Never owned or hunted with a crossbow but now have a permit to do so. I am torn between the Horton 175 HD and an Exomax. I was really hoping to find a full package in one of those bows that has everything I could possibly need except extra bolts and strings. Do I have to assemble the bow if I order on line and how difficult is that. I guess I basically need so pointers and the pros and cons of those two bow. Do I have to worry about timing on and XBow with cam? Lots of questions, but not alot of answers out there.

not the bow you mentioned ; but I have two Barnett quad 300 (One for me ; One for wife).

you can get a package with everything except broadheads.they have gone to quad 400 now ; a step up.package goes for $300.00 to $350.00.

love mine and don't want to change.taken 7 deer and several hogs, 3 turkeys.wife has two deer and two hogs , 3 turkeys.

all were hit before they heard anything. JMO on a xbow.

Yer probably gonna get more help than you need LOL, but here's my 2 cents worth. I've had about 7 xbows now. I had a Barnett Quad 400, and had terrible results w/ it. No groups and a lousy trigger pull. But, in all fairness, there are tons of happy Barnett people. I also got an Emax, and I would tell you there are "friendlier" Excals available than it. It will do everything Excal says it will, but it is a bruiser to cock and un-cocking almost requires you to shoot an old arrow. I live in Arkansas, the rock capitol of the world, there is no firing into the dirt here. I also have an Excal Phoenix, which I recently got. Had I got this sweetheart first, there'd be no Emax. Just for your info, I tamed the Emax down from 355fps to about 330 by going to another string and heavier arrows. I'm using the same string and arrows on the Phoenix, which dropped my fps from about 305 to 285. Both bows are very accurate, the phoenix is more accurate than the Emax. There are lots of good bows out there, Horton has a strong following and excellent customer service, same for 10 Pt, which has the best cocking device on the market. I don't have access to a pro shop, the UPS driver is my best friend. LOL, so I'm liking the simplicity of Excal and the recurve design, which allows me to change strings in a matter of minutes, and my tuning consists of waxing my string and spraying lube on my trigger. We have a rep for 10 pt here, and whatever he tells you is spot on. There are all kinds of bows represented here, and you'll find we all deeply respect each others choice of equipment. One down side to Excals is the width of the bow, they are alot harder to manuver thru brush. The most common advice to your question is to go to a pro-shop or Bass Pro or Cabelas and see what "fits" you the best. Best of luck to ya!!

Planter,
First off, I am the sales manager for TenPoint.
The Excal would be a good choice. The Horton is not a bad bow either.
Excal says that they have a big advantage because they don't have to worry about coming out of time because they don't have wheels. Well, in some respects they are right. However, if you give proper care to your bow and follow the company guidlines, you will get years of life out of one string and cable set. Timing is seldom an issue. I often have people call in because they need a new string. Many of these bows are 3-6 years old. You should have your string and cables changed every 3-4 years regardless of the shape or company.The no wheelpitch is not as big a deal as they make it sound.
Speed is another hole you can get sucked into. First, speed kills air fast. That's all. When looking at speeds, keep in mind there is some big streching when it comes to these. Just because a company tells you it will shoot "up to" a certain speed, odds are you will not get anywhere near it. Second thing on speed is make sure you are comparing apple to apples. Arrow weight plays a big roll in speed. Excal bosts high speeds, but they are most often with a 350 grain arrow. Most of the other companies test off arrows in the 420 range. When you shoot a 420 grain arrow out of an Excal, their speeds fall right into line with the others. Speed is very overrated. Anything over about 250 feet per second is going through the animal. Does it really matter if the arrow goes 20 yards after it goes through, or 40 after it goes through?
Excal makes a very good bow. They win the simplicity vote as well as the weight. They are very wide and very long, so keep this in mind. Trigger is also better here.
The Horton will win the size race. It is much more narrow and shorter. It is probably a cheaper bow also.
Do your homework. Go somewhere you can at least get touchy feely with several companies. Also don't forget about the Tenpoint bows. We make some great bows in a variety of prices starting at about $400.
Thanks,
Randy

Geeeezzzzzzzzzze guys, hardly anything to add. bunch of keeners!
Well here's my two bits. While the width of the Exal makes me crazy some times. I love the simplicity, weight and trigger. But some day one of my limbs is going to make contact and I'm going to loose some dignity when the sucker kicks back. That being said. Its going to be hard to buy a, in Squirrel's words, crappy xbow. I think the two top bows are the Excal and the Ten Point. I think this because they are the most common xbows I see that have complaints from users. That being said maybe the circles I run in don't have Great Lakes, PSE etc. Who knows? The best favour you can do for yourself is to buy what you can shoot. Do not buy something you cannot try and try them all but the two yoiu have to try is the afore mentioned. If you get one of those you won't look back. I am not an advocate of any xbow just all xbows. You'll know which one to buy when you shoot it. There is no doubt that appearance will play in your choice as well. The Exals are plain looking and I love the look of the Ten Point. Have fun making your choice!
Don

