APA ultimate rest vs. Trophy Taker ...


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Okay first thing first I am newer to archery than most of you, but have been an avid hunter and shooting enthusiast for years. This review was done with hunting in mind and for no other reasone than my own piece of mind. I only hope that by doing this review it may help someone else make a decision based on their needs and demands for an arrow rest. With that said I will begin.

I tried to be as unbiased in my testing of these to rests as possible and they are rated 1-5 5 being the best and 1 being the worst in the following categories. Installation- set-up, design, accuracy, safety, and durability.

Installation: For the installation review of these two rests I first took them to a proshop and had them mounted on my bow, I then paper tuned each of the rests before shooting 250 arrows out of each. I then took the rests off and reinstalled them myself and went through the whole process again. The results follow.

APA Ultimate: This rest seemed fairly easy for the proshop to set up and because of its simplicity was on the bow in a few minutes. When paper tuning I did notice that because of the rests design and the fact that the launcher arms are connected to a round bar tah is adjusted for both windage and elevation that it is hard to change one with out moving the other this can get to be a major head ache when trying to paper tune this rest. After about 20 shots through paper I finally settled for a 1/8th nock high tear. After 250 shots

I then removed the rest and reinstalled it myself. I found installing this rest only about half as troblesome as tuning it and soon had it on the bow again I found it hard to set the elevation without moving the winage and vice versa. Again I ended up with a nock high tear. Score =3

Trophy Taker: This rest really surprised me in this category although it looked fairly complicated the proshop had it installed almost as quick as the APA. I attribute part of this to the fact that this particular pro-shop sells a lot of this rest and has a good working knowledge of the rest. After getting it set up I began to paper tune and to my surprise I got a bullet hole after three adjustments. After shooting the rest for 250 shot I then removed it and reinstalled it.

I found instalation of the rest fairly easy and because I had seen it done once and read the instructions actually had it on rather quickly. I then reset center shot and paper tuned again getting a bullet hole on the tird or forth shot. Score=5

Before and after installing the rests I throughly checked out the design features.

APA Ultimate rest: I found the APA rest to be of solid design both for the way it is made and lack of moving parts. However i did find two things that where irritating and one is the afore mentioned adjustment bar for the launcher arms. Because of its' design thhis round bar makes setting elevation and windage a chore, but it can be done. My next irritation came with the ruggedness of the launcher arms themselves. I found them easy to bend and a bit flimsy which cooncerned me in the event that I might slip and fall while hunting or bump the rest somehow and bend the arms. I did however like the full arrow containment of this rest and fletching contact despite my reservations was not detectable. I rate the APA a solid 3.5 for design.

Trophy Taker: For any of you who have thought about a fall away rest i am sure design has been an issue. In this category i found the Trophy Taker well designed and thought out everthing from the launcher arms to the body of the rest seemed solid. I did not however take the rest apart to look at the internal spring. I found the design of the rest to be easy to tune and set up and although I was leary of the cord that raises the rest i found it to be reliable and easy to work with. My only concern with this rest wouls be the launcher arm breaking from hitting the arrow shelf again and again and although I found a couple of instances of this happening in other posts see no real way that this can happen with the new rest for they are very sturdy and would probably out live the shooter. Score = 5


For my accuracy rating I simply compaired the two rest's performance on my now destroyed 3d-deer from cabelas at distances from 20-50 yards . this is the one area where I could have been more scientific, but new to reviews I probably could have done better.

APA: I found this rest to be very consistant with field points from 20-50 yards and broadhead tuning was easy with the broadheads hitting about the same out to 40 yards and then a little low and to the left at fifty overall I felt this rest was an improvemnet from my original nap 800 in the accuracy department because my groups did seem to shrink in size. The only thing that botherd me was loading the rest from the front each time I shot i hear they have designed a sideload and this would eliminate that problem.
Score=4

Trophy Taker: This rest again amazed me in this department because I robin hooded two of my first 25 arrows and broke the nock on a third at 20 yards it also seemed to stay consistant out to fifty yards. When I tried broadheads i was again surprizedwhen they continued to group with my field points out to fifty yards. my only complaint is the chance that an arrow may fall off the rest at full draw, but this seemed to be more of a set up problem with some nock pinch on my bow
Score=5

I found both of these rest fairly safe with the edge in this category going to the APA for it's total containment style and the fact that I had an arrow or two fall off the rest this could be remidied by going with the shakey hunter style, but I like the way the original holds the arrow. Scores APA 5 Trophy Taker 3

Durability was the last thing that I used to compare the two rests and I would have to give the edge in this category to the trophy Taker. I am not a fan of moving parts, but found the trophy taker to be almost rock solid as for the cord attachment after seeing the cord something else on your bow will break before the cord does I think you could hand upside down from the cord if you wanted. Any cord worries should be directed to how you attach the cord to your rest and bow and if you follow trophy takers directions you shouldn't have any problems. The APA allthough of solid design worries me in the fact that hard down pressure may cause the launcher arms to tilt down ward and the strength of the lancher arms also becomes a concern if the rest is hit or snaged on something. I am not saying anything would happen, but being clumbsy myself i could see a wreck coming.
Scores
APA=3
Trophy Taker=4

All in all I found the Trophy taker to be the better rest for me however I think the APA is a solid design and would recomend it for someone looking for a non-dropaway containment rest as the accuracy and design are not bad. However the best recomendation I can give is the fact that the Trophy Taker has found a place on my new Patriot Dually untill something comes along that is capable of unseating it. I hope this review helps someone make an educated decision on which rest they choose. If not atleast I got the piece of mind for myself.