Lady Forge

atlasman;
Please take my opinion with a grain of salt... that proabably what its worth
I should of said in my previous post that I compared the noise and vibration aspects of my Equalizer to my Parker Phoenix 34,( which I also had a bunch of SVL Vibration Dampening accesories on )which was my hunting bow ... I and my husband found my Phoenix 34 to be one of the quietest bows we have ever heard.... I find through working in the shop that we all seem to hear something different in the various bows and we all differ to a point in what we are looking for in a bow so what I consider loud our a lot of vib my not seem that way for you... With that said I did IMO find the Equalizer straight out of the box louder and to have more vibration than my Phoenix 34 and the Tribute and the 05 Allegiance.... ButI am very happy with the noise and vibration level of my Equalizer since I was able to reduce both of the issues .... and she shoots GREAT.... I also should of told you that I am also shooting a lite weighted arrow for 3D ( 301 grains )for 3D Tournament competition , so I am sure it will shoot quieter with a heaver hunting arrow to absorb more of the energy.
Would I consider bowhunting with an Equalizer????? Yes ... As long as I was able to quiet the noise and reduce the Vibration level to the level it is currently at on my 3D Equalizer.

atlasman

I am about 99.9% sure my brother is getting the Allegiance......I could see the look in his eye. I will end up with the Allegiance or Equalizer unless I shoot something else that lights my fire. I have little doubt I will be any less then thrilled with either one. I just hope I don't run into issues with them getting an Equalizer in for me.


I have ALWAYS had noise issues with my Patriot........maybe it''s just me but I always thought it should be quieter. There were some issues I had with my cable rod not installed properly and even though that is all fixed and I killed a bunch of deer with nothing short of excellent performance by the bow.........I still always thought of my Patriot as too loud. That is nit-picking of course because it is by no means LOUD. You know what I mean.

I liked the Switchback a lot..........a lot!! If it was smoking fast I would own one. The XT is.......I don't really know what it is......but I don't like it. Bad string, smooth draw, good shooter, average speed. I can find that in ANY bow line at half the price. I have no loyalty to any bow company and would buy a Mathews in heart beat if it had what I wanted..........as of right now they aren't even close. Bowtech fits me like a glove.

atlasman

Did you shoot an Equalizer??

Can I ask what you preferred about the Tribute? I am having a hard time figuring out why anyone would buy this bow when the Allegiance exists. They are so close in brace height and ATA that neither would make or break a decision I would think........and the Allegiance is faster. I'm quite positive you and thousands of other guys found something I didn't or you wouldn't have bought the bow. Just wondering what I missed.

Please don't take this as me saying you bought the wrong bow.......I am not. The Tribute is an excellent bow and if the Alllegiance didn't exist I wouldn't even be asking.

Thanks.

atlasman

I took it with 2 grains of salt.......it's at least worth that


Obviuosly you have some issues with the noise and vibration of the Equalizer........that is great.......that is what I want to hear. Makes me even more sure that I HAVE to shoot it first and see for myself. I have absolutely no problem "settling" on an Allegiance if I find the things you mentioned to be too much for my liking........or maybe I just take a few shots and say "Lady Forge is off her rocker".......[8D]

Either way is cool with me.

What arrow do you shoot that weighs 301 grains?

Pinwheel 12

Atlasman--

I did not say that all of the bows you tested didn't feel good in my hand, I just stated that (IMO) SOME did not. I will leave you on your own on that as you tested them too--- and that wayit willnot start another "mine is better than yours"thread.

Iwill say thatI thinkyou should also try out a Merlin, and also the Kodiak Titan, Ross CCR, Pearson,and Richwood/CSS lines. I personallyfelt the Merlin XS and Kodiak Titan were two of thenicest shooting bows at the show--even without sights or my own releaseI repeatedlysmashed arrows easilywith both of them at the demo ranges. I did not however do that with any of the "big 3" during my testing of them. Coincidence? Dunno, but againyou should not limit yourself IMO. Try them all.

Again, good luck in your search.

atlasman

I don't care at all about a "mine vs your's" thing.........I want to know anyone who has shot these bows vs others and thought others were nicer. I have NO brand loyalty at all. If something is better I buy it.......no mater what the label says. My first bow was a Bear TRX......not the best bow out there but it felt the best to me........that bow has killed 1 or more deer every year since then......no regrets at all.

