I got a recurve not to long ago and am still practicing w/o a peep, sight, etc. Pretty fun. I do have a Nighthawk peep on my compound and love it. Its the 2nd one I've had on 2 bows and have never had any trouble whatsoever. I'm not sure what you mean by "crosshairs". The design of the Nighthawk is to eliminate distortion from light diffraction, not to use it as a crosshair. I don't see a "crosshair" when I look thru it, it just looks like a peep but with better light. I used a kisser when I first started but I use a face mask when hunting and can't really feel exactly where the kisser is so I don't use them anymore.