I do love. My last 3 bows were bowtechs and did like them and I shot the SR350 so I wasn’t giving up on them just liked the draw cycle so much better on the phase 4.
I've been wanting to fling a few arrows out of a phase 4, I'm really curious as to how much the rubber limbs in between quiet their shot noise. I thought it was a pretty good idea when I first read about it. Love to hear your opinion on how much you think it helped shot noise?
You're absolutely right its keeping the shops in business. But the article, who they talked a lot with Pete Shepley, is saying that all of the compound companies have seen a steady decline in vertical bow sales. One of the more prominant shops in my area, who pretty much carries every major brand of compound and used to have all of the accesories you could possible want in stock, have slowly been shifting their business model to cater to crossbows more and more. I was just there the other day because they had the new Elite Ethos on the rack and I really wanted to look at it (not in market, but I like shiny new things... lol). I was shocked how much crossbow stuff they have now. Back on subject... If Bowtech is struggling (highly doubt they are anymore than anyone else), my next bow would most likely be an Elite. To me, them and Bowtech are the most feature rich bows out there, highly customizable for fit and feel and tunability. Bowtech's Deadlock cams and Elites version of doing it are the best out there. My Revolt X is probably the best shooting bow I have ever owned. I can telegraph arrows with thsi thing even after putting it down for months.
I picked up a Revolt-X last year. If I had to get rid of my other bows and only keep one, it wouldn't even be a competition. Definitely one of their best bows, especially in the Deadlock bow era.
It was really quiet and dead in hand from my perspective but my favorite I keep talking about is the draw cycle it’s smooth there’s no hump. The draw cycle is big for me the easier the draw the less likely to get busted in my opinion.
So a week or so back I emailed bow tech to see if they have replacement limbs still available for the BTX-31 and I did get a response last night say they do. So after the season or some crappy day I will get back to the archery shop and get those on order. Customer service said it will be up to the shop to determine if covered under warranty so I’ll give it a try and if it works out my son will have a bow to shoot.
“Vertical bow sales are on the decline” I understand that extreme amount of inflation and costs to produce a bow have gone up substantially. Also, the products are the best they’ve ever been. But… From personal experience, that inflation is driving up my costs at home as well. Consumers were kicked in the balls hard these past few years. Some people are just trying to afford to live and don’t have the money for a new bow. MSRP on the new Mathews target bow is like $1800. I’ll buy a $500 used elite or expedition before I fork over that kind of money even though I want a new one.
I feel like the cost of a high end bows has more to do with lagging sales than from Xbow sales pressure. Imagine how many people would buy a mathews, bowtech, elite or many others that start at 1200 - 1500 with none of the accessories if they cost 5 or 6 hundred. I personally refused to pay that kind of money for a new bow or Xbow when I know they don't kill more deer than the cheaper equipment. Tournament shooting is another whole story on high end quality shooting gear. But, honestly do you need to have a fully loaded bow with arrows and such for 3k to kill any game animal? Most guys want acceptable accuracy that gets the job done and doesn't require going in debt to achieve it.
I dropped $1199 on the SR 350 + accessories the first year it came out ... Ive got a new set of limbs coming for it in 60lb peak (Black/$300, no camo available) .. I purchased it in 70lb peak and have been shooting it at 60lb as it is .... the place I got it from didnt have any 60lbers in stock, so I settled for 70 and dropped the lbs on it ..... I wanted the 60lb peak so I could drop it down as I'm getting older.... the new limbs will be here Monday.. to late for this season. I plan on going with GT Velocity 340's instead of my usual 300's.. I have about 2 doz. of each .... I plan on shooting it at 57lbs when all said and done .... luckily my 30" draw helps with the speeds I like (+- 280fps) ...... btw, I'll do the limb switch myself as I have a mini shop I set up in the house ...
