ORIGINAL: Dopler
I'm on record as really disliking the rage design so if you must go with a mechanical and not a fiixed headthen Reapers hands down. I tested both, the reapers blades are much muchstronger than the rage and the heads stay together in the quiver unlike the rage heads. The rage blades break if they come into contact with bone, they work fine on perfect hits but on marginal hits, they break and it's on the marginal hits that you need the cutting power more than anything. There wereseveral exampleson this site alone this year where people hit the front shoulder on quartering frontal shots and the rageblades broke off beforemaking it into the boiler room.
Another thing to consider on the rage,lets say you shoot, make a marginal hit or miss and get the opportunity at a second shot, are you going to have time to pull an arrow out of your quiver,reset it's blades like you have to before putting the arrow on your bow and firing thesecond shot? Ihighly doubt it.
I have had two marginal shot experiences with my 3 blades this year. One was a direct shoulder shot, partially quartering too me. The arrow stuck in the opposite shoulder, no pass through. I honestly wouldnt expect many to pass through on that shot so... The deer went 45 yards. The arrow broke off and i didnt have a blood trail but... I watched her eat the ground so it didnt matter.-The other time, was my first doe of the season. She was hard quartering away, hit multiple ribs etc. and she went down in 50 yards. Complete pass thru. That one, I had a blade bent and was unusable. There was a massive blood trail. The other shot on my buck wasnt a marginal shot so i wont speak of that one.
Thats two of the marginal/awkward hits and both brought the deer down in my sight. No broken blades, no lost deer or fault in the broadheads part. The one bent blade imo is very acceptable for the angle the shot was on the deer. The arrow caught liver and both lungs so you can imagine how far it traveled through her. Im not arguing here or promoting the rage, these are just my experiences from this year and are factual accounts that i can let you see. Not trying to start a mechanical vs. whatever thread or anything.
Btw, I do like your idea Dopler about pulling out an arrow for a second shot. I will not disagree about the blades getting loose. They do have a tendancy to come loose. I use a hip quiver so that doesnt happen, but they are certainly harder to secure than most mechanical heads.
Derek
p.s. keep in mind i am using the 3blades. Many of the people (most from my memory) have hhad the major problems with the 2 blades. That is why i wont shoot them.
Here is a link to my deer killed this year. Please excuse that its my myspace link. I just find its the easiest way for me to share photos.
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID =54069651&albumId=2319464