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?

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

And that would be grains, not grams, don't get confused by that.

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

Just for a comparison I just weighed the following.
3- QS Speed Hunters 20 grains
3- Blazers 17 grains
3- 3" feathers 5 grains

Dan

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

There may be some very slight advantages to feathers, but I think they are outweighed by advantages of vanes:

(1) Durability - a few thorns or twigs poking into your quiver while walking in the woods can do some real damage to feathers - not so much with vanes;

(2) Weatherproof - waterproofing agents for feathers will only work so well, if it rains, eventually you have soggy, ineffective feathers;

(3) NOISE - feathers make much more noise than vanes. If you keep your quiver attached to your bow while hunting, this is a constant issue.

Shoot vanes with a compound, save the feathers for your recurve or long bow.

Helpful Hint: When your vanes or feathers seem a little beat up, try steaming them with a steamer, the steam from an ironor a tea kettle. The vanes will straighten out, and feathers will come back to life almost like magic.

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

Thanks for the report MeanV2. BTW, what is a MeanV string suppressor? (I tried pm'ing you but your inbox is full)

I think the rain vs. feathers thing is overrated. The only problem I have with wet feathers is they sometimes come unglued. They still shoot fine, even if the fletch starts to lay down a bit. I haven't had any problem with thorns and twigs either, but then I try not brush them against anything.... because they are indeed noisy. :)

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

MeanV String Suppressor? It's a custom fit string suppressor;)You can check them out on my website: www.meanvarchery.com I took care of the full Inbox. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. It seems to fill up pretty quick:D

Dan

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

I wont shoot anything but feathers, its just a preference thing though. I will say that the majority of archers who try feathers will tell you they like them better than vanes. Yes they are noisy, but if you do some testing with a tape recorder close to your target, you will find that broadhead tipped arrows make much more noise in flight than you might think they do, with feathers or vanes. As for the water problems, I dont even use a waterproofing agent. tested my arrows many tiimes by wetting the feathers and even allowing them to soak in water,point of impact with a wet feather and a dry feather doesnt change enough to make a difference and my groups dont get any bigger. ill take the tighter groups, faster and better arrow flight i get with feathers over vanes.

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

I agreeI've never had a deer react from the extra noise from feathers, not even when I was shooting less than 200fps. Another benefit from feathers is extra FOC. I also agree that the majority that try feathers end up sticking with them or going back to them;)

Dan

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

I have shot both a lot with recurves and compounds. Hunting and outdoor target I use vanes. I like feathers for indoor target. Indoors I use big over spine arrows, heavy points and they help to straighten the arrow out better. Outdoor and for hunting vanes don't get wet, and carry better on longer shots because the wind doesn't bother them as much and they are more uniformed. Feather are lighter than vanes , but is that a good thing. If you look at them close you see that some are thicker than others making one stiffer that the other. After shooting them for any time they look like rags from hitting each other, passing through the target and from getting wet. I always try to matched them up when I made my arrows with feathers. When I make my arrows every thing has got to be perfect because I feel they are one of the most important things for good shooting. Wet feather have cost me a deer and a outdoor tournament before because they made sights off by shooting low and not shooting consistent in the same spot.

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

im with him!!!

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

I've been shooting feathers since 1974 and they have served me well. I see no reason to switch and it would take a heckovaproven argumentto convince me to switch to anything else. BTW I shoot 5" full helical feathers as in my opinion there's no such thing as too much accuracy.

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

i shoot feathers because i am traditional,,,the greatest concern with feathers is the weather..vanes are the ticket when it comes to that.......for shooting give me feathers anyday jpw

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

After a PM from Dan(MeanV2), I went ahead and bought some Gatewat Rayzr Feathers. They're small, 1/2" in width and VERY light!!! Three of them weighed together at the same timeon my digital reloading scale came in at 3.3 grams. You can't get one vane that low! Most vanes start in the 5-6 gram a piece weight level.
I fletched some of my Carbon Express 3D Select arrows with a right hand twist using the Rayzr feathers. Shot them the next day and HOLY _ _ _ _ !!!! They are real zippers in the speed and accuracy category!
Very tight groups w/ field points. Switched to Slick Trick broadheads and a few G5 Montecs and had such tight groups again, that I had to start shooting at different bullseyes so as not to keep cutting my flecthing!!!
I strongly suggest you try the Rayzr feathers and see what they can do for you. I will chrono these now as soon as I get to my buddy's archery shop with his chrono. We'll see what the FPS is now!!!

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

What's the difference between feathers and vanes?:eek:

thanks
Francis

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

Feathers are made from turkey wing feathers and vanes are molded plastic.

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

The job of a fletching is to slow the back end of the arrow down. The more helical or offset you have the more they do this. This increases the stability of the arrow in flight and makes it inherently more accurate.

Due to the shape and structure of feathers they will slow the back end of an arrow down more than a vane. Other than being more forgiving on contact this is why they are more accurate.

The initial speed difference you will find with feathers over vanes is going to be minimal. Straight off the bow they are going to be slightly faster simply due to the wieght difference. What you will find is what you gain in initial speed is quickly ate up from the feathers slowing the arrows down more. If you shoot at distance you may find your feathers impacting lower than what your vanes did.

RE: feathers or vanes ???
 

4" duravane