TenPoint Vision HD Review: This Night-Vision Crossbow Scope Is the Future — and That Might Not Be a Good thing

The TenPoint Vision HD crossbow scope represents the encroachment of cutting-edge technology into archery hunting. This scope ranges the target, automatically adjusts ballistics out to extreme distances, records video of your shots, and can enhance light better than any traditional scope. Even though this is a crossbow scope, you’ll start seeing many similar optics for rifles. It won’t be long until digital scopes are the norm and glass is considered a relic.

I tested this scope’s features, battery life, and low-light capability. It was impressive on all fronts. So much so that I have mixed feelings about what it means for the future of hunting — especially in archery seasons. But first, let’s look at how the scope works.

The Review

One-Shot Zero 

Zeroing a standard scope involves clicking turrets until your arrows are hitting right beyond the reticle’s center point. The Vision HD Scope uses a very different process.

• Shoot an arrow at a dot
• Go to the zeroing setting
• Aim the reticle at the dot
• Hit “Freeze Frame”
• Now you can move the reticle to where your arrow hit on the target

After following those steps, you should be pretty close to zeroed. I ended up shooting a couple more times to fine-tune and confirm the zero.

From Sight-In to 125 Yards 

TenPoint Vision HD Scope at 110 and 125 Yards

After sighting in, I entered the crossbow’s arrow speed in the ballistics setting. There are other inputs you can adjust in that menu, but I left them at default. Then I went straight to 110 yards.

I hit the range button and the scope automatically moved the reticle. All I had to do was place the reticle on the dot and squeeze the trigger. I’ve shot a lot of BDC crossbow scopes, and most aren’t accurate at 100 yards, so I was in disbelief when the arrow hit exactly where I was aiming. Apparently, 110 yards wasn’t enough of a challenge. I stepped back to the maximum adjustment distance, 125 yards. The 15-yard difference isn’t a big deal if you’re shooting a firearm, but that’s a massive difference with an arrow (even when it’s leaving the bow at 435 fps). We’re talking nearly 3 feet of drop in that 15-yard jump. When I squeezed off the shot, the reticle was on the right edge of the dot. The couple of seconds of flight time were tense, but they allowed me enough time to get the scope back on target. Then the arrow dropped right into the dot on the right edge. I was elated, surprised, and a bit worried after seeing that. It was an odd mix of feelings. After a lifetime of shooting arrows, this was the farthest I had ever shot an arrow, and it was also one of the easiest shots I’ve taken.

I shot four arrows to zero this scope, and a few minutes later, I was accurately hitting the target at 125 yards. That’s something that just isn’t done with any other type of archery equipment.

Battery Life

The Vision HD comes with two batteries. This scope is very similar to the thermal scopes I’ve tested and hunted with in the past, and those devices chew through batteries. The Vision HD does have a standby mode, which saves battery, but a dead battery means this scope is completely useless. It’s critical they last for the entirety of a hunt.

I put a fully charged battery into the scope, turned it on, and dropped it into a freezer set at 0 degrees overnight. Nine hours later, the scope automatically entered standby mode with 20 percent battery remaining. That’s pretty good performance, but if you’re hunting in sub-freezing temps, it’s a smart idea to bring a backup battery or two.

Optical Clarity

Unlike a traditional scope, you’re not looking through glass with the Vision HD. You’re looking at a screen that displays the image. It’s like looking at the view finder of a camera. In that way the general day time image isn’t as pleasing to the eye and you’ll get more eye fatigue compared to quality glass. But it’s good enough detail for a scope, especially at archery distances.

Low Light Testing

TenPoint Vision HD Low Light Test

I started my low-light test 30 minutes before the sunset. The image was daylight bright, and I had no issues seeing detail on a 3D target 35 yards away. I checked the image again right at sunset, and the image was practically unchanged.

At 30 minutes past sunset time — the end of legal shooting light in my state —  the image was darker, but still significantly brighter than my naked eye, and I could easily see all the necessary detail on the target. Jumping ahead 5 minutes, I could see the outline of the deer target, but not much detail with my naked eye. Through the scope, it might as well have been an hour earlier.

In the pitch dark, when I could no longer see the target with my naked eye, yet I could still see it through the scope. I could have easily placed an accurate arrow into the vitals of the 3D target at 35 yards. This is all with the Vision HD’s daylight setting. It has a night setting you can get to with a push of a button, which only improves the pitch-dark performance. Even more so, the laser rangefinder’s IR signature is visible in the night setting, and it’s like a flashlight beam on the target.

Legality

If you’re interested in using the Vision HD scope, you’re likely wondering if it’s even legal to use in your state. I couldn’t find a published list of states that allow the Vision HD Scope or similar optics like the Garmin Xero. The key things to look for in your local regulations are electronic scopes and scopes that project a laser on the target.

Scope Technology vs Hunting Ethics

The TenPoint Vision HD’s technology is fascinating. You have a scope that eliminates any issues shooting right up to the end of legal light. It’s simple to use, and it has a ballistics program that takes all the guesswork out of shooting an arrow. It also has a small form factor and is relatively light weight. It’s undoubtedly the best crossbow scope I’ve used and it’s likely the future of scopes. In five years, I’d bet you’ll see a version of this scope packaged with all variety of crossbows. They’ll be prolific and make hunters everywhere more effective.

That’s what you want from a piece of hunting gear right? So what’s the problem?

Even a truly ethical hunter could be tested by a shot opportunity a minute after legal light. That’s a time when you can still clearly identify the animal and make an accurate shot.

But, for ethical hunters with regular optics, those temptations are fully gone ten minutes after legal light and certainly 30 minutes after. However with the Vision HD, there is no question that you could make an accurate shot at an animal in the pitch dark.

My fear is that a scope like this, combined with the relative quietness of a crossbow, simply makes it too easy to shoot deer at night. It’s great to be able to shoot accurately and make clean kills in a low-light scenario but this scopes capabilities are far beyond that. Put plainly, I’m not sure that deer hunters, during a regular archery season, should be heading afield with a scope that has a ‘night mode’ feature.

Archery Hunting Is Supposed to be Difficult

At it’s core modern bowhunting is about intentionally challenging ourselves. Because of the gear we’re choosing to use, we must to get closer to game and spend more time practicing in order to shoot accurately. And when we do finally release the perfect arrow into an animal at close range, the feeling of joy and accomplishment is unlike any other in hunting.

Even with modern crossbows, I think of typical bowhunting distance as shots inside of 40 yards (or maybe 50 yards). At distances beyond that, and especially beyond 50 yards, even fast-moving arrows drop several inches per yard. In order to shoot long range with regular gear, you must know exactly how far an animal is and where to hold your reticle. That takes considerable practice to learn, but is doable for the serious hunter.

The Vision HD makes shooting beyond 50 yards just as easy as shooting at 20 yards — at least from a ballistics standpoint. So once again, hunters will find themselves with a devil on their shoulder. If that deer is standing broadside at 100 yards and you don’t have to worry about your holds, you might be tempted to send it. I’m not saying that it’s wrong to kill a deer from 100 yards if you can do it cleanly, but I am saying we’re flirting with bow season becoming indistinguishable from muzzleloaders and straight-wall seasons.

Final Thoughts

Follow the law and have fun is my general attitude toward hunting equipment. So I’m not going to advocate for this scope or any other like it to be outlawed. But would I ask you to consider why you enjoy archery hunting in the first place. Will technology like this ultimately make your hunt more fun —— or just more successful?