Stealthy Tarheel

Anyone familar with the new 2008 Barnett Predator crossbow in terms of accuracy, trajectories, quality etc.?

Stealthy Tarheel

Anyone familar with the new 2008 Barnett Predator crossbow in terms of accuracy, trajectories, quality etc.?

RyanATiffany

Oh, you mean, similar to the one you mentioned before? No. I'm not familiar with it.

As far as I'm concerned some other people are going to have to give Barnett some pretty good reviews on quality before I consider buying one. I've heard good things and I've heard bad things. It's always the bad things that are scary though, like limbs exploding and things. Kind of like GM: They're going to have to make something that I want to buy because I want to buy it and not sell it for a similar price as another product of often better quality. Mqybe I've just read about the lemons though.

coyote170

X2

awshucks

I shot one at a show awhile back, along w/ a Quad 400 [it broke] and a Revolution which was the best of the three imho.

You do know they now have a 1 year warranty, right?

Stealthy Tarheel

Thanks for the input. I'm starting to get a little worried now. I just figured that with the Predator's 375 fps speed, it would have a flatter trajectory hence longer killing distances. Maybe I should look at the Horten, Excaliber and Stryker.

10ptCrossbow

Don't get sucked into the speed trap. There is a lot more to a crossbow than just speed. Look at things like fit, feel, workmanship, accuracy, safety features, cocking mechanisms if you need one, customer service, etc.

Randy

GrumpyTom

Speed is not the most important part of a crossbow. Like Randy said, the fit of the bow, workmanship and customer service is most important in my opinion. With the best crossbow (or any other type of equipment) you can have breakdowns and they usually happen at the most desperate times. This is when you do not want to find out that the company has a bad customer service. Safety features are also a good thing, but always remember that safety devices are MECHANICAL DEVICES and anything mechanical is made by humans and can break so they should not be fully trusted. Always be safe with your crossbow and then the extra safety devices will only help.

Also most cocking devices if you need one can be interchanged. Some are better then others.

graveyard zombie

I know there are numerous crossbow makers on the market but I happen to have owned most of the major brands that you normally hear about, at least around my home in Virginia; Excalibur, Horton, Parker, TenPoint and Barnett. I currently still own an Excalibur, TenPoint and an Excalibur / Bear hybrid called a Buckmasters Maxpoint (now discontinued). Unfortunately there is no way to tell if a model is going to be discontinued so you need to rely of the company being around to help out in the future. I believe all five mentioned above will be there for you. This is just my opinion of the models I have owned along but with quality, fit and lack of problems I rank them like this:

Tied for number 1 is Excalibur & TenPoint.
Number 2 is Horton
Number 3 is Parker (I had to get three different trigger / anti-dryfire mechanisms within a two month period)
Number 4 is Barnett (my Barnett Quad crossbow had both trigger and limb problems).

I have used customer service on all of my crossbows as several of them were used when I got them and were missing some very minor parts while others were brand new and had issues. I rank them like this:

Tied for number 1 is Excalibur, TenPoint and Parker.
Number 2 was Horton
Number 3 was Barnett.

Excalibur, TenPoint & Parker always responded back to me via email within the same day. Several of the parts on the used crossbows I bought (Excalibur & TenPoint) were so minor they just sent them to me. Parker was a new crossbow and of course I didn't have to pay for the repairs either. My main concern was the time in which they responded back to me and all three of these companies were tops in that category. Horton and Barnett made things right but it took a little longer getting through, getting a reply and getting repairs.

Again, this is just my opinion from dealings I've had with the companies and their products. I'm sure others have had the same with the major crossbow makers while others have had better or worse experiences with their respective crossbows and their makers.

There are some other crossbow makers that I've heard good things about which is Darton, Crossman and Eastman. I've also been told Eastman crossbows are made by Darton. But I've never personally owned any of these, maybe in due time?

Mike Van Veghten

As others have mentioned...there's good and bad in ALL devices. All will fail at some point.

That said,I'll rate my bows which I currently own.
1. Desert Stryker (zero problems)
2. Darton Impact (zero problems)
3. Stryker (zero problems, hard on strings)
4. Darton Fireforce (zreo problems)
5. Wyvern Medeival (zero problems)
6. Darton Stinger (zero problems, for sale, don't need three!)
7. Barnett Quad 400 AVI (zero problems)
8. Barnett Thunderbolt (zero problems)

I've shot others...I like the compound design, and if it doesn't feel good at my shoulder, no matter how wonderfull it may be, I won't buy it. This comes from years of experience with many different things.
I've learned the expensive way!

I had a trigger problem with the original Quad 400 I bought, with many trys to fix by Barnett, I ended up with the AVI model. Zero problems so far, accurate as any other.
While Barnett only lists their warrenty as one year, they will (as of now) fix what ailes your crossbow at more than one year. I don't know why they only list one year...seems pretty silly to me.

I wouldn't be afraid to try the Preditor. Just remember...things do fail and Barnett it'snt the top of the rung, though as of right now, seem very willing to help customers.

Mike