Let me start off by saying that in general I am not the kind of person that things just fall in my lap. I always seem to do things the hard way. I don' t like the terms cursed or bad luck but damn sometimes I wonder.


So as some of you guys know I let my brother have my bow so he could hunt this year and I went and bought a new 2003 Bowtech Patriot. What you don' t know ties in nicely with the mess I am in so here it all is (I just have to vent).

I first went to a shop that is about 25 minutes from my house and the closest Bowtech dealer around. I was there wanting to buy and had money in my pocket. It was a weekend and the only two people in the shop behind the counter were younger and didn' t seem interested in my presence. I figured they were obviosly not the owners so I dropped a couple hints that I was interested in buying a Bowtech and pulled a Patriot off the rack and asked if I could shoot them to see which one I liked best. The girl says " Yea, we let people shoot in the range first" and then went back to what she was doing. The young guy was talking to a friend of his. I am very sensitive to customer service so I quickly decided I didn' t want to spend $900 where I couldn' t even get the time of day.......so I left.

The next closest dealer is 2 1/2 hours away. It is close to my brothers house so I figured no big deal I had to take him my bow anyways. I called the dealer there ahead of time and told him my situation and he assured me he values customer service more then anything and would be very happy with his place. I stopped in and he was a great guy with a great shop and I loved the Patriot. He set me up and everything seemed great at the time.........until I drove 2 1/2 hours back home and shot the bow the next morning and heard a LOUD buzz. So loud that it worried me. I took one more shot with the same noise and put the bow back in fear that I may be damaging it. I called the shop and he tells me that without seeing the bow he can' t really figure it out. I told him that this is EXACTLY what I didn' t want to happen........now I was looking at another 5 hours in the car.

I took the bow back and it was quiet indoors and buzzing outdoors. At this time I also realized that my kisser button had shattered somehow. We started to take accessories off the bow to find the noise and nothing helped. After about 6 shots one of the prongs on my rest goes flying on release. Now I am getting mad. Some shots the bow sounded quieter then others and some louder. The dealer mentions a few things like " It' s probably the drop away rest" and " It' s not that loud standing over here as it is shooting it" and stuff like that. In my mind I KNOW that a bow this nice should not be making that kind of noise. So after cranking up the poundage and adding a stabilizer it was better but definately not great. At this point the impression I got from the dealer was that is as quiet as it will get. I left feeling MUCH less then 100% satisfied to say the least.

I made a thread here asking about how to quiet the noise and took all the ideas and ordered a bunch of stuff from Cabela' s in hopes of a quiet bow. One of the things I bought was a cable dampener from Limbsavers. When I took my cable slide off my cable rod fell right out of the riser on the floor [] I was instantly shocked and furious all at once. I called the shop and they said I should bring the bow in........I said NO, I am not making that trip again so soon. They took apart another Patriot and saw that it has 2 set screws that hold the rod in place. On my bow the outer screw was tight and the smaller inner one was backed all the way out. I grabbed a hex wrench and tried to tighted it but couldn' t see the threads enter the riser hole. NOW I AM PISSED AT EVERYONE!!! I tell the shop I am calling Bowtech and someone better fix this NOW!! I get through to a guy at Bowtech and he tells me #1 I should have gone to the first shop I was at.......I tell him why I left and he is VERY surprised. He then tells me I should epoxy my cable rod in which is what Bowtech recommends and in fact used to do themselves but it slowed production too much. I ask why the hell this screw wasn' t tight in the first place and they mention vibration and stuff like that and say that the dealer shoud have known to check that. I call the dealer back and tell them what Bowtech said and he gets pissed at them. Now I feel like I am a kid in the middle of his arguing parents.......this is really bad.

The dealer tells me to call Bowtech and speak with John Hernandez which I do the next day. John tells me to epoxy the rod in.......he also says Bowtech will stand behind the bow no matter what. He is a really nice guy and tells me I should just go to the closer shop and let him check the bow just to be sure. The far away dealer tells me that if I go to the close shop it is no longer his responsibility because he has no idea what the other guy will do. Oh well. About an hour later after shooting the bow a few times in my yard I notice that I am getting All kinds of vane contact on my rest. John Hernandez calls me while I am shooting and I tell him what' s going on and he tells me exactly why the NAP rest I have is doing that.....OVER THE PHONE!!! Now if he can do it over the phone why the hell couldn' t the dealer set it up right in his shop.........just keeps getting worse.

