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MidAtlantic Tri-Van Vanishing Rest

By Bill Krenz

Now you see it. Now you don’t. That’s the idea behind the revolutionary new Tri-Van Vanishing Rest from MidAtlantic Archery.

Arrow rests have evolved dramatically in the last decade, and the new Tri-Van marks yet another significant leap forward. The Tri-Van Vanishing Rest is an advanced arrow rest that can truly say that it offers the best of all worlds. It’s a total-containment arrow rest in which three bristle support arms almost completely capture the arrow before and during the draw. With the rest locked around the arrow, the shaft simply can’t be dropped. Then, at release, the three support arms instantly retract into the rest housing. In a word, they vanish to provide complete fletch clearance for the speeding arrow.

As far as I’m concerned, the mark of a really good bowhunting arrow rest is that it installs and sets up easily, that it adjusts conveniently and that it works exactly as advertised every time in the field under actual bowhunting conditions.

Almost in spite of its advanced nature, the Tri-Van Vanishing Rest installs and sets up with surprising ease. The first step, if even needed, is to adjust the rest’s support arms to fit exactly the diameter of your arrow shaft. The Tri-Van comes preset to fit most popular carbon arrow shafts. If you’re using a larger or smaller diameter shaft, a simple screw adjustment on the bottom of the rest housing is used to quickly adjust the rest to the required shaft setting.

Next the rest is bolted securely to the bow in the usual way and a single lock-screw is loosened to enable convenient windage adjustment of the rest for centershot. This is done after engaging the rest’s support arms by moving the Tri-Van’s cocking lever upward and nocking an arrow, which is gently pushed into place in the support arms from the top.

The final installation step involves attaching the rest’s activation cord to the bow’s down-cable. An included cable clamp is used for this easy, do-it-yourself step.

I like the fact that the Tri-Van Rest continually holds your arrow in its proper, upright position. That makes it especially easy to adjust your bow’s nocking point, and it also simply seems like the most reassuring place for your arrow to be while you wait for a shot.

As you bring your bow to full draw, the Tri-Van’s activation cord prepares the rest’s cocking and support-arm retraction mechanism for the shot. At the shot, the mechanism releases and the support arms radially retract/vanish into the rest’s housing. The rest’s triggering sensitivity is preset at the factory to allow for approximately 3 to 5 inches of arrow travel before the support arms retract. That sensitivity has proven to be ideal for most setups, although it can easily be adjusted with a single screw.

In the field, the Tri-Van Rest seems to work like a charm. It indeed captures the arrow shaft much like a conventional bristle-type containment arrow rest. But that’s where the similarity ends. Whereas typical bristle-containment arrow rests are notorious for truckloads of friction leading to slower arrow speeds and irritating fletch wear, the Tri-Van Vanishing Rest is distinguished by an absence of friction at release, leading to comparatively faster arrow speeds and no fletch damage of any sort.

With complete fletch clearance at the shot, I encountered perfect arrow flight and superb downrange accuracy almost from the onset. The Tri-Van Vanishing Rest seemed almost like magic in that regard.

And there’s yet another Tri-Van feature that impressed me––the rest’s let-down feature. Occasionally when bowhunting an arrow brought to full draw must be let down. Either the shot isn’t right or it doesn’t materialize. The buck, for example, may move into a bad position or may simply move away without offering a proper shot opportunity.

When that happens the Tri-Van Vanishing Rest employs a patent-pending let-down feature that allows the rest’s support arms to stay in the upright position as you abort the shot and let the arrow down. That keeps the arrow secure and in place, making it instantly and reassuredly ready for the next shot opportunity, even one that may come very quickly.

Now you see it. Now you don’t. The groundbreaking Tri-Van Vanishing Rest from MidAtlantic Archery clearly represents an evolutionary leap forward for bowhunting arrow rests. It’s both a comforting total-containment bristle-type arrow rest and an advanced drop-away arrow rest all in one tough, bowhunter-ready package.

With the Tri-Van Vanishing Rest you seemingly get it all.

For more information, ask your favorite archery dealer about the new Tri-Van Vanishing Rest and/or log onto midatlanticarchery.com or call MidAtlantic at (410) 658-9660.

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