Whats the most important thing to you when buying a bow?

[colo_Lee]

For me its how quit it is

[Mathews PA Bowhunter]

1. The Way It Feels In My Hand
2. Draw Cycle / Noise - Go Hand In Hand

:d:d

[Arrowmike]

Originally Posted by Monie

Wow...you shoot fingers, Mike?

No. I use a release. I just don’t agree with the manufactures on what a hunting bow should be and the direction that they are going with the new bows. Short ATA’s, low brace heights, and aggressive hard cams. I place accuracy at the top of my list and speed toward the bottom.

I like a smooth cam because when you draw down on something the movement is easy, not herky-jerky. A 7+ brace for cold days when you have to layer up, less chance of having the string hitting your arm. And it’s more forgiving on shooting form, for that goofy form we may have to use hunting. 37-38 ATA is more stable and still short enough to move around. Also the string angle is less. I like the parallel limbs because they make a bow torque less, but mostly they shoot very quiet. I really like quiet.

[LIVEWIRE]

NAME-draw length-lbs..................wallet.......please momma,please

[Grnmtn]

Smooth draw cycle, solid wall and nice balance while aiming, speed for my short arms helps.

Bow feed back is something I got used to shooting with/ and for PSE for almost two decades, but since coming over to Easton and shooting a Hoyt, feed back issues are very little to nothing.

[Great White Hunter]

Comfortable, smooth draw cycle, quiet, quick. Pretty much in that order. Right now I shoot a Martin Truarc Dual Cam bow and love it but soon will put it down for a parallel limb bow from Mathews or Bowtech (although Limbsaver is coming out with a new bow). I like the idea of the energy being expended vertically instead of recoiling through me. It seems that I would be a more consistent shooter and less opportunity to torque my bow. Next bow...parallel limb...a must!

[wyo/tana]

Solid back wall, low recoil.

[TxStarr]

Unfortunately, my first look is for the draw length -- a measly 24" -- this cuts out lots of bows I would love. The second thing is how big the grip is (small hands -- wear kids gloves).

[Moon]

Here's what I look for in a bow in order from most important to least important. I might have missed a few things, but off the top of my head this is what goes through my mind the entire time while bow shopping. Sometimes I may spend a couple hours just staring at the bows in the pro shop before even picking one up just because I'm narrowing my choices down just by their on paper stats.

01. Price...I'm not rich, infact I'm on a disability income. I can't afford any bow on the market, so the price has to be reasonable, otherwise no matter how good the bow is if it's too expensive it's not even a choice for me.

02. Customer Service...I research the company's bow that I want to buy and look at their customer service feedback over several archery websites and on their own forums if they have one. I then e-mail the company and test how long it takes them to respond to a simple question. If they don't e-mail back or take forever to respond, or have a lot of negative feedback online I steer clear of the company. I look at it this way if they don't have time for me the paying customer I don't have time for them and my money is better spent elsewhere.

03. Availability...I hate having to special order a bow and wait 6 months for it to finally come in. I prefer to find a bow suiting my needs stock on the shelf that I can shoot right there in the store, have setup and take home that same night. The only time I don't mind coming back to pick up a bow at a later date is when I'm having a set of Myer's custom string, cables, and predators view peep sight installed just because it is well worth the wait.

04. Draw Length...I shoot a 25.5" to 26" draw length, depending on how exact the companies draw length setups really are to being truly 26". The bow must be able to be adjusted to one of these sizes at least.

05. Draw Weight...With my shoulder injury unless I shoot constantly all year round I end up having to rebuild my arm strength each season to be able to shoot 50#. So, the bow would have to be able to be adjusted between 45# up to 50# depending on the status of my bad shoulder.

06. ATA...I look for over 30" only to qualify for P&Y just incase I shoot a nice deer someday.

07. Let-off...I prefer 75% let-off. I dislike anything higher than that and need no lower than that because of my shoulder injury needing the extra strain reduced while holding at full-draw.

08. Noise...the bow has to have minimal noise if it doesn't already have pre-installed noise reducing equipment, if it has the equipment pre-installed I'm even more picker on the noise factor.

09. Draw Cycle...the draw has to be smooth and have a good back wall.

10. Recoil...the bow when fired needs minimal recoil if it doesn't already have pre-installed recoil reducing equipment, if it has the equipment pre-installed I'm even more pickier on the recoil factor.

11. Speed...with my short draw length and lower-end draw weight I look for as much speed as I can get.

12. Balance...the bow has to balance well in my hands.

13. Brace Height...I look for no less than 7" brace height and no more than 7.5" brace height.

14. Limbs...I prefer parallel limbs. Solid or split limbs doesn't matter to me.

[jersey jeff]

Feel and Left hand availability.