BTW if you cannot assemble an Excal you are retarded but assembly is hardly important. But there is hardly anything you cannot do yourself on an Excal, they are simple. I bet that the Excal is the only bow you can dry fire and probably still have a working bow in your hands but who cares really unless you intend to dry fire it like I did five years ago! LOL, yes a maroon but I assembled the Excal myself! If you are going to shoot the hell out of your xbow get an Excal or Ten Point. If you are going to shoot to hunt and practice most xbows will last a lifetime. The only reason I offer more info on Excals is because that is where my experience lays. I do not know the others in depth but can only relay observations on others. It does not say much good or bad about the others.

There ya go, lots of good info from !0 pt. I agree with almost all he said. The one exception is the speed thing w/ Excals and heavier arrow. I think their stock arrow is 357 gr. but even if 350, I've read you lose 1 fps for every 5 gr increase in weight. I'm shooting 431 gr vs. 350[7] and it cost me 15 fps. on both bows. Bill T just shot an elephant w/ 900 gr arrow at 255 fps. Example: 900 gr - 350 gr = 550gr /5= 110 fps. Advertised Emax fps 355-110=245, within 10 fps of the formula being right. My personal experience: 431-350=81/5=16.2 fps. Which is still WAY more than ya need, which is why I carved another 10 fps off of my bows by going to a slower string, which helps the string/serving life, makes them a tad more accurate, lots less vibration, and they will still pass thru a deer or similar animal. 10 Pt is 100 % right about not falling into the speed trap, like I did w/ Emonster LOL

Now that I have all that off my chest, I'm driving 280 miles one way next week to check these 10 pts out. That and maybe get a plate of ribs, LOL

Bottom line is you can't go wrong w/ any of the above.

More questions raised than answered but that is what I wanted. In a nutshell, just like rifles and bows everyone has a favorite. I liked the speed of the Exo but speed does not kill as quickly as a nice heart lung shot. I guess I will just look for the most complete package and drop the pull down to 175#. There seem to be some nice Horton and Excal packs out there but the Hortonhits the wallet a little lighter. The Ten Point gets great reviews but is a bit pricey. What about Darton and PSE. I have had both in a compound and really liked my Darton. Wonder why I replaced that... Oh Yeah, more speed. Pse has a great rep and owns Browning but I never heard you guys mention any so called off brand names. Are there any decent books on crossbows. Have been checking out Peterson's Hunting Crossbow Magazine but they like every bow they write anything about.. Not one stinker in the bunch.
Straight Arrows to you all.

OK that xbow mag. isn't going to tell you the losers because they get paid more money in ads than i make in 5 years! Try every xbow you think you want,then there will be several that get dropped. Check each company to see if they have had any recalls or problems in the past with that model. Some of the new models you can't ck. cause they just came out , so ck. there track record. Don't let price stop you from a xbow, wether its high or low! Save til you have eoungh, you wont be happy until you get what you really want. The compoundsare very good,some are outstanding and the recurves are great. The 2 big Excals are way to much fer me trying to lug around and cock. The smaller 2 Phoenix and Vixen are the best, specially if you are abit disabled in arms and shoulders. Also the crank cockers are great if your disabled. Those other xbows you asked about, my answer is buy a xbow from those who make them, not from a company trying grab money that just happens to make one and all else are regular bows! 10pt. Horton Excal are yer top runners. I shoot a Phoenix and i love it.

AS you have read their is a excal and horton gang that is strong here. I dont think the excals are making stuff up and they seem to be quit happy with their bows and have good results. I am a horton man and have been so for I think forteen years. My first horton that my dad bought me was the only one to be found in my area and it still works great today only having the string changed once. My dad now uses it since I got my new super max 175 last year. The thing about cam tuning that I can say is that I never had to do it, both my bows have been nock busters. I also like horton because they have a long history with Ohio and most all shops carry them and accesories for them. I like the excals, less parts can only help a guy you would think. The only advantage I can see with my horton is less width on the bow, some of them look real wide and I think that would make it harder to walk through the woods. Do not have enough to say much about barnet or pse. Before I say this it could have been just the one bad apple in a bunch of good ones but my buddy from work went out and slaped down 700 bucks for a titan 10 point and that thing is a poor shooter. I thought he was just making the normal CB mistakes. But after trying to help him out we could only get five inch groups at twenty yards. We tried three different arrows and no luck. He took the bow to the local bow shop and the guy that owns it said he stopped carrying 10 points and said put iton ebayand get a new bow. Not trying to ruffle any feathers but that is just one experiance I had with a 10 point.