Double Bull Surround View Blind
Turkey
I recently saw the new Primos Double Bull Surround View blind. Just wondering for those of you that have seen one what's your opinion of them. Posted on an older thread on blinds but it has not gotten much response, thought I would give it it's own thread.
I like the visibility from inside the blind. The 270 model had vertical shooting holes at the corners like the old T5 which I also like. On the 270 three sides of the blind have the see through material and the fourth is black non see through material like a normal blind. My only concern is hunter movement being picked up by the animal if one of the see through panels is behind the hunter from the animals perspective when viewed through the shooting window, especially if the sun is low behind the hunter.
The 180 model only has 2 sides with the see through material and 2 traditional sides so that would limit the chance of being backlit, the 180 however is a smaller blind.The blind has just started hitting dealers show rooms so I don't expect any field reviews.
The way I understand this to work is you need to be relatively close to the material in order for it to be "see through". Unless the animal is within a few feet of your blind it should not matter. The further away you get the more opaque it becomes because of the micro holes in the fabric.
The one way see through fabric is much tighter and not likely to be seen through by an animal than the shoot through mesh on a traditional blind even at close range. The inside of the one way see through material is black but when inside it is like looking through a screen. I don't think an animal could see through the outside material.
However in the store if I look into the blind through an open shooting window and the opposite side is also the one way see through material if backlit you can see through the material on the opposite wall a little bit and if a hunter was moving it might be noticed similar to having two open shooting holes opposing each other, in a traditional blind but not to that extent.
In the 270 only one of the 4 walls is not see through so you can look into a open shooting window an be looking at the opposite wall that is the one way see through material. Until I could get one out in the field and look at it I can't really tell if that may be a issue.
I apologize for all those mistakes, I just wanted to say I went to look at the new blinds but the price of 499 that I was quoted chased me away!
NY Bob, that must be the 360. The 270 is $399 and the 180 is $299.
Need to see one in person. But damn, if it works....game changer
Hunting from a blind is fantastic if you fidget a lot or are taking a young kid. I have used one for spring and fall turkey, archery elk and muzzleloader pronghorn. I have a couple of old school Double Bull and the ones I have could backlight you if you opened window opposite each other. I would anticipate the approaching direction of the critter and just slightly ease the corner down on the other windows because sometimes you get fooled and are going to shoot out one of the other windows. Is a quiet process on the older ones to lower the fabric on a window.
They raffled one of them off at the IBA banquet on Saturday night. I crawled in it, and there is a huge difference in your viewing ability vs conventional blinds. There are virtually no blind spots on the mesh sides. To comment on what Brotsky said, I think he meant that the animal had to be relatively close to the material to be able to see “into” the blind. I could easily see out into the room. If they do, indeed, work as advertised, they will definitely do away with my biggest beef, which is limited visibility & to a lesser extent, limited hearing ability.
Sounds like a plan, scoot!
Can you shoot through the screening with a fixed broadhead?
NYBOB.....there are shooting ports on the blind, plus, the wall screening is a lot more heavy duty than the normal shooting window screening.
Troy, I'm a blind hunter, and my birthday is March 12,...........so you got just enough time...........
I'll give y'all a field report :-)
You haven’t gotten it yet, Don?! Dang postal system!#%*€&!
Love the idea,,,my concern,,in my past experience in blinds,,one of the biggest points of use was the ability to keep your scent inside,,,not well said,, but you get it...the more screen,,,openness of the blind WILL put your scent out there more...but....much more visibility..important!!.close proximity is the blinds strength..closer equals a quick end for a wind shift ...like all of our weapons,, it has ups and downs
NYBOB as T-Roy mentioned the one way see through panels on the walls are not intended to be shot through it is a rather heavy material it just has minute pin holes which allow one to see through from inside the darkened blind. It has shooting windows.
I saw two videos on the net ,one shows how the blind Performs in the rain. It didn't leak but the small holes became blurred by water but By tapping the mesh it cleared it up.
The second video dealt with wind. They set up a big fan and measured the wind speed hitting the blind I think it was 15 mph and then measured it inside the blind and it barely registered.
