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Any real advances in bow tech over last 10 years?

mlk3454

mlk3454

Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2021
Messages
62
I ask because I have an Elite Z28 2008.5 bow and its done good by me. I have recently gotten the new bow itch but it doesn't seem like much has really changed since I've bought this bow. Thoughts or opinions?! That said, I dont tune at home and if I do get a new bow some of them seem to be very home tuner friendly so that is nice to see.
 
I'd say my Mission is about 10 years old.
I've bought three more expensive, better, newer, fancier bows in that time and sold all but my Mission.

Sure a little more advanced technology pops up each year but an upgrade isn't always an upgrade...
 
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Depends on who you ask and who answers.

Guys that enjoy purchasing new gear and believe you have to have the latest and greatest will say “absolutely”. To them it makes a difference.

Guys that enjoy wringing every aspect of value out of their equipment and may have the approach of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” would say “nope”. To them the slight changes are insignificant.

Take a look at the specifications, in general, the advertised specs have not changed significantly in the time period you referenced. (Significantly, depending on your definition of that word). Total bow weight, IBO rating, etc. Draw cycle is somewhat personal and subjective.
 
For sure, last year they incorporated technology at the end of each limb to allow you to move your cams laterally (left or right) to tune your bow without a bow press, cable yoke twists etc. I believe they call it the "solution." Several other companies have incorporated systems to facilitate tuning as well just in different ways. Elite has incorporated a system to move the limb pockets on each end of the riser which also does not require a bow press to make the adjustments. Gear Head Archery has a moveable grip system for all of their bows to make lateral adjustments (again without the need of a bow press). Matthews of course has their Tophat system but you have to take the bow down using a press to align the cams right or left depending on the horizontal tear you may be getting.
 
The home tuning ease is a nice selling point but in the end I will be shooting it more than tuning. The specs dont seem much different than what's out now. So far not enough to convince me to buy.

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^ I am purchasing the solution soon, I currently have a bowtech assassin, nothing wrong with the bow but I am ready for something new. I shot the Solution and it's like going from driving a honda to a tesla, faster, lighter, smoother. But thats comparing a brand new bow to a 9 year old bow that has thousands of arrows through it.
 
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ssramage said:
I've never had a brand name, top tier bow until this year. I picked up a 2021 Bowtech Solution and it is hands down, light years beyond my old Elite Impulse. They'll all kill deer if you do your part, but yes, new bows are a significant improvement over the older bows.
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What's better about it?
 
I swapped from a bowtech Invasion to a realm and it is easier to draw but the invasion was a speed bow so it should have been harder. I wouldn't look at the numbers I'd shoot what felt good if none of them felt "better" to you then no nothing changed.
 
The biggest somewhat recent innovations in my opinion have been parallel/past parallel limbs, string stop/tamer, and drop away rests. After that, the Bowtech Deadlock and Elite SET technologies to get away from shimming. Other than that, it seems its all been tweaking the cam, geometry, and other factors to get similar speeds with smoother draw and less noise and hand shock. The newer bows are quieter and deader in the hand on average than bows from 6 or so years ago.
 
How about some love for Darton. The pulley added to the cables to eliminate cam lean is actually a super nice feature.
 
RamBam said:
How about some love for Darton. The pulley added to the cables to eliminate cam lean is actually a super nice feature.
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Absolutely!!! I have a Spectra E and not only is it the smoothest shooting and easily tunable dual cam I've ever owned, it also is the fastest. I really like my Matthews Chill R and that was their flagship speedbow in 2014-2015 and the Darton shoots a full 10fps faster than my Chill R. Darton does not get the recognition it deserves but I think they'll be coming back now that the business that owns Conquest Archery and Black Eagle Arrows bought them. Rex Darlington the founder and Main Engineer for Darton is still going into work there every day too which is good to know.
 
I had a Mathews Creed that I bought new when it came out when I was 16 or so. 25 now & still have that bow but found too good of a deal to pass up on a new V3 earlier this year. I was in the boat of the specs not being different enough to justify spending the extra money on a new bow that didn't seem like much of an upgrade. On paper the V3 isn't much different than my Creed. I figured if it was pretty similar when I shot it I would just sell the V3 for a profit.

For me though the real difference is in shooting the bow. The V3 feels so much different when shooting than the Creed. Smoother, quieter, more solid back wall, steadier on target & just overall more comfortable to shoot. I've shot some other newer bows & I get the same feeling from most of them compared to the older ones.

I'm not trying to say Mathews is the only way to go but in general the newer bows definitely are an upgrade over the older ones. From year to year they may not change much but after 5-8 years or so there is a significantly noticeable difference. You've just got to go try out different bows & decide what price point you are comfortable with/how long you want to keep a bow before upgrading.
 
SoILslocker said:
I had a Mathews Creed that I bought new when it came out when I was 16 or so. 25 now & still have that bow but found too good of a deal to pass up on a new V3 earlier this year. I was in the boat of the specs not being different enough to justify spending the extra money on a new bow that didn't seem like much of an upgrade. On paper the V3 isn't much different than my Creed. I figured if it was pretty similar when I shot it I would just sell the V3 for a profit.

For me though the real difference is in shooting the bow. The V3 feels so much different when shooting than the Creed. Smoother, quieter, more solid back wall, steadier on target & just overall more comfortable to shoot. I've shot some other newer bows & I get the same feeling from most of them compared to the older ones.

I'm not trying to say Mathews is the only way to go but in general the newer bows definitely are an upgrade over the older ones. From year to year they may not change much but after 5-8 years or so there is a significantly noticeable difference. You've just got to go try out different bows & decide what price point you are comfortable with/how long you want to keep a bow before upgrading.
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Yes, ever increasing riser length compared to ever decreasing limb length and past parallel really makes a super stable almost recoilless shooting system.
 
There has not been a terrible amount of advancement. Engineering has made bow more efficient but we have been stuck in the same area for a while. They can do better but the cost of material and working with those materials are cost prohibitive. I do have a buddy with a 25 year old darton I’m trying to upgrade. The bow is ok but parts are non existent and anything built in the last 10 years will be a huge improvement. He is a cheap a*$ and I keep fixing his mistakes for free. I should stop…
 
Old and relatively simple technologies don't advance at the hyperspeed that smart phones etc do.
 
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