I have a dozen arrows, Beman ICH Hunter 400's. Half are fletched in feathers, and half in plastic vanes, though they are all the same length. The nocks are a little different between the two groups of six, which I hope doesn't make a difference.

Anyway, I'd like to have the same vanes on all 12 arrows forthe sake of consistency.The feathers are in worse shape than the plastic vanes (older), so should I just have a shop take off the feathers and put matching plastic vanes on, orshould I havethem takeall vanes off, feathers and plastic, and put those blazers on? Are blazersreally that much BETTER than regular vanes or feathers?

Thanksfor any advice you can give!

Blazers are definetly better than both the two if I had your choice i would buy a whole fletching kit and fletch them myself. Sometimes shops will put off your arrows for a few days. But if you dont want to cough up the dough, have the shop refletch all of them with BLAZERS

I also would just go out and buy a fletching jig so you can do them yourself on your own time and schedule. There are decent jigs for not much money and then you will have consistency with your arrows and can do repairs as needed.

Go pick up an Arizona E-Z Fletch, a box of blazer vanes, and some Bohning Platinum Fletch-Tite.

You're going to save a lot of money in the long run and it's nice to know how to do things yourself.

The Arizona E-Z Fletch is a very easy fletching jig to use, anyone can do it. Make sure to scrape all the old glue/fletching off of your arrows, wipe them down with a wet towel and let them air dry before glueing your new vanes on. Let them dry for 24 hours and you're good to go.

You can use Goat Tuff instead of the Bohning glue, but all it is is super glue. Instead of Goat Tuff (if you decide to go that route) pick up a couple tubes of super glue to save yourself about $4.00. I like the Bohning glue because it's easier to clean off the arrows if you decide to refletch.

The Fletch-Tite adheres very well to wraps too, so you may want to consider picking some of them up as well.

Well, that's a little subjective. The testing I did w/ them indicated they were better than 4" vanes and just as good as 5" feathers. The advantage over feathers is obvious.....it don't hurt to get them wet.

Blazers weigh less than a 4" vane, so you will gain a tad more speed, though not much, but your FOC could be improved if it is too low. Of the 3, Blazers are also far more durable. I can say one thing w/ certainty.....if you decide on the Blazers, you won't be disappointed.

To paraphrase what mobowhuntr said:

Blazers are better in that they do what a larger vane can do and are more durable.

But here's your chance to find out! Have those feathered shafts fletched with blazers and shoot both! Then when you come to your senses, go get the vanes replaced with blazers

Oh and while you're at it, get a dozen new nocks. Its more than worth the five bucks! Worn nocks can significantly affect performance. If available, give beiter hunter nocks a try!

I just started using Blazers. I put them on a few arrows and shot them versus my regular plastic vanes. The trajectory was the same out to 45 yards (so the Blazers did not reduce the drop my arrow experienced) but the groups were tighter. The only reason I could figure for this was that the Blazers made the arrows more stabil. You could try them on a few arrows for free before deciding for yourself. Just call Bohning and ask for a sample.

Thanks for all the advice!

As for the nocks, they are not worn whatsoever. It's just that they are two different types of nocks. Some have a small metal piece that comes out ofthe back of the arrow, then the nock. The others seem to be simply a plastic nock that goes into the arrow with no metal piece. It wasn't done willy nilly. I ordered one dozen at one time, and another dozen at another time, and am left with roughly six of each right now...

We've had trouble with the Blazers from the standpoint of them sticking. Just seems like there is no glue on the shaft when the vanes fall off. We've been hearing of the Durovane Predators so just got a pack in yesterday. Haven't fletched any up yet but they are basically the same shape as the Blazer (slightly different rear shape) but also are just a tad thinner and feel more flexible. Anywhos I like the looks of them better and maybe will fletch some up this weekend to try.

Many people have had problems in the past getting blazers to stick to a bare shaft. Some said it was the glue, some said the shaft and others said the problem was with the vanes themselves.

That being said I have never had adhesion problems with my blazers, however I always use a wrap on the arrow. The wrap bond to the arrow very well and the Bohning Platinum bonds the blazer to the wrap.....forever. The only fletches I have lost, took part of the wrap with them when they were torn off.