bigbuck270

I am thinking about switching to carbons after the season. I know there have been hundreds of posts on carbon arrows but I want to know if you personally have had a problem. I have heard of all the possible cons but have yet to hear of any problems first hand so lets hear them.
Thanks

Paul L Mohr

I will usually be one of the first to point out possible flaws in carbon arrow technology. I will also admit that I myself have not really had that many problems with them, and I have owned several dozen of various brands in varying price ranges. I tend to get them a bit stiff however which can negate some of the spine variance issues to a certain degree.

The most gripes I have read about are with gold tip arrows, especially the hunter models. I can't believe they still sell as many arrows as they do with all the problems you hear about. They do have pretty good customer service though and stand by thier product. If you get bad arrows they replace them. Of course it would be nice to get good ones right from the get go.

Paul

98Redline

I have shot carbons since I started hunting, and have never had a "true" problem with any of my arrows. Occasionally I will have one that will not group as well as the others, however certainly not out of the required accuracy for a hunting arrow. These normally get relegated to pre-season arrows anyway. I certainly like them more than aluminum. I shoot aluminums with my target rig, and have trashed so many due to straightness problems it is scary. They come straight as..........well as an arrow........when they are new, but a bad hit or contact with a very tight target butt or a frozen 3D target and they develop a wobble I was never able to get rid of. The carbon arrows are either straight or they are broken.

For hunting, IMHO carbons are the best choice.

Arthur P

Have I personally had problems with carbon arrows? YES!

That old wives' tale about carbons either being straight or broken is pure fantasy. Even though it's been repeated on every carbon arrow thread ever posted, on every archery forum on the internet, it's still a myth. Carbon arrows can, and do, lose their straightness. Carbon arrows also have spine degradation issues. They wear out! Some worse than others. I'd be willing to bet serious cash (assuming I HAD any cash. I AM an archer and bowhunter, ya know[8D]) that many 'tuning problems' we see posted are due to worn out, crooked carbon arrows.

Due to my long draw length, I have to use full length, uncut shafts for my arrows. In fact, some carbon shafts don't even come long enough for me to use. So, any inconsistency or straightness problems are magnified by the arrow length. I have NEVER gotten all-carbon arrows to shoot fixed blade broadheads to the same point of aim. You can't make tuning adjustments when you're trying to work with random groupings, and that is all I've gotten to work with.

I like the idea of carbon arrows. That's why I continue to buy at least a dozen of them every year, hoping against hope that they've improved. Hasn't happened yet.

I can't remember the last time I got a dozen aluminum arrows that refused to shoot fixed blade broadheads consistently. I can count on each arrow in a dozen aluminums to shoot exactly where the others do.

On the other hand, I can't count on any two arrows in a dozen carbons to shoot two arrows to the same point of impact. My yield of good broadhead arrows out of 9 dozen carbons - to date - has been exactly ZERO. No wonder mechanical broadheads are so popular.

Two exceptions: ACC's, an aluminum/carbon hybrid, and Carbon Express Terminator Selects, a fairly heavy carbon/glass composite arrow. If I had to hunt with something other than XX75 or XX78, those would be my choices.

justhunt

[quote]ORIGINAL: Paul L Mohr

The most gripes I have read about are with gold tip arrows, especially the hunter models. I can't believe they still sell as many arrows as they do with all the problems you hear about. They do have pretty good customer service though and stand by thier product. If you get bad arrows they replace them. Of course it would be nice to get good ones right from the get go.





What problems????

adams

I shot bemans way back when they had outserts. I love the shafts but the outserts had to go. I then shot carbon express and had good luck with them as well.
I currectly shoot GT Pro Hunters and these are the best shafts that I have ever shot IMHO. Top quality shafts.

The only shafts I've had issues with were the PSE carbon force shafts. I had one disintergrate as I released the arrow. It was pretty scary crap and that was the last CF arrow I shot. Oersonal health isn't worth the risk to me. I trashed those shafts and got GT and I don't see changing any time soon.

Glen In Marland

I have shot aluminum and carbon over the past 10 years and both have good and bad points. The aluminum are straighter, cheaper, and easy to tune. The carbons are not nearly as straight and can be a bit of a tuning issue depending on rest selection. The plus side to carbons are increased arrow speed, better penetration, and more durable. I have never had a problem with a carbon arrow that would make me shoot just aluminum. The real question is for you. If you have something working, why do you want to mess with it? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Rangeball

I shot GT XX75s as well as hunter grade, groups were 3-4" no matter the tune.

Switched to ACCs, groups immediately shrunk to well over half that size.

Don't see leaving ACCs for a long long time...

Paul L Mohr

Tolerance issues, like straightness, or spine. I have read posts about people getting arrows that only had 8 out of a dozen that were usable. That sort of thing. Also a few gripes about getting warped or cracked arrows right out of the box. Also see alot of complaints about the lock nocks, from what I gather they must suck. Also from what I get the spine isn't really what it says it is. Like if the chart calls for 55/70's or what ever they are and you shoot any where near 70 lbs you should just go a head and get the next size up shaft. They tend to be weak I guess.

Ask JeffB what his opinion of them is, he tests them often it seems.

Keep in mind this is just with the cheaper model arrows, not the more expensive 3-d models. And in Gold tips defense, they sell a butt load of arrows every year! There are bound to be complaints when you are moving that much product. I used to own a Neon (car) and a few guys at work said they were complete pieces of junk and they wouldn't drive one if you gave it to them. Well they seem to sell alot of them don't they? The fact is in my area just about every 3rd car you see is a freakin neon, they are everywhere. I am sure they have thier problems, all production vehicles do. They don't have any more problems than any other car does for the most part. It's that there are so many of them you hear about it more. See what I'm getting at. Most cheap carbons most likely have the same problems, gold tip just sells more, so you may hear about it more often.

I will add that I shoot a pretty short arrow, between 25 and 23 inches depending on what my set up is. This is a big advantage with carbon arrows. The shorter you get them, the less the variances seem to show up. And like I said, I have never shot gold tips. Only going by what I have read or heard.

The moral is I guess if you want to use carbons, get the best ones you can afford, and check every one of them if you have the capabilities to do it. From what I see Carbon Express seems to be the best arrow for the money as far as pure carbons go.

These are just my opnions however. I prefer aluminums myself for now. If I go back to carbons it might be PSE's or Nitro stingers.

Paul

ijimmy

Never had problems with them , as long as they had alluminum in the middel