JeffB

I read Frank's "mega bow report" a week or so ago on his "blog" section or whatever (danged crazy new fangled intarwebz- I don't know all that stuff) left him a comment too, not sure if he ever saw it[&:]

I thought that particular report of Frank's was infinitely better than anything I ever attempted. But yep-being on staff automatically creates a lack of trust from many. Nature of the beast.

at any rate, Thanx JOE- the warm welcome back from everyone here has been awesome, I am truly thankful and flattered so many felt my contribution here was important to them in some way

muzzyman88

Yeah, Franks reports are top notch. Intelligent, well thought out and unbiased. He should be writing those things for magazines. I thoroughly miss him and many other guys who used to haunt these forums regularly.

Jeff, I'd say that bow should shoot 295ish. Just a guess though. My Alley at 65lbs, 28" draw and a 370 grain arrow is shooting 285-286. This was with an empty string and only a loop. The IBO on the GT500 is a bit higher than the Alley.

JeffB

We'll see. It wouldn't surprise me if the IBO is inflated a little- they always have been and always will be I suspect. If it does 280 with that arrow, I'll be fine. That 275-285 range always was optimal for me. I was talking with Tommy @ the shop about one of my first bow rigs. I shot it for a couple years- an old Golden Eagle Predator ( or maybe a Treestand Hawk? can't remember) with steel cables and round wheels/dacron string. It peaked at 76 pounds, had 60% effective letoff, a 4" overdraw on it, the draw was 29" and you could pull it to 30" easy. I shot 25.5" 2213s that weighed around 430 grains. It shot about 220 FPS if I pulled it back as far as I could We've come a long way baby! It was a deer killing machine though

FWIW- The draw length on the 3 Elites I handled were about 3/8" to 1/2" long as were the BT's. The Elite 28.5" matched up with the 29" Hoyt pretty much perfect- Hoyt's alaways been good about AMO draws. The PSE's were typical, about an inch long. Weird how everything kinda is "coming back" to me- both "muscle memory" and mental memory. Just been locked up in the dusty recesses of my pea-brain for a few years and I found the key underneath the mat by accident

drockw

Yeah Hoyts draws seem to be quite a bit closer than anyone else. Iveowned two BT's recently and the draws were 29.5. when i got my alphamax, i had to bump the draw up to 30" b/c 29.5 felt too short.

BTW, ive heard the GT500 is a hair slow for its IBO (not bashing at all, just fillin ya in) soi would expect 285-290. I know my 101st airborne with a 400gr. arrow shot about 285, and its ibo was 340ish, so you should be right in that range. Plenty fast though regardless. When are you gonna bring the GT500 here to KY so I can shoot it

Derek

PABowhntr

Hey, I am still here...and still kickin'. I haven't been postin' much but that will change considering the time of year.

Jeff,

Thank you as that is extremely high praise coming from the king of bow reports. Truth be told I think I am falling behind the times though. I don't have an Easton Draw Force Mapper or a Hooter Shooter or a subscription to YouTube so I can upload videos of the bow being shot and hunted with. Pretty much all I can provide is an honest opinion of how I feel about each of the bows. I do think you made an interesting comment. Being a "staffer" does put a certain spin on things for some people. All I can say is that I sincerely hope folks don't take that too seriously for me. I call it like I see it and have never been asked to do otherwise.

Hmm, speaking of which, anybody want to see a Ross Carnivore 31, Bowtech Admiral and Diamond Ice Man comparison? Head to head...no holds barred?

JeffB

Well I went to the shop and shot for about an hour or so. I was a pretty miserable sight to watch for the first 20- 25 arrows, but then I started to get back in the groove a little (was canting the bow and rushing the shot at first). My last group was 2 of the ICS stacked neatly on top of one another on my point of aim and 2 more stacked the same about 3/4 of an inch directly above them. I learned (the hard way) to make it a point to quit shooting when you are happy- positive reinforcment is the best thing in the world. I knew if I kept shooting my groups would open up as I got tired and then I'd be miserable. So I packed up the bow and shot the bull with the guys, ran the bow through the chrono, checked out some other bows, helped a customer, etc.

I was a bit dissapointed in the speed at first, but after I got to thinking about some of my past setups (heavier peak weights with similar weight arrows), I realized everything was good.

GT500- 62.4 pounds- measured the the draw at 28.75" AMO-Brace height is 7 1/8", 80% letoff- ICS Hunter @ 386 grains (weighed) shot 279-280 FPS. Carbon Tech Cheetah @ 308 grains (weighed) shot 311-312 FPS. Loop and G5 peep on the string. Stat card said bow would shoot 300 grain arrow at 314-324 so it's on the money spec-wise though at the low end of the range.

To put that in perspective-

My Mathews Switchback shot a similar weight arrow (385-390) close to 29"AMO (28.5" cam) @ 291 with loop and peep. It was also on 72 pounds draw weight. 7" brace.

My 62-63 pound Extreme VFT with 29" module set to 65% letoff (was a little over 29"AMO set that way), loop, peep, shot 388-ish grain arrow (ACC 3-49), at 274-275. Brace height was 6.5"

So I doubt the GT500 will hit those top IBO speeds they claim (346 FPS), but it's still a quick bow, 330-335 would probably be more realistic. The best part is its QUIET and vibe/recoil free. Even @ 5 grains it was pretty quiet and I still didn't feel any vibe. Very pleasant to draw and very pleasant to shoot. Kevin seems to have finally pulled it all together- speeds of the old BK cams with a FAR better draw and noise/recoil/vibe levels of the better single cam designs.

Also, I did draw the Allegiance they had on the shelf- noticeably nicer draw than the Captain,Admiral, etc.

JOE PA

Jeff:

Thanks for the update. Sounds like a great bow. Congrats!

Frank:

Register this as vote one for the Carnivore/Admiral/Iceman thing!

The more bows I hear about, the more the performance of the ones I have makes me feel pretty good. "Old", but still quite functional. Love hearing about the new ones though.

JeffB

Yup I'm up for more reviews.

I think the big thing is making speed more comfortable/forgiving-thats where *some* (i.e the truly successful) manufacturers/designers have made huge gains.

For whatever dumb reasons (pride???) there are a handful of companies who are still building bows like they did 10 years ago, and two of the big boys with big marketing budgets are into a speed at all costs pissing match it seems. I was talking to guy today who was absolutely floored at how much better these new bows feel at the shot compared to the top end bow he bought in 2000. ..we coined a saying- new stuff feels like an air rifle, hits like an bullet train

ampahunter

Welcome back Jeff,what hasn't changed... you're still spicing up the forum. Great!!!
Seems we've lost quite a few guys over the years and some very notable guys as well. Having one return is a God send.

I've read about the Elite bows over the last two years but have never been fortunate to try any, your report now has me giddy. Indeed the new Bowtechs are great bows, certainly fast bows,but the draw cycles are extremely 'stiff' and I'm afraid of tearing all the nerves in my shoulder, in the blink of an eye.
I've shot the 82nd full time this last season, now I'm paying the price, pain and more pain. So much so I have not shot a bow within the last two weeks.

As for a good rest, take a look at the QAD-HD and the gen 3 whammy. They both do have draw cords, but the whammy cord attaches to the up cable and the rest triggers a few inches before brace after the shot.

Please keep the progress on the Elite coming...

PABowhntr

I will see what I can do gentleman. The issue is having some free time to work on the report. I know my impressions of two of the three. I am working on the Ice Man as we "speak".

I enjoyed doing last year's report for a variety of reasons which translated into one much longer than I am accustomed to writing. We will see how things go this year.