Got the bow out of the shop and shot about 20 arrows through it. First, kudo's to Cinnamon Creek Ranch Archery out of Roanoke, Texas (just north of Fort Worth). They replaced the strings with Zebra brand (blood red color), paper tuned it, reinstalled the peep and D loop for a nominal fee. They fit the peep to me, were exceedingly patient with my endless mind numbing questions, and I felt welcome in their shop. Not an experience I have had in most of the Archery Shops in the DFW area. The numbers I put in my signature prior to their work were off the Backcountry Bowhunting calculator, but the numbers I got on a portable and the archery clubs chrono were 220-ish. Since I was going to change the strings, I didn't mess with the numbers until after the work was complete. Cinnamon Creek let me use their chrono (part of the deal?) and surprisingly the numbers I am getting are actually exactly 233 fps. I am not an expert, but have done lotsa research and I rarely, if ever, see the IBO calculated numbers match exactly what the chrono says. It does seem to be a little bit quieter, but I will check the sound Sunday. I am very happy with my bow.
Tested my Surge today for sound levels, the background noise was much louder than before, 70 dB, and the bow was shooting consistently at 79 dB. This is without string silencers which I did have before. So, I figure the bow is shooting somewhere around 7-10 dB. This compares to an IBO 352 Expedition with 60# limbs turned back to about 52#. It was shooting at about 82 dB. Gotta admit it was a smooth shooting bow (he let me shoot it).
I bought a Surge with the RTS package on Tuesday. I'm a first time compound owner. I've shot traditional for about 50 years, but elbow and shoulder issues have forced me over to the dark side. It beats not hunting though! I tried several bows before settling on the Surge. I fell in love with a Diamond Carbon Cure, but the $650 price tag made me keep checking around. Had I not found the Surge, I would likely have tried to dig up the extra $200 for a Cure. The Cure is only 3.3 pounds bare. Coming from a world of bows weighed in ounces, I was looking for the lightest compound I could find. I was at Elite Outdoors Unlimited in Dubuque, IA, trying bows when I came across the Surge. Clay, the owner of Elite, said he didn't think I'd like it because of the aggressive cam but he set it up for me anyway (27.5" draw and 50#...same as my recurve). I found that the draw cycle was such that it didn't seem to hurt my shoulder at all and the bow had a nice solid back wall, very similar to the Carbon Cure. Much like your experience, I shot it very well, ruining one of my nocks at 15 yards on their range. The balance of the bow was exceptional. In fact, it balances so well, I would have guessed the weight at well under 4 pounds. When I asked Clay how much it weighed, I was shocked when he said 4.3 pounds! Several of the lighter mass weight bows I shot were so poorly balanced I could not shoot them well. This bow balances so well it feels much lighter than it is. Needless to say, it came home with me. The RTS system comes with sight, rest, quiver, and stabilizer. I liked all but the stabilizer, a Flexxtech. I swapped it for a Doinker from an old bow of my son's and I really like it, even though it does add some mass over the Flexxtech. I tried shooting without a stabilizer and did notice some hand shock, though it was certainly not the painful kind one might experience with some lightweight longbows. The Doinker eliminated it and made the balance even better. While this is a relatively inexpensive bow, it has already cost me a nock, a vane, and an arrow (due to a Robin Hood at 20 yards). Shooting groups at under 20 yards is probably not advisable with this bow! As far as speed is concerned, I've never been overly concerned with that, but this bow seems plenty fast. I am one who cringes when I watch one of the tv "pro" hunters shoot a whitetail in the chest and fail to penetrate the off side using their "fast" bows, super light arrows, and mechanical dohickies on the front end. Then they "back out and give it some time." They only want the antlers anyway. The meat goes to HUSH. I'm hunting for venison because I eat it. I want to recover and take care of my deer as fast as possible. I want two holes (large ones are good), so I shoot relatively heavy arrows with big, fixed blade broadheads, Simmons Tigersharks leave incredibly gory blood trails, albeit short ones. My recurve setup was a Beman ICS Bowhunter 500, 100 grain brass insert, 175 grain Tigershark, for a total of 525 grains out of a 50# recurve at about 165 fps and deadly silent. My intended setup for my Surge at 50# draw @ 27.5" is the same without the brass insert for about a 425 grain total. My Surge sends these downrange at 220 fps, so I don't believe penetration is going to be an issue. Quiet kills, and this bow is very quiet. My results were much like yours, 78 db. I don't have the limb dampeners or string silencers on my bow though, just the stabilizer and cable guide silencer. I'm not sure if adding any of that stuff would make it much quieter or not. I'm eagerly anticipating bow season and my first compound bow kill.
