Matt/TN

Kevin from Elite, is going to hunt with something like a 100lb GTO, shooting a 450gr arrow. I know its under 5gpp but they are supposedly warrenting them down pretty low.

GMMAT

All I was asking, MAtt....is have you seen these numbers out of an elite. I saw these guys (in my local shop) right after they did this little test the other night....and we were all amazed.

To be honest.....I've never even heard of "elite" bows.

PABowhntr

I was spittin' milk out of my nose with that comment. Next thing you are going to have guys putting judo points on their practice arrows to see if they can knock over their Mckenzie deer targets.

...no, I was not suggesting it.

HuntingBry

Elite is the company started by Kevin Strothers (former design chief for Bowtech) and his wife who is part of the Martin family. They make some very nice bows.

That kind of KE is nice, but I want a bow that draws like a Switchback, is as quiet and shock free as a Guardian, produces 82nd/XForce/Iron Mace speeds all within my 27.5" draw length. When you find that bow I'll buy it in a second.

Matt/TN

The new Elite's in all honestly draw smoother than ANY speed bow I've ever shot, hence why I ordered one. I haven't shot the GTO but I've shot the Synergy Extreme XT, and it shot reaaaally nice. It is stiff to draw, but it doesn't have any humps or bumps in the draw cycle. It's not like the older Elite's, or the Bowtech Binary's. The way it draws is like, it's poundage, poundage, poundage, then you hit the back wall and the 80% letoff. They are definately impressive and sweet shooting bows. I like them ALOT, I liked them enough to get rid of my Vectrix for one.

www.elitearchery.com


and Jeff, I've seen an XForce spit out 99ft/lbs before, personally.

GMMAT

Matt...

LOL....You switching bow comapnies so often reminds me of my little cousin. He brings a different hottie to the family reunion every year....and I often wonder if they're that much "better".....or just "different". (not that it really matters)

Matt/TN

LOL. Well I keep switching until I find something I can't find a flaw in. The VectrixXL is DARN close. I have a good feeling about the GTO, and I'd say it'll be around for a few hunting seasons. Next year, I'll probably buy a target bow instead. I toyed with the idea of keeping my Hoyt, just for target, but who knows. I've got until Feb/March to decide about that lol. I'd like to find a company that makes left handed stuff in a timely manner. It gets VERY old, lol. I've been shooting some RH stuff lately, pretty regularly, just so I can tune them both ways. It's funny because I'm RH and it's still awkward for me to draw a bow RH.

quiksilver

Out of all the smaller/upstart bow companies - I think Elite stands the best chance at taking a real bite out of the top-end bow sales of the big dogs.

HCA is building really awesome bows, but they'll always wear the Scarlet Letter from their collapse a while back. Also, their website looks like a Junior high computer class project, and their customer service (if anyone ever had to use it) would probably be a little sketchy.

Elite has a fantastic site, fantastic worksmanship, top-end components, and(I think) their new warranty willmatch HCA's, or at least be close.They already havea reputation for offering great customer service. In all honesty, I think their 2008 lineup blows everybody else's out of the water right now.

From a corporate perspective - the market leaders now have to look over their shoulder a little more. They have to be more responsible with their pricing, as well as their quality control and service. It's never good news for Mathews, Hoyt, PSE, Bowtech when a company like Elite, HCA, or Ross starts making waves. It's ESPECIALLY bad when you have your top designer jump ship to start his own competing venture and try to start eating your lunch. I'm sure there was some major blood-letting over that little escapade.

From a consumer's perspective - everybody gains when a new big fish is swimming in the pond. That increase in competition drives research, development, pricing, service, etc... We reap the benefits.

And... by going with a smaller company, you get the added bonus of having something that nobody else has. You can't put a pricetag on that. Nobody is ever gonna walk up to a guy with a Guardian and say "Wow! A Guardian! Let me check it out!" Nope. Your guardian is just like ten zillion other peoples' Guardians.

I'ma pretty big attention hore, though, so Iget a bang out of it when I'm at the range and the guy nextto me says "What theheckkind of bow is THAT?!"

Arthur P

Actually, back when McKenzies first came out, I was shooting a Martin Cougar XRG with hatchet cams, 4" overdraw, 30" 2419's, 33" draw, 100 lbs. I 10-ringed a deer target from 30 yards and snapped the body off the legs. I never chrono'd the bow, don't have a clue what kind of KE it was putting out, but I would say it was plenty. McKenzie has beefed up the legs on their deer targets since.

Oh, the club's board of directors had an emergency meeting on the spot and banned that bow from the range. Couldn't have me running around the course tearing up brand new 3D targets!

Sylvan

Whatimpresses me about a bow is not whether the result is 97.3, 150.3 or 50.3 ft/lbs of KE but rather how much of the workdone to draw the bow back actually winds up as arrow kinetic energy. In other words, how efficient is it? If I weretrying to maximize KE and my choice is between a bow that transfers 80% of the stored energy to a given weight arrow and one that transfers 85% then no question I'd gowith the 85% model. All else would be irrelevant. Just telling me that a bow shot an arrow at90 ft/lbs doesn't mean much. Now if the archer only did 100 ft/lbs of work to get that result then man you've really got something. That's 90% efficient! But, ff he did 180 ft/lbs of work then in my opinion the bow is crap at only 50% efficient.

I like to keep in mind that ALL the energy that winds up on the arrow comes from the archer, not the bow. The better the bow at transfering that energy the more KE you wind up with, but an archer that is physically capable of a maximum of say 80 ft/lbsis never going to throw an arrow at 81 ft/lbs ke and it doesn't matter what bow he buys.