2004 Hoyt Vipertec Review
12-23-2003, 08:59 PM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Central PA
Posts: 2,299
2004 Hoyt Vipertec Review
I know that Pabowhunter has already done his review on this bow, but I figured I might as well do my version as well. Keep in mind, this wont be as ellaborate as Dr. Pabowhunters , but I'll give it a swing.
First off, I must say that I have always been fond of Hoyt bows. My last two bows have been Hoyt and this makes my third in a row. I have had this bow for five days now, and have been shooting it pretty much none stop sice Friday at the shop, and at home since weather cooperated.
Specs: I ordered this bow with the smaller cam configuration to match my draw length more closely. I shoot a 28" draw and order the cam set that goes from 26.5 to 29. This gives me more power stroke, resulting in better performance overall from the cams. The bow from the box was exactly 32 to inches in length to the center of each axle. The advertised brace height on this bow is 7 1/2 inces, but again, with the slightly smaller cams, my brace is at 7 1/4.
Riser: For this bow, Hoyt used a slightly longer riser than last years Razortec. This gave this bow a larger sight window. I have noticed that there is also more machining in the riser than years past. They gave some cut outs on the bow accents and have seemed to slim the riser down more than previous years. The finish on the riser is excellent. Unlike Pabowhunters findings, my riser does not show any "bare" sports and only one or two areas where there looks to be a nick of dirt in the finish. Otherwise its a very sharp, attractive looking riser.
Grip: Hoyt seemed to have slimed the grip down a tad this year as well. Its seems a bit smaller in my hands compared to my 02 Cybertec. Also, the angle of the grip fit very comfortably in my hands. They incorporate the riser as part of the grip, which I like. To me, it feels like I'm more in control of the bow and in tune with it more with this configuration. Like years past, they add a padd to the back of the grip where your hand contacts it for comfort reasons.
Limbs: New for this year is the XT1000 limb. Its an inch shorter than the XT2000 limbs, 13" inches to be exact. They use a five layer laminated design and the sides of the limbs are bare to show this. Nothing really new with the limbs other than that. Same 3/4 split limb design and such.
I will elaborate the fact that Hoyt is making an attempt at a more parrellel limb design on this bow. The limbs are more "laid back" on this bow, more like Bowtech and Matthews has done.
Limb Pockets: Same as last year, though it seems they are slimed down a bit as well. In my honest opinion, Hoyt has the best limb pocket design in the industry. The toleranances are extremely tight. I found no slop in either of them and the limbs fit securely in them and the pockets bolt to the bow with the draw weight jacks and the locking bolts on the side to ensure they move. I did not find any slop either where the pockets slide over the riser. Excellent quality here.
Eccentrics: Nothing to report here, still the cam.5 system. I will however say that this is my first cam.5 bow. I shot the Versacam on the Cybertec. The draw cycle is much smoother with this bow and the valley seems a tad longer to me.
Strings: This is where I could scream. I do not like Hoyts strings. They are standard D-75 Brownell strings and in my opinion, are horrible. I feel that for the price of these bows, they could throw a set of high quality strings and cables on them. These will be replaced in the very near future.
Ok, onto what counts, how it shot....
My setup. 65lbs @ 28.5" draw. Beman ICS camo hunter 400 at 27" with a 100gr point. String loop, peep sight and factory installed leaches. Copper John Deadnuts sight, NAP QT4000 rest and Sims modular stabilizer.
I can honestly say that I never owned a "shorty" before this one. I have shot the Havoctec and didn't like the way the bow balanced. It felt unstable and too little, for lack of better terms. I was very pleased and surprised when I first shot this bow. It feels longer and balances as well as any bow I've shot. I think this is because of the longer riser and more angled limb design.
Vibration, what vibration? Simply put, there is none. The TEC riser and again the more parallel design of the bow really does an unbelievable job at cancelling out noise and vibration. This bow was by far the quietest I shot when shopping for a new bow. This was among the Bowtech Liberty, Patriot, Hoyt Xtec and Matthews LX. This was hands down winner in noise. I shot these bows outside the shop and inside to confirm this.