Just looking to try and narrow my dealer visits down as they all carry different models and hopefully I can make just a few more trips.


Thanks again.

DaveC

Atlasman, I'll take a stab at your "why Tribute over Allegiance " question.
Here's my reasons why-

I too shot both before deciding, but I guess I test shot a bumb Allegiance because I could feel a distinct hand buzz during the shot. After hearing your review (and others) I have to wonder if something just wasn't "tight" on that one- the buzz lost my sale either way.
I too shoot a Patriot and didn't want a bow with a larger OVERALL length than what I already had. I hunt in brush blinds (butt on groundor low chair)with overhanging limbs and the smaller the bow the better for that application. I know it's only a couple of inches, but anything more than what I have is too much
- I'd shoot a 20" bow ifI could do it consistently[8D].

When you hold a Patriot and Tribute side by side (set the bottom cam on a wood bench) they are the same overall length due to the largness of the binary cams. I don't now shoot foam or spots and can't see myself doing so anytime soon- it's a time thing- I'm too busy as it is without another hobby, plus I'm at church on Sunday morning (when I'm off) &that's when our 3-d shoots are.

Limbs- the few reports I've heard of bumb limbs have been on the Allegiance, none yet thus far (to my eyes) on the Tribute.Looking at how far the Allegiance and Tomcat limbs are raked over I find it hard to imagine how they can stay in one piece while in such a bind. I think they figured something out about limb preload when they went beyond parallel
and predict the Allegiance will go beyond parallel for 2007. Am I wrong here- probably so, but my pat has had it's limbs replaced- I'd rather not go down that road again if at all possible. I don't pretend to think that the Tribute's limb record will be flawless, but there starting out on a good note.

To me the stock Tributefelt as good as my Pat does with an STS installed. The one thing that pushed me over the edge towards a new bow is that the Tribute will allow me to shoot the same arrow 270fps @ 60# pull as my Pat did at 65# pull.
I know this only means the Allegiance would have been that much quicker (10,15 fps?) at the same draw weight, but like I said the buzz I felt scared me off- possibly prematurely?
Either way ,too late now. My "obsolete" Tribute is on it's way and I'll be happy when it arrives.

I also shot (oh I lost count) 11to 14 or so 2006 bows, the Tribute was the only one I could see coming close to replacing my Patriot in overall performance, draw & shot characteristics. I didn't shoot the Merlins, Kodiak, or Ross bows though. Lack of dealers I guess.

There you have it, flame away .

atlasman

Why would anyone flame that post??

I asked more for my wondering what I was missing.......that many people buying Tributes can't be wrong.

I had a hand buzz in the 2005 Allegiance I shot that kept me from even considering it.........that and the draw sucked IMO.

I don't have time to comment on everything else right now........get back to ya later but thanks for the input.

TerryM

Atlasman,
This is driving you nuts, I gotta laugh as it did for me also. I decided that this time I wanted the extra speed of the Equalizer. Now having said that you need to realize that the Ally or Trib when outfitted with smooth mods are smoother drawing bows. Now that I have had the Equalizer for a while and have gotten used to the draw if I had bought the others I would probably shoot the speed mod anyway. My Equalizer has an STS on it ( as did my Patriot ) so I find its quiet and vibration free anyway. Another way of helping in your decision is what do you hunt with this bow? If you prefer heavier arrows like 400 grs and up then you might be better off with a 70lb Allegiance. My hunting arrows will be 386grs total. I am also thinking of trying some down to about 325 grs for turkey this spring. I think you need to try the 2 different modules ( speed/smooth ) before you commit to any one bow. I personally have changed my opinions on what is a good setup for heavy game ( I hunt moose also ) from talking to some pretty accomplished and successful moose hunters and no longer think I need to shoot logs at 70 lbs.

Lady Forge

atlasman;
For 3D I ended up going with the Carbon Express CXL2 250's... I shot the CXL 150 Selects for almost all of last years competitionsbut they were just to lite for me to shoot this year... since the higher speed of the bow was causing me problems ( 260 FPS is the max arrow speed .. with a 3% margin for errors in chrono readings ...allowed inthe ASA Women Bowhunter Division )I had to go to a heavier shaft to slow the arrow down some as well as drop the draw poundage of the bow.