So I go to the closer dealer today and before he even looks at my bow he starts asking me about what happened the day I was in his shop looking around and what I told Bowtech........OMG now I REALLY feel awkward. I specifically told the guys at Bowtech not to get me stuck in the middle of any arguements between them and their dealers........yet there I was. I simply told him that what I said to Bowtech was the truth and believe me I am the one who has suffered the most because of it. He was a great, very friendly guy......and he bent over backwards to make sure I was happy even though I didn' t buy my bow there. I just wish Bowtech would have been a little more discrete in their comments because I don' t want shop owners looking at me like I am a nark that snitched on them to Bowtech..........doesn' t exactly make for a great relationship.

So anyways he starts getting ready to epoxy the rod when he tries to loosen the inside set screw and sees something funny. He pokes around with a tiny hex wrench and out comes a small hunk of machined metal that was stuck in the thread hole of the inside set screw........WTF??? That little hunk of metal probably has cost me at least $230 by now in gas, time, and silencing accessories which I didn' t need. The whole time it was impossible to get the rod tight because the machined metal was never cleared from the riser hole. I am both pissed and relieved now. I have not shot the bow yet so I don' t know if it is any quieter. I sure hope so. I will see tomorrow. He tried to fix my vane problem but it was hard because we couldn' t shoot........we have the forks coming up as late as possible and I will have to see how it shoots. He checked everything else and the centershot was off and the nick point was about 1/3 inch high so he adjusted all that for me........I am willing to say that was due to changing the rest so I won' t blame the original setup for that.

So as I type this I have had to drive 10 hours, bicker with 4 different people about who is at fault, had a rest come apart, kisser button explode, cable rod fall out, hunk of metal left in my riser, spent $80 in gas, $140 in silencing accessories and above all else have not shot a broadhead out of this bow and the season is less then 2 weeks from today.

I am probably the only person in the world that could buy a Patriot and have it turn into a nightmare.......I don' t know whether to laugh or cry.

Hopefully tomorrow when I shoot it will be quiet..........I am presuming nothing at this point. With how things have gone to this point I can only imagine the fun I am going to have tuning my broadheads.

My brain hurts.



Just to be clear.....EVERYONE I have dealt with at all the shops and Bowtech have been GREAT people. This thread is not meant to slam the shops or Bowtech. I do however believe someone out there is responsible for this nightmare I am currently in............and it isn' t me. As of right now though.....no one else seems too eager to accept blame.

MAN,,I feel for youI would be VERY PISSED if all that happened to me,,,but,,,
I shoot a MATHEWSGoing on my 10th year,,NOT ONE PROBLEM[:-]
Now,I know I just jinxed my self,,I' ll never learn.
I did a search yesterday,and found a BowTech dealer is around 20 min.down the road from me,,,small world.
He even has Sunday hours,,,so I' m thinking of going down and checking out these,,these BowTech things[>:]As long my MATHEWS dealer does' nt find out,I think it will be OK

That sucks. What an ordeal.[][X(]

It brings up some very good points though.

1) Make sure EVERY screw on your bow is tight. (and yes, even some dealers are not aware of the set screw under the larger screw at the cable guard rod). That would be the second thing I would have checked after the module screws. I don' tt how many times guys have come in freaking out about noise and it was one small screw causing all the commotion (yep, sometimes you see some pieces of alum/shavings too in various places)

2) Learn how to perform basic maintenance yourself (or all of it). Pro shops are great, but they should defintely be checking the basics. That basics can save you some money, time and headaches.

Another note: The Patriot has a VERY short slide travel. You are better off using a drop away that hooks to the cable directly or an inertia style. They can be real finnicky w/ the slide types.

Let us know how things turn out after you shoot it.