Accuracy. Shooting indoors at the range, I was able to put together very good groups once I tuned the bow after a few days. Tonight was by far the best I've shot with it thus far and the groups are very respectable out to 30 yards. I really think it shoots more like a longer ATA bow.
I dont know if I just got lucky this time, but tuning was real quick on this bow. I shot it through paper and made only a small left adjustment of the rest to get a decent bullethole. This was also with a nock point 1/8" above square. One thing I'm beginning to notice with Hoyt bows, they seem to tune very well with Beman ICS shafts. Maybe a conspiracy? Makes me wonder since both Hoyt, and Easton (who owns Beman) are in Salt Lake City. HMMM?
One other peculiar thing I noticed. I had to lengthen my draw from 28 to 28.5 for some reason. I have been told by someone here on the board that the more extreme angle of the shorter bow may cause this if you anchor with your nose on the string. I do. I'm not complaining, more draw length means a little better speed.
Speed. This is where it falls a little. Being a bigger brace bow, it gave up a little in speed. Specs state 300 fps. I shot a few arrows through the chrono at the shop and was hitting 264 fps with my hunting arrows. Plenty good enough for me! I may be able to squeak out a few more fps when I finally put a set of WC strings on it after Xmas. If your looking for speed, look at another bow, its definitely not a thoroughbread, but its more than fast enough for hunting.
What I liked:
The attention to detail on the bow. Everything on it is very well designed and well built. Tolerances are excellent. Its shoots very well for a shorty. Like I stated, balance on this bow is perfect for me. On the shot, it simply sits there. No jump, vibration or noise. The shot feels very solid. Also, this may be picky, but I really like the fact the the limb pockets and eccentrics bronze bare metal. This means no more ugly nicks and scratches. The bow will look nicer later down the road. I know, thats crazy, but something I noticed. The camo pattern printed a lot better than my Cybertec of 02 did. This bow is a head turner and looks very sharp. Almost too pretty to hunt with.
What I didn't like:
Not much. One thing I did not like was the fact that they took the cut-out out of where you mount your rest. I liked that. It made for what I felt was a more secure mount with the addition of the mounting plate that fit in the slot. Not to mention the lock down screw didn't dig into the riser like it has to do now. The other thing is the strings of course. With a 610- 699 price tag, Hoyt could do a lot better there.
Overall thoughts:
I really like this bow. I settled on it over the Bowtech Liberty, Bowtech Patriot, Hoyt Xtec, and Matthews LX. Not to say they all arent excellent choices, but I just wanted a short bow for a change and for me, this one shot and felt better than the others I tried. I'm a bowhunter first, and quietness, and solid, dependable bows are what I look for most. This one fits it perfectly. I can't wait for second season archery here is PA. The Vipertec is waiting.
First off, I must say that I have always been fond of Hoyt bows. My last two bows have been Hoyt and this makes my third in a row. I have had this bow for five days now, and have been shooting it pretty much none stop sice Friday at the shop, and at home since weather cooperated.
Specs: I ordered this bow with the smaller cam configuration to match my draw length more closely. I shoot a 28" draw and order the cam set that goes from 26.5 to 29. This gives me more power stroke, resulting in better performance overall from the cams. The bow from the box was exactly 32 to inches in length to the center of each axle. The advertised brace height on this bow is 7 1/2 inces, but again, with the slightly smaller cams, my brace is at 7 1/4.
Riser: For this bow, Hoyt used a slightly longer riser than last years Razortec. This gave this bow a larger sight window. I have noticed that there is also more machining in the riser than years past. They gave some cut outs on the bow accents and have seemed to slim the riser down more than previous years. The finish on the riser is excellent. Unlike Pabowhunters findings, my riser does not show any "bare" sports and only one or two areas where there looks to be a nick of dirt in the finish. Otherwise its a very sharp, attractive looking riser.
