Top_Heavy's World

I have been shooting Bowtech bows this week. The first, a 27" draw bow set at 68.8 lbs but the owner has it set up poorly, with loose screws and heavy arrows. He claims it is how he likes it so I don't feel it is right to comment on a bow that produces almost 10lbs less KE than it takes to draw it! The bow I spent time with tonight is a 29" General set at 68.6 lbs, the maximum I could get. The shape of the bow was nice, the thin firm handle was nice, as it didn't stick to my hand and create torque as the PSE bows did. This bow is set up with a really neat fall away rest with a capture bar to hold the arrow in the deep V shape created by the fingers of the rest. The fingers move to 70 degrees upright by thumb pressure and then the line connecting it to the string of the bow pulls it to 90 degrees when drawn. It is then free and falls forward at the shot. I used my 370 grain Maxima 350 arrows for the testing. I drew the bow and wasn't impressed. The first 3" of string movement just pick up the slack in the string and only draw at up to 8 lbs, then as the dual cams start to roll the poundage quickly jumps to the maximum of 68.6lbs in only a few inches of draw. The pull is very long as you must pull about 9" at maximum draw before the cams roll over to a fairly solid wall. I tried to over flex the bow and wasn't able to create a variation in speed over 2 fps... that is really good when compared to the 15 or so bows I have done this on! The average speed of the 370 grain arrow was 295 fps, with the max a blistering 297. while I didn't like the length of full pull poundage (my Drenalin pulls about 2" less travel at max draw weight and has a 1/2" longer draw) the shot was smooth and quiet. I liked the bow overall. I did try to let down from full draw and was reminded why I don't like dual cam bows, it was better than the X force and the Monster, but it is also much slower than they are. The bow was nice to shoot, but I struggle with the thought of buying a slow dual cam bow if it is equal price to something like the Mathew's Reezen or PSE X force. I would choose one of those bows first and shoot it at much less draw weight while still getting better performance. If you win it, get it as a gift or are allowed to shoot a friends, enjoy it, it is a top end bow and it shoots like it. If you are spending $750 on it, save your cash as it is nice shooting but not worth the tough draw due to lack of performance. Mathew's Reezen is still the best hunting bow for the mature audience looking for a 60lb draw set up.