Back in September of last year, I posted a Sweet Feed regarding the importance of practicing both "high" light and "low" light situations, because differences in ambient light conditions can affect your perception of your peep, which can affect your sighting/aiming, and ultimately your downrange accuracy. To refresh your memory on what I said in the Sweet Feed, check it out again here:
Well, the folks at Spot Hogg (makers of some of the best bow sights on the market) and a new company - GlowPeep - have also been thinking of this issue, and came up with products this year in an attempt to help folks overcome the "high" light/"low" light issue. Spot Hogg has introduced their "Spark" series of sights/lighted aiming reticles for 2013, and while a large part of the new sight is the lighted reticle that can go from non-lighted, to dimly lit, to brightly lit with the adjustable rheostat, what caught my eye were the brightly colored rings on the face of the site.
To be honest, my first reaction - and I told them this at the booth - was an incredulous, "what the heck is that????" It looked gaudy. It kinda looked ridiculous. But after talking with them for a few minutes, my skepticism quickly changed to curiosity. The point behind the bright, contrasting rings is to give the shooter multiple "circles" on which to center your peep when lighting conditions change. When the level of ambient light changes, your eye perceives your peep sight opening differently, so in some light conditions, you perceive a larger opening, and in others, a smaller opening. Changes in that perceived size can make it difficult to center a single "ring" (read here, your bow sight housing) effectively. In some lighting conditions, you can clearly see both the peep sight opening "ring" and the sight housing "ring," and line the two up to ensure a proper sight picture. However, in other light conditions, you may not be able to perceive those two "rings" clearly, thus making lining the two up a bit more difficult - if not downright impossible. Sound familiar?
Well, Spot Hogg has developed the "contrasting rings on the sight housing" concept to provide multiple rings on the sight housing so that as lighting conditions change, and your perceived peep sight opening changes, you have different rings to choose from to ensure you can still line up your sight properly. While it may look "weird" or gaudy at first glance, the idea behind the function of the rings makes sense In my mind, it may be very similar to how some people think ASAT and Predator Camos look terrible hanging on the rack, but their performance in the field is unmatched! If it works, could "multiple brightly colored rings on bow sight housings" become standard features on all sights in the future? Who knows. But we shouldn't overlook the fact that Spot Hogg was one of the first sight manufacturers to develop the "circular" pin housing to assist in aiming, and look where that's gone; just try to find a non-circular pin housing these days! Hmmm...
GlowPeep has taken a different approach to the same issue. For their product, they've come up with a way to make the peep sight more visible in low light conditions, so you can see the peep sight opening "ring" more clearly in low light, so you can then center your sight housing more effectively.
For their product, it's simply a Fletcher Tru-Peep, anodized and coated with a glow-in-the-dark coating. Period. In low light, you can take a tiny pen light or flashlight, give it a two-minute "charge," and the peep with glow for up to 12 hours. Because the initial "glow" is quite bright to your eye in low light conditions, they recommend letting the glow "settle down" a little bit (five to 10 minutes) and stabilize into a faint green or pink (depending on the color you choose) glow. In daylight hours, it's nothing more than a normal (albeit colorful) peep sight. It's pretty simple.
Do either of these products work? Well, both of course, say yes, and both claim to have tested their products and are confident that folks will clearly see the difference and improvement in their shooting. While I hope to put both to the test, give them a try at your local archery shop later this year. Like all products, some things work for some folks, and some things don't work for others. If either, or both, of these work for you, then you might be seeing significant low light shooting success in the future - whether at the range, or in the field. ...and that's something all of us could benefit from!
