Early Christmas present..

darrene

New member
It was without any great expectations that I tried a Mathews Triumph today. I didn't like the balance of the thing; the bare bow naturally rolled forward and I prefer a bow that sits still; not great then given the sight wasn't even on it.

Then I shot it. Ever since, I didn't pick up my Apex 8 (actually that's not true, I tried shooting them back to back to confirm my first impressions; that I actually preferred the bow I didn't want to like - the Apex will be going in the classifieds soon :)

Another pleasant suprise was waiting in the form of a new (to me) sight. I don't think I've seen one over here but the Spot Hogg Hoggernaut has always seemed well regarded on the other side of the pond - beautifully made, 3rd axis adjustment, positive clicks and lock-offs on all of the adjustments. It's not the lightest sight ever made - there's no carbon but the engineering is first rate and ingenious design (the reason I bought it)means the scope never physically moves between distances, which in turn helps everything in the anchor remain consistent.

To aim at a different distance, you turn a dial which moves a focal-ring like sight mark and adjusts a prism in the scope. Although the scope hasn't physically moved vertically, the offset-effect of the prism means you have elevated the bow appropriately in order to sight on the target. The only slightly odd thing is that you don't necessarily see directly what you're pointing the scope at but if you're doing the 'looking at the target' rather than 'looking at the scope and moving it to the target' as you come through the draw it actually doesn't seem that strange because you're instinctively moving the bow into approximately the right position anyway.

I had the chance to get one over here and curiousity got the better of me. I'm glad it did. I also like the big scope window it has. I've taken some pictures of it on the bow incase anyone's not seen one before or is interested to see one. I hate to admit it, but I prefer it to my Shibuya (which in itself I have absolutely no complaints about) the Shibuya and the scopes will be joining the Apex..

P1020521.jpg

I'm currently waiting on a Firenock Aerorest full-containment rest to arrive. I'll post some photos and impressions when it does.
 

jimlee

New member
I thought the Hoggernaught was discontinued, it's not listed on Spot Hoggs website. There were reports of problems with moisture getting into the optics and fogging the inside of the lenses, Spot Hogg did say they were trying to sort the problem but I haven't heard anything.

Cheers, Jim
 

darrene

New member
Hey Jim,

Yes, it's a product of a bygone era unfortunately. I don't know that it was really marketed outside the US, and the market there was limited I suppose; it didn't really appeal to the hunting fraternity and the target community seemed sceptical about it's legality with many assuming it provided some kind of rangefinding capability.

Given that, it's inherant bulk/weight because of the prism, and the initial fogging issues and I don't think Spot hogg reckoned it had a future. it was fairly costly too. A pity it didn't succeed because there are lots of posts from those that tried it and loved it. Mine's definitely a keeper :) Spot Hogg reacted very quickly to correct the fogging issue which affected the early units and which was apparently caused by a gasket issue.
 

darrene

New member
AeroRest mini-review

My full-containment AeroRest arrived from Firenock arrived just after boxing day. (I think the speed of it's arrival was helped by the fact it came letter-post and didn't incur any import duty, along with the inevitable hold-ups that involves)

I've opted for the standard version of the rest; there's a micro-adjust version which is more expensive and gives the usual fine vertical and horizontal adjustment you see on rests. I didn't see the point in spending extra money on a rest I wasn't sure I'd get on with, given I could still set it up by hand after which it wouldn't be moving.

The rest is mega-light (about an ounce and a half). It's machined from titanium as are the bolts and shimming washers. The 3 turrets which support the ceramic bearing housings are shimmed using the washers. The first thing I did was to remove the turrets and shimmed them identically so that my Easton Lightspeeds sit very lightly against the bearings. There's a supplied sheet to help with this but it's not that comprehensive. A guide gives some spacer recommendations based on the measured OD of the shaft although I've set mine up by guesswork and feel.

I've left the bearing springing at it's default which seems to give a nice balance between support and 'give', however each bearing is adjustable, slightly akin to a plunger button.

All that was left to do was to whip off the trusty Trophy Taker, bolt the AeroRest to the riser and set it in the horizontal and vertical planes as usual.

I shot a couple of arrows through it to check I was getting clean shots, which I was (I just have to remember to nock the arrow with the cock-feather down. No mistakes yet but it's probably a matter of time!)

I then quickly shot a few arrows through paper to check the flight. Nice, consistent bullet holes.

Overall I've been really pleased with both the rest and the results I'm getting from it - 20 yards in the back garden was enough to strip one (obviously slightly badly stuck) fletching and the rest of the time I'm rattling the shafts, which is good enough for me as I'm still trying to find my form in the sport again.

It's staying on the bow and I'll wave goodbye to the Trophy Taker - I love the containment aspect. It makes me feel much safer in the draw compared to the little snakes tongue launcher that I'd always watch bounce about a bit. Removing that definitely added to my confidence and consequently my smoothness which has got to be a good thing.

For curiosity's sake, I'm going to try and capture the arrow passing through the rest at some point. If I manage it I'll post a link. I'm not sure if I can slow things down enough in post-processing to make it work, or whether I'll need a higher frame-rate camera in which case it's unlikely to happen for a while.

I may also try a back-to-back speed test with the Trophy Taker through the chronograph. I couldn't check today as my chrono was DOA and has gone back for replacement)

Anyway, here are some pictures of the rest on the bow.

Aerorest fitted | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Aerorest - mounting side | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Aerorest with arrow | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Aerorest / fletchings - top | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Aerorest / cock fletching - bottom | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (the black cock fletching is obscured by the black centre serving on my string. Doh..)

I've no connection to Firenock or AeroRest, just thought it might be worth sharing an independent opinion of it. I hope it's of interest
 
Top