Independent Studies Website on Archery Gear

mystryak · 01-06-2008, 10:26 PM

Does anyone know of any websites or companysthat have independent studies on Archery Gear. I mean with all the stuff that is out there and the growing number of bowhunters every year you would think there would be but I cant find one. There is an outlandish amount of overstating on certain items that could easily cause companys to watch their hyped up campaigns by having it stand up side by side against similar and time tested equipment.

I read a article in a bowhunting magazine not to long ago that talked about how the magazine reviewed items, because all there were was good reviews in the magazine. And the magazine saidto the effect that they only listed the good gear because who wants to read bad reviews.Then whileflipping through the mag you see like4 or 5 different full page adds bycertain manufactures and a full page article aboutcertain companyproducts, and guess which ones got reviewed. It just seems as though alot of us have to field test tons of gear to ever really figure out whichonesspeak the truth,which ones have alot to live up to and which products you would be better off throwing a rock at a bearinstead ofusingtheir products to try and kill it.

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Gundeck · 01-07-2008, 07:30 AM

With a lot of gear, it is so much personal preference that a review means little to most people. I can show you guys that shoot near perfect scores with most major bows in production. Does that mean that they are equally good? If a guy who shoots a Bowtech every day does a review on a Hoyt, what do you expect the results to be? Don't you think the Hoyt is going to feel "awkward" to him? Most reviews will give the specs for a bow and a writeup on the general feel of the bow, but that is about it. That is about all you can pratically produce. Even if you devoted your life to testing every bow out there on a regular basis, the way you shoot a given bow will be much different than the way I shoot that same bow, so your review does me little good. I firmly believe that the only way to make an educated judgement on a purchase is to go try the product and see how it meets YOUR needs. That is why pro shops let you shoot multiple bows. (That is also why car dealers let you drive the car. All of the reviews don't mean anything until you sit in that seat.)

Arthur P · 01-07-2008, 11:03 AM

A lot of us have been wanting a 'Consumer Reports' kind of site for a long time. Nobody has taken up the call as of yet. So, until it happens, you just have to sift through theforums to figure out find info on things you've thought about trying.

mez · 01-07-2008, 12:40 PM

You will never see it. In the end someone has to pay for the tests, reviews etc. There aren't enough archers/bowhunters out there that would be willing to pay the bills. That would lead to the companies paying the bills and with that you introduce bias and the test is worthless.

gibblet · 01-07-2008, 12:52 PM

5shot does a real good job w/ broadheads, and some other equipment

5 shot · 01-08-2008, 03:27 AM

I do my best to offfer somehting like that. I have several more reviews coming. Gps units, tree stands etc. My problem is finding all the time to get it done. you can check out my website at www.broadheadtests.com

nodog · 01-08-2008, 02:51 PM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: gibblet

5shot does a real good job w/ broadheads, and some other equipment

I got to the strings page for a few seconds before bieng cut off to the pay to play page. Didn't see your name, is it?

PABowhntr · 01-09-2008, 08:47 AM

I did see that a couple of guys got together with some sophisticated equipment to test many of today's bows. The physical test report was 39 pages long if I remember correctly. I was going to print it all out but thought my boss here at work might find something objectionable about its length...

Here is the link .....

http://www.archeryevolution.com/pdf/2007Face-OffResultsArcheryTalk.pdf

I could never swing something that technical as I just don't have access to that type of gear. I applaud them for doing it. It not only took alot of time and effort but also required a lot of personal interest and motivation.

mystryak · 01-09-2008, 09:17 AM

I like the idea of just a broadheads website I havent gone to that but i will make sure and do that today. Maybe thats the way to go and the reason for so many people feeling discouraged about taking on the task of all archery equipment. Maybe if1 small group takes on one thing like broadheads comes up with a standardised test and then another guy comes up with a way to test rests and so on in a scientific method. That could be a way to eliminate the problems with the overload of gear and testing money.