Gear Review: Spot Hogg Boonie 5-Pin Bow Sight

A compound bow without a good bow sight is either a stress test for being accurate or a really expensive paperweight. For that reason, the bow sight is one of the most important accessories you will purchase for your bow. Think of it like a map to connect the dots from your arrow rest to EXACTLY what you want to put your arrow through. With that, the sight needs to also be durable and worthy of any adventure you see fit. The Boonie 5-pin, and the latest from Spot Hogg, is one such sight that is up for anything you want to throw at it.

Spot Hogg Boonie Bow Sight Overview

The Spot Hogg Boonie Bow Sight is the trimmed-down version of previous models of Spot Hogg Sights. If other Spot Hogg Sights were linebackers, these Boonie sights are more like tenacious running backs. So, it’s still tough as nails, but without the extra weight and bulk.

What Configurations and What’s in the Box?

While I opted for the 5-pin hard mount, Spot Hogg also offers a single-pin, horizontal 3-pin, vertical 3-pin, Picatinny mount, and dovetail mount. This is a slider sight made to handle the toughest of conditions. Within the sturdy build, you’ll find micro adjustable 2nd and 3rd axis and you’ll have the option to choose between .010″ and .019″ pin sizes. Like all Spot Hogg Sights the Boonie comes with several different aperture sizes for the scope as well as pre-printed out sight tapes with 3 additional calibration tapes.

A Few Standout Features of the Spot Hogg Boonie

No Tools Needed

One of the most practical features of the Boonie is the fact that it requires no tools to adjust windage and elevation. This is a huge convenience as you won’t need to go digging for an archery tool every time you need to make an adjustment. It’s an efficient design and much appreciated. Elevation can be adjusted via the super smooth dial and the windage is adjusted via a micro-adjust knob on the side of the sight.

I do want to point out that you still need tools if you want to adjust the pins, which we’ll talk about later. And if you need to gang adjust the housing left/right/up/down you also need a tool.

Quick Disconnect

Another great upside for the Boonie is the quick disconnect. Hunters can pop off both the sight tape wheel and the housing and swap them out for another housing and wheel. The reason this is a great feature, and a practical one, is it allows you to have multiple sight setups for different arrow profiles. You could even have a single pin set up along with another multiple pin set up. Use the single-pin for 3D shoots and the multi-pin for hunting.

More Lightweight

Spot Hogg sights are built like tanks and the weight of them is proof of it. These are generally pretty heavy bow sights. However, the Boonie wipes that right off the table. Compared to the famously known Spot Hogg Fast Eddie the Boonie is 10% more lightweight. While that doesn’t sound like a big number, I promise you, you can feel the difference on your bow.

What I Like

I’ve been a fan of Spot Hogg Sights for years now. For a backpack hunter, durability and reliability are huge, and I don’t think you can find a better option for that than Spot Hogg. There are others on par, but nothing else beats their build if you ask me.

Something else I really appreciate about the new Boonie is the vertical dial compared to what I’ve used in the past. I like the new locking system and I don’t ever feel like I can “overtighten” it if that makes sense. With other sights, including previous Spot Hogg models, I’ve either ended up cranking a dial way too tight, or not enough, resulting in the sight sliding down on the shot. The design of the Boonie here is exceptional.

Above here we talked a bit about the Tool-less adjustment. This is a huge win in my book. It makes things so much more convenient when you don’t have to go reaching for a wrench to make a simple windage adjustment.

Speaking of adjustments, I’ve gotta say, this Boonie is very smooth and precise on that front. The micro windage is so much more smooth than previous Spot Hogg models, the dial is butter, and the pins? Well, this is an area where I have experienced some frustration in the past, but after really learning how to use the 3-screw pin adjustment, it is incredibly precise.

What I Don’t Like

One small inconvenience about the Boonie is the placement of the 3rd-axis adjustment screws in relation to the scope housing. If you’ve got your scope housing placed in the “perfect” spot gaining access to one of the screws for the 3rd axis adjustment can prove difficult. You’ll have to reposition the height of the scope, adjust the 3rd axis, and then reinstall the scope where you need it for your sight in.

Another small downside I’ve found with the Boonie is one of the upsides I mentioned. While I have grown to like the pin adjustment system, it’s not my favorite by a long shot. The big reason there is I don’t like the fact that it’s confusing to new hunters.

How to Adjust Pins

Let me try and explain briefly. Each pin has three screws. Two, which are right on top of one another, are for up/down and one, which is behind those, is for left/right. The elevation screws are set on a triangle type of platform. You essentially need to teeter-totter each pin with the two screws to move it up and down.

To move a pin down, you’d slightly loosen the bottom screw and slightly tighten the top screw. By loosening the bottom screw a tad, you’re allowing the top screw room to push the pin down. You’d do the opposite to move the pin up. And once the pin is where you want it, make sure to teeter-totter tighten both screws until snug. From there the 3rd screw is for the left/right of the pin. By adjusting the elevation of the pin, it will throw it off center, because it’s swinging from a fixed position. Use the wire in the center of the scope to make sure you’re getting the pin back on track as you turn that screw.

Closing Thoughts

As new gear is developed, I think the only way for companies to be looking is up. They need to elevate their game from where they were and try to solve problems with a new product. Spot Hogg nailed it with this Boonie from where I’m sitting. It’s everything I love about a Spot Hogg sight and more without all of the bulk of the old versions. So, if you’ve been poking around for a new bow sight for the season, I highly suggest you take a look at the Spot Hogg Boonie 5-pin. I’m sure glad I did and I don’t see me taking this off of my bow any time soon.