This will make more sense to those of you following the bowtech vs. diamond thread, the thread was getting a little long in tooth, so I decided to start a new topic with my encounter at the bow shop (notice I didn't say "pro-shop"
I went and shot two of the three diamonds the local bowshop had in stock yesterday.
Heres what I found.
The two bows I shot were the DOA 33" ata w/7"b/h and a 319ibo
and the Undertaker at 33" ata w/8" b/h at 309 ibo.
He had a sniper, but 28.5 ata is just two short and odd looking for me.
The DOA was fast, how fast I don't know because his chrony doesn't work. see side note 1. The hand shock was present, but the bow only had a flipper rest and a knock on the string and the shock was no more than my mathews equipped with a doinker shorty,limbsavers and string silencers. I was shooting a light carbon with 3" fletch and they were screeming into the target, burrying so deep this 6'4" guy that was there had to get them out. The speed is definately there.
With the 7" brace height the string would occasionally bump my forearms inside sleeve after the shot- something I deal with occasionally on my current bow. No big deal, I just have to keep up good form without slacking up.
The Undertaker was a decked out bow with a crappy steel stabilizer, string silencers, some old tech shoot around rest and sights with a peep sight (only tied in on the bottom)on the string and three cushion buttons beneath the nock(?). It also shot fast, but not as fast as the DOA. the handshock was also present, but then again no worse than my rigged out z-light. The extra 1" of brace height seemed like more of what I need, never any sleeve slap with plenty of room to spare.
One item of concern on both was the serving on either the string or cables (forgot which I was looking at) was allready spreading where it rolls off on a sharp point on the cam.
Another concern was the top right portion of the grip area. The riser rubbed my thumb's first knuckle when I had the bow drawn back. This becomes annoying after a while. I had to cut down the grip of my Z-light becuse of this. Do I just have a larger first knuckle than most?? I don't know I've never compared thumb knuckles with anybody elses!!
I like the bows and his discounted prices, I kept going back and forth between the two and just couldn't see which one would get my heart thumping. I liked the high speed of the DOA, but I also liked the 8" brace height of the undertaker. I think what I need is and undertaker with an IBO of 319. Which is real close to what the Hornet has to offer. It is a 30.5" ata with a 7.5" braceheight and an IBO of 318.
I have no idea how accurate I'd be with these bows because one had no sights and the other was not even near sighted in, the sights were just thrown on there not even inline with the string.
I would get the DOA, but I always felt I could be more consistantly accurate with a more forgiving bow than what I have. My current bow has a 7" brace height and 36" ata. With the doa I'd just be reducing the ata and keeping the 7" brace height- therefore reducing the overall forgiveness of my bow. UNLESS the mathews Z-light is just trickier to shoot than most. In that case the DOA might be right up my ally.
He didn't have a Hornet in stock, but could order it for $85.00 over dealer cost which he said would be $455.00 before tax. Having not shot one I'm reluctant to order one. The Doa is priced at $425.00 and the undertaker he wants $499.00 decked out.
I asked how much for the Undertaker if he removed the stuff he had on it and he said $435.00. I said that's ten dollars more than the DOA which has a higher list price. He told me it would be more because it had the string whiskers and cushion buttons-which I don't want because I use a string loop and don't use traditional string whiskers. He told me he'd just leave the cushion buttons on becuase they just add speed anyways-(huh?)
The undertaker is probably all I need as it is a nice bow and felt good. I just would hate to pay more because he put some stuff I didn't want on it.
So here I sit confused, the bows I liked. They are nice bows and at a great price. But buying one from him is just like ordering one out of a catalog little to no tech support. He made some statements that had me convinced he was way out of the loop on this new tech archery stuff and semi rude to boot. Maybe the fact that he runs a taxadermy shop out of his archery shot should tell me something.
One thing I do know is that today after work I'll be going to LOWES and Buying a freezer, then going to the poles to VOTE.
I'll take another day or two to stress over this new bow aquisition.
But my gut feeling is that I need to wait and buy a bow that has me drooling after the first shot and from a dealer I feel more comfortable with. Maybe a 2003, but darnit $425.00 is hard to pass up, or is it?
I'll admit the bows are nice, but $450.00 nicer than my current bow- not hardly. I went home and shot my Z-light (in the rain)So I could compare them. And it was like picking up and old friend. I've been using it for 6+ years, guess I'm just used to it!!
I know this was long and possibly quiet useless for some of you to read. I'm sorry if thats the case.
But some of the guys on this board have been helping me with this Diamond bow thing and I thought I owed it to them to let them know where I stand on the issue. Plus RANGEBALL wanted a report, so here it is.
Thanks for all the help guys and any comments on my quandry would be more than appreciated.
Side note 1 chrony doesn't work - go figure, three out of the four proshops I've frequented in the past keep broken chrony's on hand and say "It doesn't work". I told him I a chrony at home and he looked at me like your supposed to have a liscence to operate one.