I've read of others' problems with these and experienced my own. My Scorpion VPC lasted a year (12000 miles) before the bearing locked up on July 30 (which led to a 1/4" the operating rod melting off(!). Upon tear down I found that the (sealed) bearing was almost dusty dry and clearly destroyed. At the time I  picked up another 6200 bearing, removed the seals and fixed the rod, planned my next step. Ordered a better bearing (pictured) and on Aug 30, with 2000mi on the latest 6200 bearing I took it down to do other work (30 tooth sprocket). On inspection, the 6200 bearing was getting noisy already.

 I've taken two particular steps to try to get the silly thing to last.
I won't know how well my changes have helped until I've put a bunch more miles on but I can feel confident that they haven't caused any harm.

Step 1: replace the 6200 standard ball bearing with a bearing made for axial loads.  I came up with a 7200 series Angular Contact bearing that should be a vast improvement in design vs duty. An "ideal" bearing for this would a roller thrust type with a good slinger, such as used in cable-operated HD clutches, but there's no room for that setup.
The Angular Contact bearing is actually DESIGNED for side loading so it should be a bunch better in this purely axial-load application.

Step 2: Improve the oiling of the bearing by opening up the closed end of the scorpion pressure plate. I have no grasp of WHY they built it this way, but it looks like Barnett is trying to *hide* the bearing(!) There is no active pressure oiling here so the only oiling is by virtue of slinging and mist.  Barnett supplied this plate with a sealed bearing so it didn't make a difference as built, but since I want to run an open bearing (as the original was done), this small hole in the plate essentially prohibits lubrication and will need to be opened up. 
After opening up the plate to the i.d. of the bearing's outer race, the bearing should be able to oil and last just as well as the original as it is nearly identical now.

Only time and miles will prove the merit of these mods.

The pictures should provide some details.
On the left is the new 7200 a-c bearing the other is a standard 6200 ball bearing



I was gonna take it to work to use the lathe and thought, HEY!! Uni-Bit!

comparison to the stock setup


Btw, this is the OEM release bearing. It's the same 6200 spec, installed "open" and it's a high quality piece.