I actually finally got to see this blind in person tonight. I have serious concerns about being backlit in the windows in certain configurations with this blind. You really have only a couple window options in order to not get backlit at the ranges I’m shooting turkeys. The horizontal type windows also seemed to be set too high for effectively shooting a bow. The vertical windows were good. I like the idea but I have some hesitation. I would want someone else to drop the coin on one to tell me how it works before I bought one. It seems like maybe this was laid out more for a gun hunter?
Here’s a pic I took about 5 yards away looking into one of the windows. In person I could clearly see through the far side material. If you were inside and moving to draw your bow the shadows from the backlighting could be picked up easily IMO. The see through material is an awesome idea and it’s really cool being able to have that visibility but just sharing some concerns I noted.
Brotsky, I agree on your concern on back lighting , which model did you look at?
I think the 180 would be the least likely to have back lighting issues but it is the smallest of the 3 models.
I looked at the 270. They did not have the 180 in the store. They really need to make a 180 version that is the same size as the 270!
I agree, if they made a 180 the size of the 270 I would have one!
Yep, a 180 that is 55x55 with the horizontal silent slide window system would be a hit! Hopefully they are listening:)
Scoot, I have not seen a 180, just the 270 at the Fargo Scheels. Talk to Jason maybe Scheels could have Primos make a Scheels Outfitters version to our specs!!!
Scott, the darkhorse was 60x60 and you can fit 3 in there easily, 4 is a little tight but you can do it. You'd effectively be losing a foot on each side at 48x48. Two is probably doable but there's no way you could do 3. Losing the 12" in depth away from the window is a bigger concern than room IMO.
Unless an animal is looking through the window at you isn't the concern of an animal seeing you through the relatively small windows against the back side? There is still tons of blind to use to hide your movements. Sure they can maybe see something through the small windows, but they can see a heck of a lot less of you than when you're in a tree stand.
One of the main reasons I don't use a blind is because with windows open there are normally giant "black holes". Makes the blind so obvious. This won't have that. I've always been scared to sit in a blind because I felt like a buck has a 100% chance of seeing the "black windows". Now I feel like maybe it has a 25% chance of seeing me move in one of these blinds as opposed to a 100% chance of seeing the window itself. Of course I haven't bought the blind yet, but those were my thoughts.
I crawled all over these blinds at the ATA show and my thoughts echoed what Brotsky posted. I see real issues with getting picked off from all of the back lighting. Also, the nature of the blind just lets in more light to begin with. At least with turkeys that black on black effect with minimal light in the blind is important. I am an admitted gear junkie (and long time DB blind user) who often doesn't think twice about dropping coin on a new product to be a guinea pig ... but I'm not willing to step out on a limb and test this blind out because I see too much down side to it. I also know for a fact that something very similar was tried years ago by the original DB guys and they abandoned the project due to these same reasons.
From the Primos website: "The SurroundView 360° comes with four one-way see through walls with one movable black out wall to place on any wall you choose"
I haven't seen one in person, but I'm assuming that removable black out wall is a sheet of some sort (lack of a better description) to make that wall more like a traditional blind. For those of you that have looked at them in person and have concerns about back lighting, was that black wall not installed, or is it still an issue even with it installed?
Brotsky (and other that have actually seen the blind), In addition to the possibility of being backlit, in your opinions, does the blind allow in enough light that you see your pins clearly without having to have your hand CLOSE to the front of the blind?
Jake, it does let significantly more light into the blind. Good for seeing your pins but bad for critters not seeing you. You really have to see it in person to get a feel for what the concern is. You can't really see through it but you can see shadows and movement easily in the blind. Hard to describe until you get a chance to see it.
Merty, the one wall is black, the problem is critters like to come in at angles etc which may not put that black wall where you want it in relation to their view of the window.
I have a similar blind made back in the 90's as a prototype by Kieth and Brooks. Its still one of my favorites. It has no black backing and you have to be more careful than with other blinds but its great being able to see so much. The "see through" walls are leafy mesh. It has been the demise of many, many turkeys and a few deer.
If you brush the blind in like you're supposed to(yes it has lots of tie ribbon) won't that eliminate most of your concerns about critters seeing in?
