shewe

sounds like you have already done some research. i think the most important things are the trigger, ease of maintainence, how it feels to you, and customer service. i would definately go with a "name brand". they hold their resale value. if you want a compound, i think the best ones out thereare the tenpoints. best recurves are the excals. i went with the exocet and i'm in love with it. it's the only bow i have ever seen that can shoot better than i can. hehe. good luck and enjoy.

shewe

btw....excal makes their own crank and it works great. that's all i use because it hurts me to use the rope cocker. good luck. and welcome to our little forum.

BigTiny

True, the Excals are not too high priced, especially for what you get. My Vixen with the scope package came to less than $600 shipped. I got it from bowhunters superstore. Their store on ebay that is, saved about $30 off the catalog price.

I have a crossbow due to injury also. I went with the Vixen since it only has 150# draw, I didn't want the extra weight and bulk of a crank, and the rope cocker allows me to cock the crossbow without too much difficulty. It is also the least expensive Excal hunting crossbow.

BTW the Excal forum is great!

Dnk

KLS, the only thing I can add to this thread is welcome to the forum. You've been given good advice!

KLS

those are some of the main concerns I have also... I want a good hunting crossbow, I really dont care how fancy it looks or that it shoots 500fps, it just needs to serve its purpose...
you guys have me seriously considering a recurve now andthe more research I do the more I'm starting to think that may be the way to go...

like I said earlier, my ability to physically handle and fire crossbows is pretty limited because there just isnt many places around here that deal with them so my decision is going to be based alot on opinions I get from other people and surprisingly the recurveseems to bepretty popular, and about the only disadvantage I can really see anyone come up with that would bea concern for me is that they're slightly wider than a compound, and even that isnt much of a concern, and it seems likethe recurve has the advantage in pretty much every other consideration I have...

like I said before I think alot of new guys are probably turned off by recurves because they just dont seem like they would be as good as a compound, myself included, but I'm getting over that way of thinking pretty quick, we'll just have to see what happens I guess...

thanks for the replies guys...

Hotburn76

Alot of good info you have so far. The Excal's are a good line of CB's from what people have to say on here about them, I have never shot one, but alot of good people on here seem to like them. The recurve CB does not compare like its vertical cousin does. The only thing thats makes it similar is its width like the vertical its long. The width is only a few inches when cocked, but when shot it is wider and you have to remember that if you plan on hunting from a blind, but up in a tree it should not be a problem. I have always shot Horton's and never had any problems, but seems like alot of guys are having problems with the cheaper ones, not sure if it is a price to quality issue, or a price to buyer to brains issue. But I have always had the higher end Horton's and never had any problems. Not alot of people that CB hunt use PSE CB's. PSE must just not advertise much cause not many people use them so there is little feedback on them. But I can say that I have not heard anything really bad about them either.If you want quality and a price that is good then the Excal's should fit you well. They have a good resale value, just look on Ebay, so if you changed your mind you could resell and get most of your money back. Alot of others do not have as high of a resale as Excal.

joeyd50

This will get you in the game http://cgi.ebay.com/Excalibur-Vixen-Crowwbow_W0QQitemZ230116357238QQihZ013QQcategoryZ3 3972QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Joe

Arthur P

I'd rather have a Vixen than anything Horton's got (no offense, Hotburn ). But I think the Phoenix is probably the best bang for the buck crossbow on the market. That's what I'm saving my nickles and dimes to get.

smokepolehall

KLS, tell you what i will do! If you buy the Excal Vixen itself and don't like it. I will give you $300 fer it includes shipping to me. You can ask most any of the folks on this forum about that. I am a firm believer in Excals CB's! Now i won't buy any other brand from you just the Excal Vixen. I would say any Excal but i have an Exocet 200 and the Vixen i could get fer my Mrs.!

Dnk

I'll give you $320.00 us! LOL!