feathers or vanes ???
 

opinions needed, im shooting a mathews drenalin 70lb 28.5 draw, qad drop away rest. i recently bought 6 carbon express maxima weight foward arrows. they came fletched with 4'' quick spin sts. not to complain about the qspins outher than the fact thier heavy. im shooting 100 grain fiked 4 blades. WHAT DO I WANT BLAZERS, STANDARD, FEATHERS ? HOW LONG. IM WANTING TO TRY 3'' FEATHERS SOMEONE BREAK IT DOWN 4 ME THE DO'S AND DONT'S[8/|]

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

This has been an ongoing debate as long as I can remember, feathers VS vanes!!
Vanes are just about foolproof. They are much more quieter than feathers when rubber against and in flight, and this is the biggie, they hold up much better than feathers to wear and weather!! Since you already are shooting "Weight forward arrows" to begin with, you might throw that off by lightening the back end too much by switching to feathers? Just a thought.

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

Feathers are very light compared to vanes( 3 grams vs 6-8grams).Feathers are more forgiving than vanes if they strike the rest or a small branch, etc during release allowing the arrow to restabilize in flight. They don't like rain or tall wet grass when you're walking thru it. You have to steam them after you shoot a deer/pass thru to reshape them again.
They also are mostly larger than vanes. If yo have a rest that is close to the riser, you may need a smaller vane to clear the rest than a wider feather.
I've been shooting 4" feathers for so may years that I forgot what vanes were like. Then, this season, I replaced my rest with a new Vital gear drop away for the Mathews Drenalin. It fits much tighter to the riser and required me to move my sight over as well to compensate that shift. When I began to shoot my feathered arrows, I noticed a kick out during the early part of the flight and that my groups had opened up. I tried for weeks to see what I could do to fix this. Finally, I took some of my carbon express shafts and refletched with Eastman's 2.8" vanes. Like magic, the shots were perfect and the groups went back to very tight. The smaller width of the vanes completely cleared the rest upon release, creating a better arrow flight. Can't get feathers that small or I'd have them!
Good luck!

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

I Love feathers! The 3" feathers or the new Razr feathers will work nice for you. Spray them with waterproofing and you are good to go. Feathers do a better job of stabilizing an arrow in flight, and are lighter which gives your a bigger FOC. That's a good thing!;)While QS's, Blazers, or regular vanes will work, feathers are my choice and the advantages to me far outweigh any disadvantage:D

Dan

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

I'm still shooting feathers. Currently I have 5" feathers on my arrows. The ones I've shot through deer, I just wash 'em off and use my fingers to stand them back up. They're not as pretty as they were before they go through the deer but they still work fine.

Gateway makesreally little cut feathers called rayzrs. They're 2" long. Once I use up my pile of 4" and 5"feathers, I'll give them a try.

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

Razr feathers like these?:D

Dan

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

Yeah, those things. How do you like them?

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

Christine, I have shot them a bunch this year and used them on my CX Maxima guiding my Slick Trick Mags. They have worked great!!:D

Dan

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

Both

I shoot feathers but carry a vane in the quiver for when it rains.

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

Just out of curiousity is that weight per feather/vane or is that for all 3 on the arrow?