fixed magnification, I believe the vine would be viewable and in focus through the lens.
My point was that technology is making ethical shots a higher probability.
From the manual:
FLIGHT APEX: Displays an arc above the aim point that shows the highest estimated point the bolt reaches during its flight.

https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-693FA105-1B57-421A-AFE2-6D258F86A8B3/EN-US/Xero_X1_OM_EN-US.pdf

Now, had Robert been shooting an Excalibur TwinStrike, that turkey would have most likely been dinner, which was my other point.

 

Don't mean to keep harping. But here's a example i just set up, and a idea on my range and how i practice and test stuff. With my Leica i know the wild cherry tree is 54 yds. The big grape vine to the left is 56 yds. The gas can setting in the lawn chair. In this case is the Buck or Gobbler is 57 yds. No matter how many times i range it nothing is going to change. The briers that arch over the gas can is 68 yds, The tree behind them is 70 yds.

I went back out and moved the handcart/blob. And added a towel adding another tree . and giving the RF another easier chance to lie. Its at 30 yds and i closed the window a good bit. But the rangefinder still ranged the gas can/deer.

This is also how i test how well a scope works under low light. This gray towel is hung up at different yardages under low light to no light. Simply if i can see it with my naked eye, i want to be able to both range it and see to shoot it with my scope.

Sorry if i got caught in a yellow light lol. I see where someone else posted. And i had to set up everything again to show the closer tree.

 

Ok so pretty much what everyone else does.
What is your point here, you lost me...