From: dasaxe@milton.u.washington.edu (Daniel Perreault)
Newsgroups: alt.archery
Subject: Re: Ok.. here are some bows..
Date: 30 Jul 92 18:33:08 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

In article <59324@mimsy.umd.edu> acecoder@umiacs.umd.edu (Pierce Leonberger) writes:
>
>Ok..  I've thumbed through a couple of magazines and finally found one with
>some decent information on Compound Bows.  Here they are.  I'm only listing
>the ones that were in my price range.
>
>Golden Eagle "Predator TS" $159.99
>   65-80#
>   Length : 41"
>   Weight : 4 lb 2 oz.
>   Draw   : 29" - 31"
>   65% let off
>
> PSE "Polaris" $114.99
>   60-70#
>   Length : 41"
>   Weight : ??
>   Draw   : 30" - 32"
>   AMO String length = 35"
>   65% let off
>
> Browning "Huntsman" $149.99
>   55-70#
>   Length : 40.25"
>   Weight : 3.7 lbs
>   Draw   : 28.5" - 31.5"
>   recurved, 65% let off
>
> Browning "The Bridger" $169.95
>   45-70#
>   Length : 42"
>   Weight : 4 lbs 8 oz
>   Draw   : 29" - 32"
>   65% let off
>
>  Bear "Super Mag 44" $154.99
>   55-70#
>   Length : 44"
>   Weight : 4.3 lbs
>   Draw   : 30" - 32"
>   Posi-lock, recurved, 60% let off
>
>  Bear "First Strike" $154.99
>   65-80#
>   Length : 42"
>   Weight : ??
>   Draw   : 30" - 32"
>   Posi-lock, 65% let off
>
>
>Well there they are.  I'm kinda skeptical of BEAR bows, mostly because of all
>the bad comments I have heard about them.  The PSE Polaris is really cheap, but
>it is hard to believe that it's a good bow (because of the price).  I'm kinda
>leaning towards the Predator TS (Golden Eagle) or the Huntsman (Browning).
>I've never owned either one of these bows before so all comments/suggestions
>will be appericated.
>
>Thanks,
>Pierce
>
>P.S.  is there any benefit or disadvantage to having a recurved compound bow?


Of all of the bows listed, the one that probably is the best deal is probably 
the Browning Bridger. None of the rest of the bows have risers that will
accept any types of additions. The Bridger has the same riser as Browning's
top of the line hunting bows, just cheaper limbs and wheels. Thus, the
Bridger will accept overdraws, any type of rest, that sort of thing. It is
a very solid shooting bow, and balances well in the hand.

Now I will qualify this by saying the one bow I don't know anything about
is the Browning Huntsman. I don't think I have ever even seen one. However,
of the others, The Bridger is the only one that has a cut out riser for
broadhead clearance if you are looking at it as a hunting bow. The Bear bows
I don't much like, they are fairly fast for the price, but the company
support is pretty weak if you want to upgrade or have to repair the bow.

The PSE Polaris is a pretty good bow for the price. It has pretty comprable
performance to the Bear bows, it is a bit slower, but is about a 1/2 pound
lighter. They also are remarkably tough bows for the price. My best friend
bought one through the Bass Pro catalog about a year ago, and between the
two of us we have learned alot about bows without it falling apart. Something
to note is that the bow he ordered was supposed to go 65-80, but it actually 
peaks at over 100lbs. We both shot it at that wieght for about 2 weeks before
a sales rep mentioned to us that the it should have 65% let off and 80lbs
should not be killing us. So we discovered it did have 65% letoff and wound
it down. The point is that for $30-50 less than the others you are getting a
pretty tough bow. Or at least my friend did, but I haven't really heard of
any complaints.

Performance wise, the Golden Eagle, and the Bear bows are about the same. The
Golden Eagle is probably a better made bow, the Bear are probably better
designed around their componants. The only complaint I have heard about
the Golden Eagle is that in general they are difficult to tune.

I have always had pretty good luck with Browning equipment, and at this point
the Browning bows are not designed as lower quality bows at the price. Instead,
they make only 2 or three risers and use them on virtually all of their adult
bows, and simply use their last 5 or 6 wheels in terms of technology and use
the older tech wheels on the cheaper bows.

Good luck,
Dan