By Alex Comstock
My first ATA show is a wrap, and it was a great experience. I met a lot of great people and created new relationships. There's also a bunch of new products coming out in 2018, and I wanted to highlight five products that I thought were pretty unique. With that, here are a few of the more unique products to be looking forward to this next year!
1. Primos Double Bull Surround View 360 Blind
This blind was definitely buzzing at the show. It's constructed with one-way see-through walls that allow you to see out of the blind, but you can't see into it. "The blind without a blind spot", the concept behind this blind is it allows you to see all around you, without having to have windows open exposing your movement. I can see this blind being quite effective.
2. Garmin Xero Bow Sight
This sight is pretty revolutionary. It's almost to the point where I don't know if it's super cool, or if it's borderline cheating. This sight has a built in laser rangefinder that compensates for the angle if you're in a treestand. It then provides an exact LED pin for the shot. There's a silent single button trigger mounted on the bow's grip which allows you to range at full draw or at rest. The Xero will operate up to a year on two AAA lithium batteries.
3. Hawk Ghost Trail Camera
Hawk unveiled a really cool new trail camera that's not only tiny, but has a neat new concept. The camera is unlike any other trail camera, and unlike normal cameras where you open them up and set the setting, this camera doesn't open up like that. You control all of the setting by using the Hawk Sync App through bluetooth. You can also register the camera with the App, and get a 2 year warranty. Another feature with the App is that you can see how many photos the camera has taken if you're within 30 feet of the camera. I could see this being useful when in a treestand, and wanting to see how many photos are on the camera to help decide if you should check it or not after a hunt.
Retail Price: Ghost HD 16 $109.99, Ghost HD 16 Black $119.99, Ghost HD 20 $159.99
4. Rage X-treme 4 Blade Broadhead
Rage created quite a unique type of broadhead by expanding upon their X-treme broadhead and adding 2 more blades to it. It's quite an interesting design, but looks to be pretty lethal. It has a 2.3" cutting diameter, and the fixed blade portion is a 7/8" cut on contact blade. These broadheads use the same shock collar system as the normal X-treme head.
Retail Price: $35 (2 pack)
5. Yeti Hopper Backflip 24
Yeti has come out with their first cooler engineered to be a backpack. It's taller and wider than the original hopper flip. Along with the shoulder straps, there is also a removable chest strap and waist belt for added stability. This cooler will also hold 20 cans or 25lbs of ice.
Retail Price: $299.99