I am a relatively new shooter (though I shot bows in my early 20s) and like you was very pleasantly surprised at how accurate the bow is. I do not shoot at the same target with more than one arrow because I hate wasting a $10+ arrow. I bet you can get 10-15 fps more if you change out the strings...I did. The bow is also more quiet by about 5 dB.
I bought a new Brute X last September. I'm a lefty and bought a left handed bow only to realize later that I am actually right eye dominant. I shot the lefty Brute X just fine and accurate but it sucked having to close one eye. I sold it yesterday morning and decided to go with the Surge as a replacement in a right handed configuration. It should be here this week. Every one said it was just as good as the Brute it replaced. That's what I wanted because I absolutely love that Brute X. I dropped from 70 lb draw to a 60 lb draw and am looking forward to holding less weight. It will see alternating action when I don't want to take my HF 6 in the field. I can't wait to shoot this thing.
The 'naked' bow was 399. To this I added the Ultrarest, the sight, was given a nice stabilizer (it doesn't quiet the bow any measurable amount, but it does shift the sound a little bit lower in the spectrum, it also helped quiet the sight shaking), quiver, and bow case. The total was probably 650. Later I changed the string to a zebra. The only thing I am not crazy about is the sight, I will be getting a react one 5-pin in the next couple weeks.
I would still shoot both next to each other and see which one meets your needs best. My short list included Matthews creed, mission ballistic, and the Hoyt Charger (amoung others). I couldn't rationalize the extra cost in light of how well this bow shoots, but that was just me.
Nice day at the range. all at 20 yds... But because of this... I started doing this... Love this little bow....
This may not be the best place for this posting, but if anyone can point me to a better source of information I would appreciate it. I live in Australia and I purchased a PSE Surge compound bow to replace my PSE Stinger which is about five years old. The Surge is one of the PSE 'Mainline' bows and uses the 'Morph' cam which has two settings for the cable: 'Performance' and 'Grow with you'. The setting used was 'Performance' but I want to change it to 'Grow with you'. Page 21 of the 2014 user manual (PSE Product Support) for the Surge stipulates that you should select the cable setting you want but it does not provide instructions on how to change the setting. On Youtube there is a video which shows the two positions of the cable setting (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tbW81n6iIU) but again there are no instructions on how to change it. I have checked the PSE web site and their Facebook page but there appears to be no documented procedures on how to do such things. Can someone help me to find some instructions on how to make what seems to be a simple change?
I'm pretty sure you will need a bow press to do this. When the bow is pressed, you move the cable from the "performance" track to the "grow with you" track. It is a good idea to take lotsa pictures of the strings/cables and how they route on the cams/wheels so you can put them back in their proper wheels.
Thanks Zedd, I thought that might be the case. I will have to send the bow back to the supplier to have this done, which will be an expensive exercise given that I live in Australia and I bought the bow online from the USA.
I don't know if this will work on the Surge, but if you can get a helper, pull the bow back and have your mate put a dowel wrapped in cloth held on with tape in the cam and wheel in such a way that when you carefully let off on the bow the dowel will hold the bow in position. After moving the cable to where you want it and align the strings, pull the bow back and have your helper remove the dowels, though they will probably fall out on their own. I do not guarantee this will work on this particular bow, you can give it a try.
I shot this thing, Worth thing I've ever held. the draw on it was a complete dealbreaker and it was so harsh that my jaw dropped.
It is not a smooth drawing bow, especially compared to bows costing twice as much. Then again, I am literally shooting 1" groups at 20 yards and the bow is quiet. And it is less than half the cost of other bows I tried. All I wanted in a bow is to be able to shoot well (it does) and to be quiet (it is). If someone's expectations of a bow are these, the PSE Surge is a good fit.
