There’s been a lot of debate on the forums about the different types of drop away rests available today. I’ve had the opportunity to shoot the Muzzy Zero Effect for more than a year now. I been able to spend some serious time with the rest to see just how well it would hold up over time. I have to admit I am a little surprised at the results.

Living close to the Muzzy factory makes it pretty easy for me to drive there just about anytime I feel the need. Last fall I drove to the factory and after a brief but meaningful conversation, I left the factory with a new Zero Effect to test. Upon arriving home I brought out my G2 and began the installation process.

Yes, there is a process to installing the Zero Effect. You don’t bolt it on like a launcher style rest. The procedure isn’t too complicated, but there is a little more involved than a typical traditional rest. The Zero Effect requires a plastic rod to be cut to length depending on the model bow and draw length you shoot. One of the only obstacles you may encounter during the process is you will need a hacksaw to complete this part of the installation. If you follow the instructions included with rest the procedure is a snap. If you don’t feel you are up to the task of installing the Zero Effect or if you don’t own a hacksaw you can take it to your local pro shop and they would likely install it for you for a small fee. Most of the pro shops I deal with will install the Zero Effect free of charge if you purchase it from their shop.

The Zero Effect incorporates a built in overdraw which is machined out of aluminum. This overdraw serves multiple benefits. On the Zero Effect it does what all standard overdraws are capable of, but more importantly it acts as a height stop for the trademark Muzzy claw. By adjusting the set screw on the pivot arm you can precisely adjust the stopping point of your rest as it lifts your arrow. This is a must when it comes to tuning and accuracy. The claw itself, we felt, was a little long and is prone to snagging items like limbs and clothing when walking through the woods. This claw does do an outstanding job of picking up and centering your arrow when drawing your bow. You can draw your bow extremely fast while centering your pins on your target without having to worry about your arrow falling off the rest. The threaded plastic rod we spoke of is threaded the entire length of the shaft. The cutting of the rod seems like a pain, but Muzzy has done this so that the Zero Effect will accommodate as many different compounds and draw lengths as possible.

The cable guide utilizes two rollers to reduce friction on the guide rod. The reduction in arrow friction, and cable slide friction results in less energy being absorbed by the rest and guide with more energy being transferred into the arrow. This translates into more speed. You will notice a couple of feet per second increase in arrow speed when switching from a standard launcher to the Zero Effect, and more speed is typically a good thing.

Once you’ve finished the installation, tuning should be a breeze. You may have to do some fine tuning but it should be minimal. Keep in mind that installing a drop away rest on your favorite compound doesn’t mean that you don’t have to tune your bow anymore. Drop away rests are great because they reduce contact between your arrow and the rest. This in turn reduces many of the flight problems associated with launcher style rests. This is very evident when shooting light carbon arrows or smaller diameter carbon arrows with fixed blade broadheads.

If you followed the directions you should be ready to start shooting. I personally like to shoot some paper before sighting in. This way I can double check everything from set-up to shooting form before I move on to the range. Paper tuning after installing a new rest is also a good way to boost your confidence in the product you’ve just installed.

I have to admit that initially I had some reservations on the durability of many of the plastic components on the Zero Effect. This is one of the reasons it has taken so long to get the review done. I wanted to really spend some quality time hunting and 3D shooting with it to see what, if anything, was going to fail. During all my testing over more than a year I didn’t have any failures. Additionally, 2 other BowCountry.com staff shooters tested the Zero Effect for nearly as long a period of time and, surprisingly, neither of them experienced any failures.

Despite some reservations about the durability of the plastic components in the beginning, I must say I am impressed with the way the Zero Effect has held up this past year. The only issues we came up with were that we felt that the overall length of the claw was too long and tended to snag on clothing and undergrowth while walking through the woods. This was easily fixed by trimming the hook back, which is also plastic material construction. This can be done by using a pocket knife, or a standard pair of household scissors. We trimmed ours back so that the tip of the claw is just slightly lower than the side of the overdraw. This took care or our snagging problem and had no adverse effects on how the Zero Effect performed.

The Zero Effect does exactly what it claims to do and performs even better. We gave the Zero Effect 4.5 out of 5 stars. The reason we deducted a 1/2 star was due to the fact that the rest currently does not fit all makes and models of bows. We would also like to see a version of the Zero Effect in camo as an option. After speaking with contacts at Muzzy I have learned that they are working on producing adapters for bows that the Zero Effect does not currently fit.

Congratulations to the people at Muzzy Products for another job well done!

As always we at BowCountry.com would like to thank the manufacturers and people that make Test & Tune possible.

Muzzy Products
Spot Hogg
Apple Archery Products
The BowCountry.com Test & Tune Crew