Peep sights – many of us use them and most of us hate them.
We deal with diminished low light visibility, broken peep sight tubing, skewed
positioning and extra noise. There has been little advancement in this
technology over the years but one company has taken on the task – Scorpyon
Technologies.
Scorpyon’s Venom Peep Sight System has many features that
are designed to reduce or eliminate the common peep sight problems. Lets take a
look at the Venom and see what it can do for us…
Basics
As the inventor of the Rotaflex Exerciser, Dr. Bill Connelly saw an opportunity to remedy the
age-old problem of short-lived peep sight tubing with materials used in his
exerciser, the ROTAFLEX. Scorpyon’s Everlastomer™ peep aligning tether is a solid, durable,
highly elastic material that, according to the manufacturer will never dry rot
like Latex tubing nor get slippery and pull off the peep nipple like Silicon
tubing. The tether has a molded ball on one end that is larger than the
through-hole that the tether is threaded through in the peep body. The other
end of the tether is held in place by clamping it in the bow cable attachment.
This attachment/clip is also made of the same polycarbonate material as the
body. On some bows this clip may interfere with the movement of the buss cable
in which case the tether can be attached directly to or through the cable.
The Venom peep sight has a body that is manufactured from
virtually indestructible polycarbonate material.A key feature is found in the material’s
color, “Horizon Blue”, which is optically eutropic or, in other words, light
gathering. The Horizon Blue color is very similar to the atmospheric colors of
pre-dawn and post sundown. Your eye will adjust more quickly to the Venom than
with standard peeps.
Great sight picture enables multiple pins in view.
A large .30” diameter aperture allows the shooter to center
the entire sight guard rather than just one pin. This results in increased
repeatability, consistency and accuracy.
Two features keep the peep body from sliding up and down in
the string. The first is the polycarbonate material itself, which is not
slippery like other materials used for peeps such as delrin or nylon. The
second is a serving hole drilled from side to side at the bottom of the peep
body. This feature locks the peep in and will not let it move in the slightest.
The tether is also advertised to be much quieter than
standard peep tubing, unaffected by adverse weather and free of damaging stress
points.
Testing
Upon an initial quality and workmanship inspection I found
two inclusions, one in the peep body and one in one of the two tethers
provided. I am unsure if the peep body inclusion will ever amount to anything
but the one in the tether did not seem to effect the testing (see below). The
construction, while not finely finished, suits the application.
The first task on the agenda was a cycle test. Two tethers,
or better stated –two sections of tethers, the Venom and a standard peep tubing
tether, were put in a fixture and cycled until failure. The condition of each
was evaluated at 50 cycle intervals. The first time I tried this test the Venom
peep did not fair well. I contacted the manufacturer and found that I had a
prototype, which was manufactured with the incorrect formula. Two new tethers
arrived days later. Cycle testing went much better for the Venom the second
time around.
The new Venom tether was significantly more elastic and durable
than the first. My cycle testing fixture does not count the cycles, rather it
is simply intended to eliminate variables in how the tether is grasped and
stretched. I tried to keep count but when the numbers reached the thousands I
gave up! What I did keep track of was the number of cycles between the first
and second failure. When all was said and done, the venom peep outlasted the
standard peep tubing by 437 cycles. That is not a huge number but better is
better!
I also used the fixture to test the elasticity of each type
of tether. An X-Acto blade was used to cut a piece of each material to 5” in
length. Both ends of the tubing were clamped in the fixture and a steel tape
was used to measure the maximum stretched length, just before failure. Standard
peep tubing maximum length came in at just under 27” and the Venom tether
measured 28 - ¾” at its greatest length. These numbers represent a great
improvement over the first Venom tether I tested! This is not a huge difference
from the standard tubing to the Venom tether but again, better is better.
Finally, the Venom Peep System was attached to my Bowtech
Tribute and tested for brightness. This is a good place to mention that the
Venom’s serving hole locked the peep body in tight to my string and it never
moved vertically after being set up initially.
I also set up my Browning
Illusion with a standard hunter’s peep, which is constructed of solid black
plastic and has a .125” hole. I used an 1/8” drill to make sure that the hole
was indeed 1/8” and even tried to bore it out a little to match the Venom. Both
rigs were set to a 28” draw length and outfitted with the same sight. I picked
a cloudless day to do the testing so that the lighting did not continuously
change. The two peeps were similar in low light vision but I have to give
the edge to the Venom. I could see the pins with both for about the same amount
of time but the target around my aiming point was more visible with the Venom.
Overall the Venom performed very well. The cable clip
securely attached the tether to the cable. Put a knot at the end of the tether
as an added safety to keep it from pulling through the clip. Scorpyon
Technologies did a fine job of taking peep sights to the next level!
Ease of Use: 4 of 5
The setup is similar to that of a standard peep. The only
differences are the cable clip attachment and the serving hole. Still, these
are not difficult tasks.
Quality: 4 of 5
A few blemishes here and there but all in all a solid
product.
Benefit: 4.5 of 5
Durable, elastic and improved low light visibility.