Not so fast there bud[:-]

I hope it all works out for you

Can you tell us exactly what he said??

Well, I just came in from shooting and the loud odd buzz is gone but the bow is still no where near quiet.......I am nearing my breaking point.

This bow now has limb savers and hush kit bars on the limbs with the hush bars near the limb pockets. I have a Doinker D2 hunter stabilizer in it and another Doinker D2 1 0z nub in the back riser hole. I have a Simms cable dampener on the rod close to the riser. Cat whiskers on the string and cable (4 total). No peep tube and limb savers on the rest. This thing should as quiet as a mouse. I am really upset now and just don' t know what else to do.

At this point all I can do is hunt with it hoping the noise doesn' t cost me a trophy and then send it to Bowtech after the season and let them figure it out.

I wouldn' t say the bow is LOUD now............but it definately isn' t quiet either. Let me put it this way.....I f the bow was this loud when I shot it I would not have bought it.


He said just what Jeff is getting at. The Patriot has very little cable travel in the draw.........like a half inch or something. This results in the rest dropping late and not getting out of the way. He recommended NOT using a rest like that but if you did to set the cable so the forks came up to cradle the arrow right before you get to full draw. This way the rest has as much time as possible to get out of the way. He said even this may not work. He also said the guys at Muzzy have the same trouble with the zero effect.



This sucks

sound might just not get you deer but when that bowtech slings the arrow it going to fly like a bullet and you will get a deer. good luck on working on the bow . hope you get it fixed.



go deep hunt hard.

I find it ridiculous that a dealer could be unfamilar with the products they are selling. Especially if this screw can cause problems like mine..........geez just send out a fax and problem is solved.

Again.....ridiculous. When you put a $700 tag on your bow it should be a flawless product. When people buy top shelf they expect top shelf quality and service. Not hunks of metal not cleaned out of holes and people that don' t even know the product.

If the bow was old with many shots and miles on it I would agree...........but a brand new bow is not MY responsibility to be set up properly. For what I paid I could have 2 bows set up properly.........now I don' t even have one.


Where were you when I needed ya??


See above

Do what I do.Chalk it up as a " learning experience" .Costly, yes,,but, you know you won' t make that MISTAKE again.

Atlas,

Heh, I wish X amount of dollars automatically guaranteed a flawless product , but unfortunately that' s not always the case. Cars, bows, trucks, computers, etc. That' s why companies have a warranty on the product.

I couldn' t BEGIN to list the numbers of brand new bows that I have seen with problems, even right out of the box. My own, customers, you name it. I feel your pain, but it happens, yes even with my favorite company.

And I won' t even go into about " Pro-shops" who should know more than they actually do

Honestly though I know some folks like them and have no troubles, the NAP drop-aways are way down my list of good designs. I love the standard 1000 & 3000, but the 2k/4K are more trouble than they are worth IME.

Now as for your noise problem: Is this a Singlecam Patriot or a dual cam Patriot? The Duals have a bit of noise, the singles are very quiet.

If I were you I would call John H., see if you can send it back and what the turn-around time is. Sounds like your dealers are not exactly up to speed and there may be a problem elsewhere.

It is a single cam.

I simply cannot send the bow back now. The season starts in 16 days. I cannot risk not having a bow for the season. Even getting it back with only a few days to spare would be bad enough.

I made my bed by buying a new bow so close to the start of a season so I will lie in it.............for now.

When this season is over either this shop or Bowtech is gonna make this right.

I am stacking arrows out to 30 yards which is the farthest I would ever shoot so besides the vanes hitting the rest..........accuracy doesn' t seem to be effected. I haven' t shot broadheads yet though (crossing every finger I have).


The problems I have had are not really what bothers me the most..........what bothers me is that I am the one suffering because of it. I have spent over $200 and drove all over the state.......not to mention the cost of the bow. The bow shop gets to keep all my money and Bowtech sold another bow. They both made money off me and all I have to show for it is a loud bow, $200 less in my wallet and steam coming from my ears.

Shouldn' t a shop and/or company be the ones suffering from a faulty product and bad service??


Oh.......I did get a couple hats and shirts.