In fact I shot four today....four different bows that is.

1. PSE X-Force
2.Limbsaver Deadzone
3. BowTech 82nd
4. BowTech 101st

(Earlier in the year I had shot the General, an Allegiance, the Marquis, Katera, and the Katera XL. There are plenty of high quality bows to choose from now days. Such intense competition in the market place is good for all of us consumers.)

I wouldn't pretend to do a comprehensive review on each one after shooting for only 45 minutes without sights, stabilizer, peep,or being properly set up.

Just a couple of comments in regards to what I find attractive or not so attractive in the bows I shot today. All bows were shot at 68-70 pounds 29" draw. Same "heavy" arrowed was shot everytime in each bow.None of them were Chrono'ed. I can't really comment on the decibel level of the bows because I shot them in the back of the storenext toa stairway on a concrete floor. If a mouse walked across this area it's footsteps would have created an echo. There is just no way to do justice to any of the bows in the sound department.

Lastly all of the comments below are just my own personal likes or dislikes regardless of the manufacturer. I don't expect everyone to feel the same way I do nor would I want it that way.

1. PSE X-Force It was about what one would expect from a speed bow. Somewhat stiffer draw than my 05 Allegiance with a bigger "bump" when reaching the valley than I would like but I am sure I could get used to it. After the shot there was some "buzz" in the grip but maybe it could be tamed with a good stabilizer, limbsavers, and string leaches. It spit arrows out like "fire" but what I really didn't like was the tendency to want to get away from you if you creeped at all. In a hunting situation that could be bad news. For ME, not something I want to deal with.

2. The Limbsaver Deadzone was a real pleasure to shoot. Itabsolutley was "dead" in the hand after the shot. I am sure it was more than likely the quietest of the four. It was also no doubt the slowest; not a slouch mind you, but noticeable to my eye I felt. However in all fairness a chrono would have to be the judge of that. It might take me some time to get used to the "unfriendly onmy eye" look of this bow but as they say "looks are only skin deep"; performance is what counts. The limb pockets scare me though...they look "cheap" to me....For the companies first "offering" in an already competitive and comparatively small market place, from my perspective I think they could have done a lot worse. I was pleasantly surprised by this bow.

3. After all of the hype here I thought the 82nd would be my bow of choice. As has been noted by others it has plenty of speed, solid back wall, very little hand shockespeciallyconsidering what it is putting out in terms of performance and all things considered I am sure it is a "quiet shooter". I love the longer riser. I am assuming I shot it with the smooth mods (black), while both bows were set for a 29" draw length,ironically the draw felt a smidge stiffer than the 101st. Don't know why, doesn't sound logical, but that is what my "muscle memory" communicated to my little pea brain.

4. The 101st would have been my pick of the bows I shot today. It seemed exceedingly stable in all stages of the draw. For me the longer A/A would be an asset. The draw was nice andsmooth to me with a solid back wall. I would love to draw one with the speed mods on and compare it to my 05 Ally. The speed seemed very good to my naked eye and there was very little if any shock after the shot. I am not sure about the string suppressors on the bowtechs. Just thinking out loud here, they may be more of a nuisance than a necessity but I would be willing to give them a chance. I remember when Mathews first put a roller guard on their bows and the criticism it drew from the "experts" about undo stress it put on the system. Apparently they work they are showing up "everywhere". As much as I like my 05 Allegiance If there was one criticism I have of my Ally it is the clearance issues caused by slide on the cable guard. Easily the worst of the many different bow manufacturers I have owned. Perhaps the roller guard fixes this issue. I wouldn't mind owning this bow, I don't know if the differences between it and my 05 Alley are enough to merit laying down about eight "Franklins" though.

I'll go back and read your post more thoroughly in a bit Antler, but wanted to inform you that you probably had a 99.9% chance of shooting the Airbornes with the speed mods in them; they shipped with them installed from the factory, and VERY few dealers, if almost any, have swapped out any before they've been sold with the smooth mods. The mods that ship with the bow carry the nomenclature "QB", while if a dealer does switch out to a smooth mod, he will use the ESM mods from the Allegiance.

Greg,

Thanks for the info. That isgood to know. If those in fact were the speed mods I shot today than I am even more impressed with the draw than I thought. I would have expected them to be stiffer. My body "perceived" the draw a tad bit better on the 82nd and the 101stthan my 05 Alley. Go figure....

Antler, I concur with what Greg says about the mods and the QB mods were more than likely what you were shooting. Is that your normalDraw length 29"? At 29" the 101 would be my choice also.

Dan

Thanks guys, i love hearing this kinda stuff about the airbornes cuz im planning on getting the 82nd.

Good review. You describe the 101 the same way i would describe it.