I finally decided on my new setup on Monday. I went to lancaster archery to shoot and pick up a new bow for 09, it was time to give my Tribute some company. I shot quite a few bows over 2 + hours and will give you my thoughts on them and be as unbiased as possible. I will start out with the AM series from hoyt. I shot both models and was really impressed with this bow, it was the quietest right out of the box and was a nice shooter, was well balanced and did not show much reaction at the shot. The next bow up was the Monster, really wild looking bow, not as bad of a draw cycle as I expected but not the most pleasent either, didn't jump as much at the shot as I thought it would and was blazin fast. What i did not like about this bow, was that it was really top heavy, I never felt anything like it, the shot was off and BAM the top cam was streaking towards the floor. This brings me down to the last two bows I shot. The Air Raid, this was an awesome bow, drew very smooth, held on target well and was dead in the hand, what kept me from chosing this bow were two key features, one of which surprised me.....the grip. I have always liked Bowtech grips, but this felt to fat to me, seemed wider in the throat than previous models, the other complaint I had was the backwall, I did not like the way the draw stops hit the cables, I could pull into the cables which gave it a spongy feel......all bows were same specs, 28.5 in. draw at 65 lbs. This brings me down to the last bow and the one that came home with me. The Elite GT500. This is an awesome bow, probably showed more jump than the other bows except the monster but was easily corrected with a stabilizer. This bow had a solid mix of everything, it held on target the best, the draw was silky smooth, the back wall was solid as a rock ( dual draw stops) and it had what I felt was the best grip of the group along with factory Barnsdale limbs. I outfitted it with a Spot Hogg Hogg It sight, I Fuse stabilizer, QAD HD Pro and all the necessary dampeners. She is now whisper quiet and shoots lazers, very happy with my choice. Included a little eye candy!
All in all there are some great bows out there, all these top companies are putting out some real nice products, fun time to be in the archery world.