Today I finally got my hands around the grip of the new Bowtech RPM 360. I took a trip to Droptine Archery in Advance, NC with my uncle and cousin for a peep sight install. Of course I had to shoot some of the new bows as I usually try to do when making the nearly one hour hike. Among those was the RPM 360. On first glance my eyes focused on one thing and that was of course the super aggressive cams. These bad boys look like footballs on each end of this 31" ATA bow. Kind of like giant High Country cams of the past. I just knew this was going to be one of the hardest drawing bows I have shot. Fit and Finish: The fit and finish looks great. The one I shot was the Mossy Oak Infinity Break up and the camo looks good. There was no visual Imperfections on this one. The dampers are pretty wild looking. They have chrome balls in them that I would imagine help absorb the vibrations on the riser. They resemble a toxic emblem is the best way for me to describe them. The Grip: As many of you know from my past reviews the grip is a very important part of the bow to me. After all if the grip feels bad, it doesn't usually make for a pleasant experience. The grip on the RPM 360 fits the bill for me. I like a thinner target style grip with a good angle to get that bone to bone feel I so desire. The grip itself felt impressive and comfortable. Its not a rubber grip and I personally like that. The Draw: The draw cycle is completely opposite of what I expected. It is somewhat stiff which I did expect. After all it does have a speed rating of 360fps. Although stiff, it is smooth. Very smooth with no big hump at all. As a matter of fact it is a pretty flat feeling draw cycle. I didn't drop off hard into the valley, rather a smooth transition into the valley. The Valley: The valley was deep but, not so deep that you have to push the string to let it down. It was nice and comfortable. The bow also didn't was to pull your arm out of socket when relaxing a little either. It was obvious that the bow has an 80% let off. To say the draw cycle was a pleasant surprise would be a major understatement. To date the smoothest drawing speed bow I have shot. The Back Wall: The wall was solid as it can be. A good positive feel to it. Just as solid as any other Bowtech I have shot. There isn't really much else to say about that. Just plain solid. String Angle: I am pretty sure its due to the size of the cams and the overdrive system but, the string angle was pleasant for the 31" ATA bow. String angle is huge to me. I really do not enjoy shooting shorter ATA bows due to the steep string angles. Its just not comfortable at all for me to have to dig around to find my anchor point. It felt more like a 33"ATA string angle. The Hold: Considering I didn't shoot at any real distance or a sight my judgement of hold isn't that relevant. What I can say is from my experience it seems like it would hold well all decked out with the right goodies bolted on. The Shot: I really thought this bow to be as fast as it is to have some vibration. At least a little and considering I do my reviews on bar bows with nothing except a WB or Octane style rest, I really expected a jump or at least a thud when it went off. It did none of that. It simply rocked forward slightly. No jump, no vibration or jump was felt. It may be due to the 500 rubber dampeners built in but, none the less it didn't disappoint me at all. As I released arrow after arrow, my smile became larger. I couldn't believe what I was experiencing. Speed: I did not chrono the bow and I really do not know why other than I was so impressed that I plain forgot. I had a chrono right beside me while shooting. I can say this. Standing at 5 yards, the arrow seemed to hit the target impressively and noticeably faster than my bow which is shooting at 280fps. It was completely noticeable that it is a blazing fast bow. Noise: What noise? it was as quiet as the E35, Bear Anarchy, Hoyt Carbon bows and well, pretty much every other bow that I have shot this year. Simply quiet. Overall Thoughts: It's a speed bow that is smoother than any other I have shot to date. It's light and agile feeling. Well balanced and quiet. Short ATA for the hunting guys that are concerned with the clearance issues they may encounter in the stand. The only thing I didn't like is that it is has a 6" Brace Height. For most that isn't a concern these days. Bowtech really did an amazing job on this bow. For me to be impressed with speed bow is an achievement considering I do not recall being that impressed with many, if any in the past. I really think they should have saved last years flagship name for this bow. Why? Because it was an Experience to shoot the Bowtech RPM 360.
good review i looked at the bow and was tempted.. but no blowtech for me till they figure out why they lead the industry in blown up limbs.
This is new to me. I haven't heard of many cases of this. No more than any other manufacturer. The only limb issue I know of is the finish peeling off.
seriously? guys at the pro shop talk bout it all the time. go on archerytalk or google it theres 2 seperate 20 plus page threads on this on at right now. ever since the destroyer d340. ive personally seen it happen twice in tournaments.
Just bought an experience and the day I bought mine the guy at the shop said he was getting a 360 in on Monday and asked if I wanted to wait, I didn't and love my experience but went to local shop for new arrows made up and finally got to shoot the 360 and mannnn should I have waited. smoothest bow I have shot. still love my experience, but the 360 is a great shooting bow
The thing you have to remember with threads like that on AT are the ones that have problems are gonna blow it up on the web, but the thousands of people who haven't had issues will never join a forum and start a thread like "Hey my bow hasn't exploded yet". So for every 1 issue you hear there are hundreds, if not thousands, that have no issues... Now with that said, I do seriously believe that Bowtech probably has more limb issues than other companies...And the sad part of it with Bowtech is that they don't seem to give a flying fart what anyone "customers" have to say about it. Just look at the limb finish issues they've had for ever "it seems"...Even the people that don't shout it from the roof tops on forums have complained about the finish flaking off...And for the most part Bowtech told customers to just pound sand, they didn't care that customers were pissed about it and they were not willing to fix it...Now I can maybe see a company ignoring that for one year of production while they fixed the issues behind the scenes but that wasn't the case, the issue went for years and they seemingly didn't raise a finger to fix the issue even though it was an easy fix for the most part. Now outside of that I've seen a lot of their limbs come apart online, EVERY company has issues, and honestly limb issues are the most common big issue with a bow. For me Bowtech has some positives, their Overdrive cam system with the dual static yokes is one of the most tunable cam systems that you will find, plus they make good speed and shoot really well. My not-so-great shoulders are not in love with their draw cycle so that's one of the reasons I shy away from them...I did have an Experience for awhile last year and it was a great shooting bow for sure.
They make an incredible bow...just like the other big names ... I would shoot the 360 in a heartbeat and the blown up limbs deal is a bunch of crap...Matthews suffered from the same rumors ....troll will be trolls...don't believe everything you read
It gets blown out of proportion for sure but there has been issues. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I shot the RPM and the draw was definetly little rough the first 2 to 3 inches but then settled in nicely. After the shot it felt nicely in my hand with just a tad of vibration. The draw cycle is supposedly better with a shorter DL. I did some research and the IBO on a short draw archer is more 350 than 360 on the RPM. Im keeping my Experience and thought the draw cycle and after shot was still a little better.
