Purchasing my 2nd bow and struggling to decide on which one

[irish52084]

9 years ago I bought a bowtech allegiance as my first bow. I shot the bow until I was comfortable out to 50 yards and I hunted with it 3 days total. For the last 6 years it had sat in my closet as life brought me a family, new career, wife and a business.

Now I want to buy a new bow and it seems like there are hundreds more options now. I almost bought a PSE years ago but ended up with the bowtech because it was faster. Now I realize that the draw of my old bow was just brutal compared to 90% of other bows. So my first instinct is to go to a bow that's smoother and more forgiving of the novice shooter.

Through online research I think I like the PSE prophecy and the PSE surge. But the bowtech infinite seems to get a ton of great reviews and obviously if I stepped up in price to the top end I can get a premium bow. But to be honest the price point on these 3 bows is a nice bonus, makes my wife groan less when she looks at the bank account.

Anyone have some first hand experience with any of these bows? Maybe a bow suggestion I haven't considered?

[romaknows]

Elite bows are known for being easy to draw.

[D-Rock425]

Bear BR33 is a smooth shooting bow.

[bullseeker]

If you can go out and shoot as many as you can. Everybody is different. The lower end ones shoot plenty good to kill something as the high end ones do. And pretty much all brands make good bows these days.

[RadSav]

The new Bear Wild is in the same price point as the PSE Surge w a little better cam IMO.  Both are real performers at that price!  If you want to step up in speed and stability without going to the headliner price the Bear Traxx and PSE Bow Madness are safe bets too. 

[irish52084]

I'm going to have to get my hands on the bear traxx and the br33. I went to sportsmans warehouse today but the archery counter guy was on lunch. I would have waited, but I had a 16 month old and a 5 year old with me and they didn't want to hang out for 45 minutes.

I'm sure it hasn't changed much, but when I bought my first bow I tried to go just off the feel of the bow in my hand. But now, there's binary cams, hybrid cams, single cams etc... It seems like I'm going to need to shoot about 50 bows to figure out what I like.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

Not the story I was expecting...
Some guys buy a new bow almost every year.
I bought my first bow and hunted with it for a few years, then bought my second bow.
Then bought a silly little 50# Ben Pearson recurve.
Then found a 1952 Static Tip Bear at a garage sale for $5...
Then found a 1964 Bear Kodiak Magnum...
Before I new it I had a whole wall full of bows, be careful they are like fishing rods and multiply somehow...

[ridgefire]

The hoyt powermax might be worth looking at.

[irish52084]

Alright, I'm adding the Hoyt powermax to my list.

How important is speed to you guys? Most of the bows I'm looking at are 320fps or faster. Is 10-20fps really a big deal?

The last time I bought a bow, 300fps was screaming fast and now every bows tops 300fps!

[irish52084]

Should have asked this earlier, does anyone have a bow shop recommendation? There's a shop in puyallup off shaw road and then there's the bow shops in bass pro, sportsmans warehouse and cabelas. Anything else close to Puyallup, Orting or the Tacoma area?

[biggfish]

There's gun and bow in parkland or Sport Co in fife. Great Northwest archery is the shop on Shaw it's a good place the guy running it now his stuff.

[The Gobble-stopper]

I purchased the Infinite edge this year. And so far couldn't ask for anything better. And judging from all the compliments I got out in the woods. It sounds like there was a good portion, that wanted to trade me. Super smooth, silent and accurate. Do not know a lot about bows. But I think I got lucky. I bought it because all the good reviews. Cant complain!

[JeffRaines]

If you're into the whole internet thing, I've seen both the Bear Arenas on CamoFire recently for ~500ish. You can email them and if they still have them they will sell them to you over the phone.

[irish52084]

Went to sportco today and they were very helpful. They let me test draw a bunch of bows and answered all my questions. They even suggested I visit a few other dealer to test out a few manufacturers that sportco doesn't stock.

I found 4 bows that I really liked: Elite energy 35, PSE decree hd, bowtech boss and xpedition perfexion.

I believe they are all 34" or longer and felt much more stable than some of the other bows I've been looking at.

[MuleDeer]

I've been shooting the Bowtech Boss about a year now, and have nothing but praise for it.  For variation, it also has the PowerShift Technology, which will let you set it for ease of draw, all-around performance, or high performance/speed.  Each setting makes for a different draw difficulty, and you can really custom fit it to what you like.
Keep looking, and definitely shoot some of these bows before you ever purchase.  Drawing is one thing, but you need to feel the entire action of the shot before you'll know what you like best and how they perform.  Enjoy the shopping!

[RadSav]

I found 4 bows that I really liked: Elite energy 35, PSE decree hd, bowtech boss and xpedition perfexion.

I believe they are all 34" or longer and felt much more stable than some of the other bows I've been looking at.

All good bows there!  But that's one enormous jump in cost compared to where you started.

[D-Rock425]

Went to sportco today and they were very helpful. They let me test draw a bunch of bows and answered all my questions. They even suggested I visit a few other dealer to test out a few manufacturers that sportco doesn't stock.

I found 4 bows that I really liked: Elite energy 35, PSE decree hd, bowtech boss and xpedition perfexion.

I believe they are all 34" or longer and felt much more stable than some of the other bows I've been looking at.

if that perfextion was available in my draw I'd own one already.

[Dr. Death]

I have 2 xpedition xcentrics, they are awesome bows...if you get into the kitsap area, get ahold of me and you can shoot them all you want.  The perfexions are great bows also...

[irish52084]

I found 4 bows that I really liked: Elite energy 35, PSE decree hd, bowtech boss and xpedition perfexion.

I believe they are all 34" or longer and felt much more stable than some of the other bows I've been looking at.

All good bows there!  But that's one enormous jump in cost compared to where you started.

Yeah, after handling some bows it seems like I may end up spending to the top of my budget. I could happily go forward with any of the four bows I just looked at. I'm going to see if I can get my hands on some Hoyt bows this week and also some of the mid range price options. Maybe a PSE bow madness 34 just to see how it compare.

[irish52084]

I have 2 xpedition xcentrics, they are awesome bows...if you get into the kitsap area, get ahold of me and you can shoot them all you want.  The perfexions are great bows also...

The perfexion was a total surprise to me I hadn't even heard of them before yesterday and it was one of my favorites. Seemed very smooth and if I had to pick from just those 4 it would probably be the PSE or the perfexion. But that could all change.

[irish52084]

I had a long lunch yesterday so I stopped by Skookum archery to get my hands on a few Hoyts and Matthews. I loved the Hoyt defiant! It's way at the top of my budget, but it was very nice. I also handled a few carbon models and the Matthews no cam bow. I was wasn't a fan of the Matthews no cam.

I'm going to see if I can sneak back up to skookum and shoot the Hoyt defiant 34. I just can't decide if it's really that much better than some of the others I already like. And I also wonder if it's really that much better than some of the budget bows. In some cases, is it $700 better?

[Mossberg 835]

Obsession is also a good choice. Same designer as the xpedition, but it's got the two trac cam design. Draws smooth, good back wall due to the string stops on modules plus dual limb stops. We sell both, and Elite for that matter.

[irish52084]

Well I finally chose the PSE bow madness 34". I got a good price on it new and it's in the middle of my budget. It felt good, stable and a decent draw.

Thanks for all the input guys!