Grip: Hoyt seemed to have slimed the grip down a tad this year as well. Its seems a bit smaller in my hands compared to my 02 Cybertec. Also, the angle of the grip fit very comfortably in my hands. They incorporate the riser as part of the grip, which I like. To me, it feels like I'm more in control of the bow and in tune with it more with this configuration. Like years past, they add a padd to the back of the grip where your hand contacts it for comfort reasons.
Limbs: New for this year is the XT1000 limb. Its an inch shorter than the XT2000 limbs, 13" inches to be exact. They use a five layer laminated design and the sides of the limbs are bare to show this. Nothing really new with the limbs other than that. Same 3/4 split limb design and such.
I will elaborate the fact that Hoyt is making an attempt at a more parrellel limb design on this bow. The limbs are more "laid back" on this bow, more like Bowtech and Matthews has done.
Limb Pockets: Same as last year, though it seems they are slimed down a bit as well. In my honest opinion, Hoyt has the best limb pocket design in the industry. The toleranances are extremely tight. I found no slop in either of them and the limbs fit securely in them and the pockets bolt to the bow with the draw weight jacks and the locking bolts on the side to ensure they move. I did not find any slop either where the pockets slide over the riser. Excellent quality here.
Eccentrics: Nothing to report here, still the cam.5 system. I will however say that this is my first cam.5 bow. I shot the Versacam on the Cybertec. The draw cycle is much smoother with this bow and the valley seems a tad longer to me.
Strings: This is where I could scream. I do not like Hoyts strings. They are standard D-75 Brownell strings and in my opinion, are horrible. I feel that for the price of these bows, they could throw a set of high quality strings and cables on them. These will be replaced in the very near future.
Ok, onto what counts, how it shot....
My setup. 65lbs @ 28.5" draw. Beman ICS camo hunter 400 at 27" with a 100gr point. String loop, peep sight and factory installed leaches. Copper John Deadnuts sight, NAP QT4000 rest and Sims modular stabilizer.
I can honestly say that I never owned a "shorty" before this one. I have shot the Havoctec and didn't like the way the bow balanced. It felt unstable and too little, for lack of better terms. I was very pleased and surprised when I first shot this bow. It feels longer and balances as well as any bow I've shot. I think this is because of the longer riser and more angled limb design.
Vibration, what vibration? Simply put, there is none. The TEC riser and again the more parallel design of the bow really does an unbelievable job at cancelling out noise and vibration. This bow was by far the quietest I shot when shopping for a new bow. This was among the Bowtech Liberty, Patriot, Hoyt Xtec and Matthews LX. This was hands down winner in noise. I shot these bows outside the shop and inside to confirm this.
Accuracy. Shooting indoors at the range, I was able to put together very good groups once I tuned the bow after a few days. Tonight was by far the best I've shot with it thus far and the groups are very respectable out to 30 yards. I really think it shoots more like a longer ATA bow.
I dont know if I just got lucky this time, but tuning was real quick on this bow. I shot it through paper and made only a small left adjustment of the rest to get a decent bullethole. This was also with a nock point 1/8" above square. One thing I'm beginning to notice with Hoyt bows, they seem to tune very well with Beman ICS shafts. Maybe a conspiracy? Makes me wonder since both Hoyt, and Easton (who owns Beman) are in Salt Lake City. HMMM?
One other peculiar thing I noticed. I had to lengthen my draw from 28 to 28.5 for some reason. I have been told by someone here on the board that the more extreme angle of the shorter bow may cause this if you anchor with your nose on the string. I do. I'm not complaining, more draw length means a little better speed.
Speed. This is where it falls a little. Being a bigger brace bow, it gave up a little in speed. Specs state 300 fps. I shot a few arrows through the chrono at the shop and was hitting 264 fps with my hunting arrows. Plenty good enough for me! I may be able to squeak out a few more fps when I finally put a set of WC strings on it after Xmas. If your looking for speed, look at another bow, its definitely not a thoroughbread, but its more than fast enough for hunting.
