Fixed, there is no advantage to expandables unless you cant get you bow tuned imo, and going to expandables for that reason is just masking the problem. As for brands, i perfer slick trick but muzzy, nap, magnus, g5, innerlok and many others make good heads, just make sure there sharp!
That question is what came first the chicken or the egg. I've been down both roads in my 40 + years in archery, and I like fixed heavy broad heads. I personally shoot 220 grain fixed Muzzy Phantoms. But you're going to get enough answers to completely confuse you. Best thing is try some and see what makes you happy, they are going to kill if place in the right spot. I've field tested most of the broad heads on on the market, that's why I shoot what I shoot.
That question is what came first the chicken or the egg. I've been down both roads in my 40 + years in archery, and I like fixed heavy broad heads. I personally shoot 220 grain fixed Muzzy Phantoms. But you're going to get enough answers to completely confuse you. Best thing is try some and see what makes you happy, they are going to kill if place in the right spot. I've field tested most of the broad heads on on the market, that's why I shoot what I shoot.
couldn't have said it any better myself. I will any broadhead that i feel confident enough will kill the animal quickly.
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expandables have moving parts, and there's not one thing made by man that has moving parts that won't fail eventually. SO you need to decide if you want to risk a failure at just the wrong time, or just use something with no moving parts that can never fail.
People that use fixed blade broadheads will loose a critter they hit eventually, BUT those that fail to find an animal when using expandables will always wonder if it was the broadhead that failed, or thier shot placement sucked, or thier tracking skills suck.
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Reasons a person might want to use an expandable even if their bow is well tuned.
1. Much like a field tip and expandable head is less affected by the wind.
2. Fixed blade heads are like poor shooting form amplifiers. Not much of a problem with shooting form standing on flat ground in the front yard. But 30 foot up a tree; leaning out around a limb, wearing a thick coat in freezing cold weather is another story. Mech heads are as forgiving in such circumstances as a field tip.
3. Lets say you have a 30 inch draw length and are shooting a 70 lb bow generating massive amounts of kinetic energy. Some people like that figure, "why waste all that kinetic energy driving a fixed head another three inches deeper in the ground behind a deer (which is of no extra advantage) when I could be using it to make a bigger hole in the deer". Ever try to tune a 1 3/4 or 2 inch fixed head to shoot well at 300 fps? That's where an expandable really shines. Flys like a field tip but cuts a hole way bigger than any fixed head you could get to fly well out of todays fast bows.
That said, I use both fixed and expandables. Both have their advantages in certain circumstances.
Random observations:
Don't use a mech head to cover for an untuned bow. Tune your bow!!!
Don't use a real wide diameter expandable if your bow doesn't have the power to push it all the way through a deer. Know this by actually shooting your bow through a chronograph and then plugging that speed and the weight of your arrow into the formula for kinetic energy.
The vast, vast, vast, majority of the "It didn't open stories" about expandables are horse ####.
I could give you a list of expandables that penetrate just as well as most fixed heads.
Broadheads
