Ever since I saw the ad for the Deadzone in a D&DH mag last fall I have wanted to see this bow in person. Even with the limited information on it, I have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of this bow. Well, I swung by the local bow shop today and they had finally gotten one in, 29" 70lbs of pure bow beauty (so I happen to like the way it looks)

First off, I probably should have had the shop owner crank it down for a little bit, 3 feet of snow in the backyard is not conducive for keeping my muscles in shape, bad me. But I managed to get it back with little problem, the sucker pulls hard all the way through the draw cycle, has a pretty small valley, it wants to go, like right NOW.

I couldn't find a comfortable grip on the handle, the wood handle just wouldn't sit right in my hand. The wood grip also felt 'loose' for lack of a better word, like the single screw holdling it in place wasn't sufficient to anchor it down on the outer edges.

The shot was fairly dead, not a lot of shock but even with no sight on the bow (just a rest, otherwise a bar bow) I found it hard to aim, the other bows I have shot after the 2nd or 3rd shot I can figure out where the arrow is going to go.

Now, in defense of the bow, the draw length was probably an inch to an inch and a half to long for me (with a loop already installed) I also had issues with the trophy taker rest that was on the bow, the arrow popped off a couple times, probably because the weight was to high for me, torquing the string, but letting the bow down a few times in a row resulted in a slight twinge in my neck/shoulder that right now is starting to ache a bit, should feel really good in the morning

On a plus side, the arrows did zip out of there pretty good, good penetration on the target and one of the guys on the range said it sounded quiet.

However even after having the guy at the shop take the weight down to about 63 pounds the bow still pulled hard. I shot a 70 pound Marquis and 82nd and neither of those bows pulled as hard. Then I shot a 60 pound General, the only thing I am concerned about is the speed out of the General otherwise I think this would be a no brainer (ya I know for a pure tree stand bow this is probably the way to go but getting caught up in the numbers is a fun distraction)

I am really leaning towards either the general or 82nd right now. Both of those bows grouped nice, drew nice, and the fit and finish on both seem to be a bit more refined than the Deadzone.

So, I am sure the Deadzone is gonna be a wonderful fit for someone, initial impressions tell me that it is probably not for me......