What I liked:
The attention to detail on the bow. Everything on it is very well designed and well built. Tolerances are excellent. Its shoots very well for a shorty. Like I stated, balance on this bow is perfect for me. On the shot, it simply sits there. No jump, vibration or noise. The shot feels very solid. Also, this may be picky, but I really like the fact the the limb pockets and eccentrics bronze bare metal. This means no more ugly nicks and scratches. The bow will look nicer later down the road. I know, thats crazy, but something I noticed. The camo pattern printed a lot better than my Cybertec of 02 did. This bow is a head turner and looks very sharp. Almost too pretty to hunt with.
What I didn't like:
Not much. One thing I did not like was the fact that they took the cut-out out of where you mount your rest. I liked that. It made for what I felt was a more secure mount with the addition of the mounting plate that fit in the slot. Not to mention the lock down screw didn't dig into the riser like it has to do now. The other thing is the strings of course. With a 610- 699 price tag, Hoyt could do a lot better there.
Overall thoughts:
I really like this bow. I settled on it over the Bowtech Liberty, Bowtech Patriot, Hoyt Xtec, and Matthews LX. Not to say they all arent excellent choices, but I just wanted a short bow for a change and for me, this one shot and felt better than the others I tried. I'm a bowhunter first, and quietness, and solid, dependable bows are what I look for most. This one fits it perfectly. I can't wait for second season archery here is PA. The Vipertec is waiting.
12-24-2003, 09:27 AM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: CT, USA
Posts: 3,058
RE: 2004 Hoyt Vipertec Review
Nice Report Muzz!
Very much my sentiments as well re: the ViperTec. Nice little bow. Very smooth shooter.
And I also don't like the lack of the cutout for the Hoyt NAP rests on the 2003 and later models. If that area of the bow was more squared off, I wouldn't care so much, but that are is now contoured and there is less surface area for the rest to make contact with than before.
Nor do I like the Hoyt strings.They start out decent and go south in a hurry. The WCCB will pick you up a couple of FPS but they are louder. I put on on my CyberTec earlier in the year, and the noise increased a bit more than usual for some reason (cam timing was perfect..so perhaps it was the X-coat?:shrug
At any rate those are minor quibbles. Great new bow from Hoyt. I came very close to laying down the cash for one.
Very much my sentiments as well re: the ViperTec. Nice little bow. Very smooth shooter.
And I also don't like the lack of the cutout for the Hoyt NAP rests on the 2003 and later models. If that area of the bow was more squared off, I wouldn't care so much, but that are is now contoured and there is less surface area for the rest to make contact with than before.
Nor do I like the Hoyt strings.They start out decent and go south in a hurry. The WCCB will pick you up a couple of FPS but they are louder. I put on on my CyberTec earlier in the year, and the noise increased a bit more than usual for some reason (cam timing was perfect..so perhaps it was the X-coat?:shrug
At any rate those are minor quibbles. Great new bow from Hoyt. I came very close to laying down the cash for one.
12-24-2003, 03:36 PM
#4
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Central PA
Posts: 2,299
RE: 2004 Hoyt Vipertec Review
I'm actually surprised anyone read this! With all the commotion that Bowtech is making here, it seems no one else is making bows anymore.
Thanks for the comments.
Thanks for the comments.
12-24-2003, 06:05 PM
#5
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Alvo Nebraska USA
Posts: 2,057
RE: 2004 Hoyt Vipertec Review
I've also just recently looked at the Hoyt ViperTec. Great quality equipment for sure but IMO they need a larger sight mounting area machined into that part of the riser. Good luck with your new toy!!!!!
12-30-2003, 10:53 PM
#6
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: creemore Ontario Canada
Posts: 5,525
RE: 2004 Hoyt Vipertec Review
Sorry Muzzyman! I never seen this post ,but I'm glad I found it I have pretty much made up my mind on the new Bow Tech's for this year. But I will definetly check out the new Hoyt's as well you never know what can happen when decision time comes .
nubo
nubo
