HotLZ

How nice to see it sitting on my doorstep when I got home from work yesterday. I immediately opened it up and checked it out and I must admit, I was a little disappointed in the paint job on it. Their was a couple of minor blemishes on the riser, which I've never seen before in the 4 other bowtechs I've owned. No big deal to me though. Here's the big disappointment for me though: I drew it back, and right when it drops into the valley at the end of the draw, I could feel and hear the buss cable rub on something. Not good. After scoping it out as best I could by myself, I couldn't see anthing wrong, but it was definetly rubbing a little, and you could see it on the serving of the cable. Again, it was just a little rub, but not something I'm used to seeing from Bowtech. Once I got to the club, I ran into my next obstacle. It is very challenging to put this bow into my Bracklyn bow press. The limbs are so laid back that the limb bolts want to hit the arms of the press before you can compress the bow far enough to do any work on it. I did manage to get the string and cable off though, so I could put my vibrablocks on, but putting my NV system on was out of the question, as they go on the limb bolts, and their simply was no way for me to do that and compress the bow to get the string and cable back on. Next I mounted up a rest, put a loop on, and shot the bow with no stabilizer on. I am shooting it at 30" @ 70 lbs, and I didn't have my 350 gr. arrow with me, so I shot my 335 grain one. I know it's a little light, but it's all I had at the time. Anyway, I couldn't believe how nice this bow shot. It just sat in my hand after the shot. No shock or buzz at all, and that's with my ultralight arrows. It also aimed really nice for me, and sat rock solid at full draw. I didn't get to shoot it too much as I had to get home, but I was defintely impressed by the way this bow shot. The cable thing was a bummer for me, but I'll get that fixed asap.
One other thing I noticed is that there was no stat sheet that came with the bow. Did Bowtech quit shooting the bows before they go out? I have to believe if my bow would have been shot before it left the plant, theres's no way they would have shipped it due to the cable. I don't think it was shot at all, but I'm not sure on that.

You know another thought just occured to me: my dealer swapped out the 28" module that it shipped with for a 30" one. Do you think that might have something to do with it?

Gotta run, don't have time to review my post, so please forgive any errors. I'll be back later tonight with more info after I shoot it some more.

Rod

Matt / PA

I hope that they aren't rushing these things out the door since they are in such demand right now......all the ones I've seen have been flawless as well.

Not sure what to make of the cable problem......sounds like you'l get her figured out.

You are missing the "Spec" sheet because of your dealer swapping the modules......It's not doing you any good since it's stating the 28" stats and not your 30" so he probably just left it out.

I'm currently mulling over ordering one myself......I'd really like to pick up another Mighty Mite, but this one's going to be hard to pass up.
Maybe get the Patriot for hunting and leave the Pro38 strictly for 3D.......hmmmm.

Glad to hear you like it for the most part so far......give us the full "Skinny" once you get it up and running for real.

BowTech_Shooter

HotLZ, Get with your dealer he should have the spec sheet. Every bow still gets test fired and a spec. sheet shipped in the box. However it is very possible that the shipper was in a hurry and forgot it. We are all human. I'd say your dealer has it though. I'd also say your dealer didn't quite set up the cam quite right. Try taking the draw stop up towards the (S) short end just a (hair) at a time til it stops. This cam is pretty finicky about the stop setting with a 30" module in it. My buddies shop just sold one at 30" 60#'s and it shot great for the fellow. If you need more help email me at [email protected] or [email protected] I'll talk you through it.

JeffB

Make sure the cables are crossed correctly (under the cable guard), that could solve your problem.

I'm suprised about the finish too..sounds fishy..where are the blemishes?

JeffB

HotLZ

One blem is a little smaller than the size of a dime on the inside of the riser up by the sight mount holes. The other is on the inside of one of the cutouts below the grip. They are no big deal.

I think I figured out the cable thing as well. The cables were crossed correctly, so I swapped out the mod and put in another that I had from my ES and the problem disappeared, so it appears as though the mod is bad.

Now, onto one more problem for me: The same problem I had with my Pro38 is rearing it's ugly head again with the Patriot. I don't have enough vertical adjustment in my sights to get them low enough. I measured the distance from the rest mounting hole to the first sight mounting hole on both my Extreme Solo and on the patriot, and it's about 1.5" higher on the patriot. Why do they do this? It makes it hard for guys like me with longer draws and lower mounted peeps. Again, no big deal, and probably one that won't affect the majority of shooters, but I'm not gonna change my anchor because of it. I'll just have to use my other sight.

Here's something new I hadn't seen before: I normally shoot a 31" bow, but since the Patriot isn't available in 31", I'm shooting it at 30" with a loop. I also decided to take the grip off. When I did I found two of the cutout holes in the riser behind the grip had some kind of rubber inserts in them. There was also a strip of rubber that was sandiched between the grip and riser. Anyway, it kinda reminded me of some other bow company's harmonic dampeners. I think they're probably in there to stabilize the grip and keep it from sliding a little bit like they used to.

Overall, I am pleased as punch with the bow. It really is smooth and quick. To give you a comparison, I had the opportunity to shoot a friend's cybertech excel cam tonight as well. It was 29" draw, 60 lbs. wtih a 400 gr. arrow. When I shot that it was absolutely dead in my hand. My Patriot had a slight amount, and I mean very slight amount more vibration than it, but was probably shooting at least 40-50 fps faster.

As soon as I get a sight mounted up, I'll really be putting it through the paces, but I think this bow is really, really gonna be a great shooter.

More to come later,

Rod

BowTech_Shooter

HotLZ, Don't quote me on this but I think all the bows have the rubber in the risers this year. I don't know if you've seen any complaints about loose grips before but, this was one way to keep the grips tight and also get a little dampening too. The grips are the hardest piece to control the quality on and they literally have to sort through the box of them til they get one to fit good. I'm not sure what could have been wrong with the Mod. when you said it was bad. Were the two modules the same number?

HotLZ

Yep, the mods were the same #, I think it was DS1. I couldn't see anything wrong with it, but when I switched them it was fine. Dunno.

Kanga

thanks for the report Holtz
I will be waiting to get the full story when you have it set up and shooting properly

squidkid

HEY HOTLZ,
i noticed that you said your patriot was waiting on your doorstep. did you have this bow shipped to your home address? did you purchase this bow from an authorized bowtech dealer? the reason that i am asking is a warranty issue. a HUGE discussion on another bowsite is discussing this very topic.
by no means do i want my topic to spark up a thread like the other message board, i just am curious if everyone(dealers) are all playing by the same rules. glad to hear that you love the bow, i am just waiting for the shop to call and tell me mine is in!

PABowhntr

Squidkid,

I think you will find that most of the folks that frequent this forum are aware of the thread on the other &quot;bowsite&quot;, as you put it......and would probably choose not to comment on the issue...<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>...for obvious reasons.

I was sort of curious about Hotlz's choice of words myself though....<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>