bake

Recently purchased an older Hoyt Invader with Command cams. Bow is about 40" axle-to-axle, 65# @ 29" . Arrows are 2315 cut to 30" with 125 grain heads. Shot with a mechanical release. I have not fine-tuned the bow yet but arrow flight looks quite good.

However, shot noise & vibration are terrible. Ever plucked one of those door-stoppers made out of spring wire with a rubber tip? Sounds like that, maybe louder. After 20-30 shots my bow arm hurt from the vibration (not recoil or " kick" ). Shoulder & elbow don' t hurt, but bicep, tricep & forearm muscles do.

I have rubber catwhiskers installed, and Limbsavers. Also a stabilizer, though it' s not one of the " active" types. All accessories are tightened well. Limbs, riser, etc. are in good shape, no cracks or anything. The bow is a 60-70# model, so the limb bolts are backed out some, but not excessively.

Two specific things I' m wondering about.. the cams appear very well synched, but is it possible they' re not rolling over as designed (timing)? Is there a reference point by which to judge proper position for these cams? Again, the two cams are rolling over in unison, very well matched, but I wonder if they' re not properly positioned from the start.

Also, the cables are fairly lax at brace; the string very taut. I know this is is by design & the cables bear more at full draw to achieve let-off, but the difference seems more severe than what I' m used to. It may be in my head.

I would appreciate any advice or suggestions, particularly from those who have experience with setting up Command cams.

BTW, I didn' t buy this bow to slap together & hunt with. I' ve been an archer since about 9 or 10 years old. Coming back to compounds after an aborted attempt at trad equipment. Beautiful & great fun, but had to be honest that I don' t have the necessary practice time to attain/maintain proficiency with that type of equipment. I understand it will take some time to knock rust off the shooting form & fine tune equipment before I' m ready to hit the woods again.

Arthur P

Invader is the limb type, not the model of the bow. So I can' t give any specific info on it. But it sounds to me like the cables have too much creep in them and they need to be twisted up. The cams might also be out of time AND out of synch.

There should be a little rubbery/plastic plaque on the riser that tells what model the bow is. And it should be on the information sticker on the bottom limb... if somebody hasn' t screwed up and removed it. If you can find out that info, you can go to the Hoyt website and get full tune data on the bow, if it was made in ' 97 or later. If it' s older than that, you' ll have to call Hoyt' s customer service.

One item I wholeheartedly recommend is LimbSavers. If you don' t already have some on the bow, get some. Also, a good stabilizer is a great help in calming down noise and vibration. I' m kinda partial to Doinker, myself.

But I think most of your problem will be resolved when you get the string/cable lengths sorted out and adjusted.

bake

Mystic Invader according to the limb sticker. Per your advice I removed & measured the string & cables. Cables matched the sticker info perfectly, but the string was slightly over an inch too short!. I untwisted the string to match specs (still plenty of twist in the string), and put things back together. Then I shot a dozen arrows before heading to work.

The vibration is largely gone, not completely, but it is now quite tolerable. Noise reduced a little, but is still unacceptable. The sound isn' t quite as harsh, and I' m now pretty sure it' s coming from the string/cables. I' m a bit puzzled, since catwhiskers are all I' ve ever needed for string silencing.

I' ll need to visit my local Hoyt dealer for cam modules, as the draw length is now clearly too long for me after lengthening the string. Certainly more than the 28" marked on the sticker. I suspect the modules are not the originals. The nomenclature on the cams says A2B & A2T, if that means anything to anyone out there.

Despite some obvious creeping due to the draw length, I still shot those dozen arrows quite well. I believe this will be a very forgiving bow, especially when I get it properly fitted & tuned. Doesn' t surprise me since I' ve done well with this type of bow (long length, 8.75" brace height, heavy mass weight, moderate cams) in the past.

But it' s those same qualities, along with heavy arrows, that I assumed would lead to a quiet shot.

Thanks for the reply, Arthur.

Arthur P

I can' t get into the Hoyt website for some reason, so I don' t have any detailed info for you.

I always like to have a little extra pre-bend in the limbs on my Hoyts, going all the way back to the first AIM system rigs on the old ProVantage series, so I twist the cables and string to shorten the axle to axle length and raise brace height a bit more than factory spec. I don' t go hog wild with it though! It doesn' t do much for performance, and can wreck performance if you go too far, but it does make a quieter setup. At least I think so.

It could be that you' ve got mismatched string and cables so, in absence of info direct from Hoyt, take it to a Hoyt dealer and have them check it out.

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Got into the Hoyt site and tried to look up your bow. The site only goes back to 97 and does not cover the Invader limb version of the Mystic. But what I found out wiped out a lot of stuff I wrote earlier.

You do not have Command cams. The designation code for Command cams is ' C' . The ' A' designation on your cams is for the old Advance cam. You have size 2 Advance cams. The T and B stand for Top and Bottom. Tells you which cam goes on which end of the bow.

You' ll have to either get with a Hoyt dealer or call their customer service department to get the specs on your bow.