Head for the shop and check them both out either choice will be a good one. I bought the 2004 Patriot Dually, but I have checked out the Xtec as well and it's an excellent bow.You have to please you, but I'm sure you will have a tough time making a choice between the 2 bow's . I'm pretty partial to BowTech but the Xtec would have been my next choice for sure .Good luck with choosing, both are awsome bow's for hunting.
You can't make a bad choice here.
NUBO IS RIGHT MAN, YOU CAN'T REALLY MAKE A BAD CHOICE BOTH ARE GREAT BOWS. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO WHEN I SHOT THEM IS THAT THE HOYT BOW HAS A REALLY SMALL GRIP. THE BOWTECH DOESN'T. JUST PREFERENCE BUT I LIKE THE FEEL OF A LARGER GRIP IN THE PALM OF MY HAND. JMHO
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"CONTEMPLATE THE MANGLED BODIES OF YOUR COUNTRYMEN AND THEN SAY, WHAT SHOULD BE THE REWARD OF SUCH SACRIFICES."
Yep, sound advice given. I shoot an Xtec and love it. I have been partial to Hoyt because their bows have treated me good in the past years. But I did get a chance to shoot the Extreme VFT and its a nice bow. Plenty fast, and a sweet shooter. I was just kinda leary of the lower brace on it, thats all.
Head to the shop and shoot them side by side and make your decision. Either way, you're getting a top quality bow from two top quality companies. If you haven't shot the Liberty, give it a whirl too. IMO, its a little better hunting only bow. Silky smooth draw and nice brace height. That'll come into play when its 20 degrees outside and you have on heavier clothing.
Have fun choosing, glad I got that out of my system for the year.
I recently "test drove" a bunch of bows, including the XTEC, BT Extreme and the BT Liberty. If I would have kept them away from a chronograph, I probably would have bought an XTEC. It is extremely smooth, quiet and shock-free (as is the Liberty). The Extreme is also dead quiet and shock-free, but with a slightly harsher draw cycle.
With my 510gr XX75 2413's at 60# and 28", I got 217fps with the XTEC, 216fps with the Liberty and 226 with the Extreme. Since my 12yr old Proline that I'm retiring also did 217fps, I'm having a hard time justifying the nearly $700 for some of these bows without some sort of performance increase. I'm also looking at the Martin Cougar Magnum with Nitrous cams ... it is faster than the Extreme (230fps) with very little shock/vibration at the shot. Basically, it is down to the Cougar Mag and Bowtech Extreme at this point for me. They both have 6 5/8" brace heights, with the Cougar being about 2" longer than the Extreme. Decisions, decisions!!! Isn't it fun?!?
Hope this helps ... Shockwave
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'04 Martin Cougar Mag with Nitrous cams
XX78, Extreme RT900, Vibracheck
all these guys have given you great advice, I won't say anything different. Personally I shoot a hoyt. I found that when I shot the bowtech, it was a little easier to torque. but obviously this isn't trtue for everyone. bowtech is a great company, but I do love my hoyt.
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The Rebellion's "Oklahoma Twister of Words"...
shockwave........thanks for the mini review. Only reason I have not looked at a 2004 Cougar Magnum was I did not like the riser as well as my older 2000 style, but the new Martin Nitrous cams are a must-see-and- shoot soon for me!
Cougar - I am really leaning toward that Cougar Mag ... The $150+ difference in price is mighty attractive!! My proshop is asking in the $690 range for the Bowtechs and the new Cougar Mag is supposed to be in the $525 neighborhood. Jim Despart from Martin was there with a bunch of bows, but my shop doesn't actually have any in yet so I'm not sure what the final price will be.
I really like the Nitrous cams. They are a fairly hard cam, but with the speeds they generate I can easily get away with shooting less poundage. The Cougar shot very well with minimal shock / vibration and a nice hard wall. It had less shock / vibration than the PSE's I've shot but more than the Bowtechs and Hoyt XTEC (both of which have NONE, IMO). I would consider it on par with the Hoyt UltraMag, except about 20fps faster. I'm also intrigued by the Nitrous-X system and the fact that you can switch from Nitrous to N-X on a whim and back again. I shoot spot leagues, so the X system might come in handy there ... although there is no reason it can't be used for hunting as well.
One other Martin I tried was the new Slayr. This is a more parallel limb bow with Nitrous cams .... easily the fastest bow in the shop. With my same heavyweight arrows it did 232fps, but it was only a 27" draw!! This bow was very much like the BT's, shock and vibration free. My only gripe is that it weighs nearly 5 pounds. It's just too heavy to lug around, but a VERY nice bow if you don't mind the weight.
The other factor I need to weigh in here is that Jim D gave me a nice new Martin hat ... I really have to have the bow to match it, now!! Of course, he knew that when he gave it to me!![8D]
I would highly recommend you check out the new Cougar Mag ... I haven't shot the older versions but I can't imagine you being disappointed!
... Shockwave
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'04 Martin Cougar Mag with Nitrous cams
XX78, Extreme RT900, Vibracheck
I shot both when looking at my bow. There isn't a huge amount of difference between the two except the grip and the speed. The Hoyt's grip feels a little better to me but the Extreme has considerably more speed. Shooting both of them bare bow in the shop, I could not feel enough difference in vibration or shock to tell a difference. Noise level was about the same. Either bow will be a fine choice. Depends on what you are looking for. Speed is what sold me on the Bowtech, and I have absolutely no regrets buying the Bowtech. As a matter of fact, the Black Knight is really starting to appeal to me as a low poundage back up bow.
BowTech Extreme Vs Hoyt X Tec
Of course, he knew that when he gave it to me!![8D]
