Good vs. Bad Sights

blackmoreheal

New member
I'm new to archery and currently in the process of purchasing my first Recurve bow. What I'd like to know is, what makes a good sight? You can buy one for ?10 or you can buy one for ?300... What are the ultimate differences?

Cheers for any help.
 

urbin

Member
Micro-adjustments rather than unscrew and slide. Nice "click" adjustment for windage and elevation. Materials - carbon and aluminium vs aluminium and plastic. General quality (lots of screws that rattle loose being the most annoying thing). Length of arm, possibly.
 

LMK

New member
I'm new to archery and currently in the process of purchasing my first Recurve bow. What I'd like to know is, what makes a good sight? You can buy one for ?10 or you can buy one for ?300... What are the ultimate differences?

Cheers for any help.
As I discovered you get what you pay for - although it may not be obvious as you start out the sights on both recurve and compound bows take quite a hammering and the cheap end of the market will cause no end of frustration. A good deal of vibration is passed through the sight mechanism and will shake any component that is not well designed loosening screws and causing failures. You also want a system which can be mounted easily and adjusted simply for windage and distance, again the cheaper sights tend to fail in this area, you will find the mechanisms jam or screws drop off. If you look at the sights produced by the better known manufacturers they tend to produce a mid range and a top range sight that are essentially the same but constructed from different materials - the adjustment elements are the same but the extension bar may be carbon fibre adding considerably to the price. The top end is nice to have but in terms of functionality the mid range will do everything the top end will without the failings of the cheap end. There is an adage - buy cheap buy twice - for me the two key components I would not skimp on are a good riser and a good sight and dont forget there is a good second hand market for archery kit with the better branded kit maintaining its value well.
 

MikeD

New member
I'm new to archery and currently in the process of purchasing my first Recurve bow. What I'd like to know is, what makes a good sight? You can buy one for ?10 or you can buy one for ?300... What are the ultimate differences?

Cheers for any help.
Hi,

Of all the things you can buy to help shoot to your best, the sight is probably the least important. You can manage perfectly well with a cheap sight. They may not adjust as easily, may be a bit heavier or might need checking after each end to ensure screws have not worked loose, but you'd be better using your budget to get a better rest, pressure button, stabilisers or arrows.

When I started, we managed perfectly well using a glass headed pin stuck in a bit of draft excluding foam on the front of the riser and hoped to get a proper sight later, which would probably be no better than a Cartel sight for ?25 - ?30 now.
 

Mad Wally

New member
Hi,

Of all the things you can buy to help shoot to your best, the sight is probably the least important. You can manage perfectly well with a cheap sight. They may not adjust as easily, may be a bit heavier or might need checking after each end to ensure screws have not worked loose, but you'd be better using your budget to get a better rest, pressure button, stabilisers or arrows.

When I started, we managed perfectly well using a glass headed pin stuck in a bit of draft excluding foam on the front of the riser and hoped to get a proper sight later, which would probably be no better than a Cartel sight for ?25 - ?30 now.
On the other hand you could argue that a used Shibuya dual click doesn't cost much more but it may save you a lot of frustration and will not require upgrading soon. And you can resell it at the same price.
 

LMK

New member
On the other hand you could argue that a used Shibuya dual click doesn't cost much more but it may save you a lot of frustration and will not require upgrading soon. And you can resell it at the same price.
be VERY careful buying Cartel sight and no it comes no where close to the reliability and functionality of shibuya/sureloc or a number of other brands that are not simply cheap and unreliable copies.
 

Badgers Dad

New member
As others have said, a top quality sight gets rid of hours of frustration and ultra reliable, but the mid range carbon sights are also good and reliable, my daughters uses a SF premium carbon sight with absolutely no problems at all.
 

Rik

Supporter
Supporter
You'll see a lot of difference between ?30 and ?100 sights. Not so much between ?100 and ?250.
In the first instance, you get a sight which doesn't fall apart so easily, adjusts well and repeatably, and doesn't rattle so much.
In the second instance you pay for a bit more polish, design, flair.

But take those price boundaries with a pinch of salt, there's a fair bit of wiggle room.
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
Sights are like cars, some get you from A to B and no more. Others let you enjoy the experience while getting there.
A sight that stays put and doesn't work loose is of value to me. A sight with no play in it and adjusts smoothly, is also of value to me. It won't let me aim any more accurately; but I will enjoy using it where the cheap ones would annoy me every time I adjusted them.
 

jaysouth

New member
I had a cheap sight when I started (SF axiom one) After 6 months I bought a Shibuya Ultima RC ( the carbon one). It cost more than all of my other gear at the time so it's a bit of an extreme example but since then I have upgraded my gear and still have that sight. I still love it. The Shibuya dual click it's pretty popular here too so I would suggest looking at something like that that is midrange. Your sight will last you through all of your gear iterations if you get a decent one. Have fun shooting!
 

jaysouth

New member
Oh I upgraded because I got sick of the windage adjustment and the pin pinging out of my sight block at random intervals and the sight block rattling around.
 

wingate_52

Active member
Too many archers complain that their sights are loose, you can hear them vibrate. Also screws sometimes drop out. I started with an Arc SX10. Fine, no problems. Then changing to compound I have a CopperJohn, brilliant, up/down, Right/left control knobs. My other bow has an Angle carbon sight, with the vertical bar mounted on the riser. I have BowJax or Doinkers mounted on the sight bar and scope rod. Silent and reliable.
 

andyhall83

New member
Hi,

Of all the things you can buy to help shoot to your best, the sight is probably the least important. You can manage perfectly well with a cheap sight. They may not adjust as easily, may be a bit heavier or might need checking after each end to ensure screws have not worked loose, but you'd be better using your budget to get a better rest, pressure button, stabilisers or arrows.

When I started, we managed perfectly well using a glass headed pin stuck in a bit of draft excluding foam on the front of the riser and hoped to get a proper sight later, which would probably be no better than a Cartel sight for ?25 - ?30 now.
im inclined to disagree with this tbh, for me, after the riser, the sight is the most important part. the limbs you will upgrade, the string you can replace, you can upgrade your stabalisers and buttons and lots of other bits, but if you have a sight that doesn't stay put your not going to learn because your going to be spending more time messing with the sight than shooting. having said that you probably don't need a really expensive sight from the get go, just don't buy one of the cheap ?10-?30 ones cause they will cause nothing but frustration.
 

Rabid Hamster

Well-known member
Ironman
speaking personally ... my riser and sight lasted 6 years. I bought a solid arten summit II as my first and it was still going strong when I decided to gut my kit and replace the bits (riser and sight) I hadnt replaced in the previous 6 years.

for the record in that 6 years ....
limbs I'd replaced 3 times, stabs 3 times, button once, rest 3 times and arrows twice.
 
Buy quality, buy once.

I spent 50 notes on an Avalon Tec One, because it was an upgrade on the rubbish Cartel sight my kit came with. Within 6 months I had bought a W&W WS600 which has lasted me 18 months so far and will probably last me forever.
 

Easytigers

New member
I started with a cheap sight and only lasted 6 or 7 weeks before I got really annoyed with constantly having to check it. Bought a Shibuya Ultima second hand for about ?75 and love it! No need to check it throughout sessions or competitions - gives me a great deal more confidence as I can then worry about the 101 other things that might go wrong or I'm not doing right!!!
 
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