broken fiber optic in cobra sidewinder sight
 

I broke the top (20yd pin) fiber optic walking thru brush this weekend.

Anyone ever replace the fiber optics in a cobra sidewinder?

RE: broken fiber optic in cobra sidewinder sight
 

It's kind ofa PITA....But it's not REAL bad....Just requires a little patience......Once you get the coil cap off.....I'm shooting off memory here, don't quote me, but from there they are on a peg I believe, and that whole assembly comes out, and from there you can replace whichever one is broke. We do those at the shop occasionally, and I'm sorry I can't be more specific, I just haven't seen enough of them to have it in memory yet...

Depending on where it broke, you can use small needle nose and pull enough fibre out to re-attach it to the pin....

RE: broken fiber optic in cobra sidewinder sight
 

my cobra sidewinder has two pins with no fiber attatched now. thats ok tho i still got 3 pins that do, so i moved the broken ones out of the way. and resighted[8D][&:]. i thought about fixing them but didnt because decided i didnt need five pins while hunting.

i wont buy a sight with the fibers in the open where they can get pulled off again. especially not for the high price they want.

RE: broken fiber optic in cobra sidewinder sight
 

I ended up just removing the pin with the broken fiber optic, wasn't too difficult.

RE: broken fiber optic in cobra sidewinder sight
 

You can actually just uncoil a bit of the fiber optic off the post they are wrapped on and reinsert it in the pin then melt the end with a lighter. I got real good at it from all the brush around here. I can't take that sight out without breaking at least one pin every day.

RE: broken fiber optic in cobra sidewinder sight
 

I tried that but the fiber optic was too brittle and kept breaking. Gave up on it and decided to just remove it.

Once removed, I thought about moving the bottom pin/color to the top. The colors on my 5 pin sight were (top to bottom) gree, red, yellow, red, green.

I really don't like the red pin, would rather my 20yd pin be green....but since the broken fiber optic was so brittle, I decided to cut my losses and not try to move the bottom pin up.

I hate the yellow pin even worse, appears blurry to my eyes. I'll just do the best with what I have left to work with. I looked at the cobra website and they have redone the pins to protect the fibers a little better.

Wonder if they'd send me some replacement/upgraded pins??????

RE: broken fiber optic in cobra sidewinder sight
 

I eventually replaced my fibers with Fitz Fibers. You can order them in the colors you want and they are a lot less brittle than the factory fiber so you can actually wrap them on the column and feed them through yourself after soaking them in hot water. I expect you'll have to pay for the new metal optic pins if that's the route you go and they'll still have the inferior, brittle fiber on them.
http://www.fitzfiber.com/store/

RE: broken fiber optic in cobra sidewinder sight
 

That's unacceptable product performance.. Out of our hunting foursome two of my buddies have a cobra sight and they break the fibre optic filaments a lot, not ever day but almost.. One day I will replace my bow and I will scrutenize the robustness of any sight I look at (years from now).. But I am not impressed with my buddies' Cobra sights.. They were able to fix their sights in the field with a lighter but what a hassle.

RE: broken fiber optic in cobra sidewinder sight
 

I went all last season and about a half dozen or so trips this year without breaking one. However, they are very exposed and probably get more and more fragile over time.

I love the features of this site and that it's micro adjustable. I also like the dovetail extension that puts the sight further out from the riser. If I break another fiber, I'll replace it with a sight for hunting and keep the sidewinder for target season.

RE: broken fiber optic in cobra sidewinder sight
 

Just get some Fitz Fibers. You dont even have to soak them in hot water. I actually took one and tied it into a knot and it never broke . Also they are very bright. If your pin is the .019 get the tubing with the fibers. The tubing will fit right into the hole where it comes out of the sight and then goes up to the front of your pin. Just be ready to wait awhile , sometimes they take quite awhile getting to you , I waited 5 weeks to get mine but they are very good fibers.