xbowbarry

WOW! I can really see the difference.
Can you say infringement rights?

xbowbarry

awshucks

And who pray tell at Excal looked down their nose at you? You haven't been around long so mayhaps there's more to this story than you know. Mitons couldn't/didn't come out til Excals trigger patent expired. There's no dissipator bars or pads cause that patent is still in force.I have no problem w/ good clean honest competiton. These look like the parts came out of Excals dumpster. And, speaking of competion, Horton got in one the recurve fad and will no doubt get or have the bugs worked out of their Legacy series by now. 10 pt has joined in, and we've had Excal for 25 yrs, who most will admit is on top of the recurve pile. They got their start by a guy and his wife building xbows in a barn.
There's a dealer problem for any foreign made xbows called Federal Excise Tax, which is an American invention, lol. Be interesting to see if Miton pays it for his bows, they may just be collectors items in another two years, lot's of competiton these days, lol.

wabi

Ever talk to Bill Troubridge?
When I first started shooting Excaliburs I got a bit careless and stripped a screw head. I called Excalibur and Bill Troubridge answered the phone. I told him I had stripped a screw head by putting too much force on it and asked if I could buy a replacement. He told me NO, I could not BUY a replacement, he would send me a set at no charge!
I had a nice chat with Bill and found he is a hunter first, and a crossbow manufacturer because of his love to hunt and the need for a dependable hunting crossbow.

I have talked to Bill Troubridge and he is a very nice person. He spent years developing a good, dependable hunting crossbow and now that his simple recurve design is gathering a large following it seem like everyone else wants to produce a recurve crossbow and get a share of the market Bill developed.
As for me, I'll stick with Excalibur! Their prices are some of the most reasonable you can find, their customer service is second to none, and they've been in the business for 25 years, so they'll probably still be around if you do need warranty repairs! Why own a look-alike, when you can own the original recurve hunting crossbow?

Pydpiper

Wally, people don't dump on middleton because he is a small guy, it is what he represents that eats away at people. You made a choice to not see his bow as a clone of Excalibur's, and that is fine, but there are people out there with a bit more depth in their knowledge of what middleton is presenting to the world. After seeing your "fits all crossbows" stringing aid I see why you have chosen not to look at his product as a clone.
There are some of us out here who have made money on our ideas and the labor that follows, and there are others who will duplicate those ideas in a deceiving attempt to market their "idea". middleton reminds me of a guy opening a burger joint and calling it "Mick Donald's", changing where the pickles go and try to market it. It is a clone Wally, it does not take an intelligent person to figure that out. The idea of that happening is what frustrates a lot of us, whether it is a crossbow or flower pot. It is about morels, not archery.

This bow surfaces a couple times a year, a new guy shows up showing us all this "new bow" they just found out about and how cool it is that you can dry fire it without damage.. (I have dry fired my Excal a dozen times without it blowing up by the way), I seen the video and it is the exact same results you will get from any Excal with the Dacron string. The bow is not going to dominate the market, sorry. Dig through the forums a bit, go find the old threads, pay particular attention to the ones where guys can't get parts (rest assured they do break), where guys can't even get a hold of anybody who can supply parts. It's all here in black and white, pages and pages of it.
Wally, something else to consider is middletons choice of who he lets represent his cloned product, keeping in mind this isn't a "new" crossbow on the market it is a reoccurring thorn in the side of everything that makes great manufactures great.
Again, this isn't just about crossbows, it is about dignity.

If you pursue a dealership I wish you the best of luck, I just hope you understand exactly what it is your representing.

David

RevWally

I agree that I am a newbie in the crossbow users bunch. I admit I have a lot to learn. And I do like the Excalibur. I also like the Middleton. I like Derrick Middleton's perseverance and I like what he is trying to do. He and I are both very small companies that are struggling to get noticed. There is plenty of room for all manufacturers of the crossbow, both recurve and compound.

And I am, like Wyvern, looking at being a manufacturer's rep/distributer of the Middleton here in the USA. I never said anyone looked down their nose at me, I just said Derrick Middleton did not. I have experienced this in other products, though.

Just because you like catfish, does not mean you cannot try tilapia.

Dnk

.

awshucks

"Just because you like catfish, does not mean you cannot try tilapia" Or go swimming w/ a shark? lol. Actually, Wally, a dryfire is a mistake. My worst one of several cost me $7, [shipping, one way, returned free] and I got two new limbs when I only splintered one, new dissipator pads, and a free string.

Pydpiper and Wabi hit the nail on the head, imho.

ranger56528

Why-O-Why ......

Hotburn76

Like others said it is the copy thing that rubs us all wrong. Your web site said you have patents pending, how would you like to be at the top of your manufacturing to only have some one show up and make a almost identical copy of your inventions, it would suck wouldn't it. I would think that you wanting to grow your own products would be enough to make you dislike the Middleton. No one slams the new Horton recurves or the new Tenpoints because they are there design, not a copy.

Trying to compare it to fish with a Middleton would be like saying Excal is a nice farm raised channel cat, the Middleton is a river bottom channel cat. Still a catfish, just taste worse depending on which river.

smokepolehall

I won't dump or jump on the Middleton CB. You get what you want. I am most satisfyied investing my money in a slow old recurve CB. I tell you what it does at 230fps! Kill every tick toter it puts the arrow into. Its not anywhere near as fast as the newer ones. Its just reliable, day in day out. Cold or hot, rain, sleet, snow, baking heat and humid sauna it works like it suppose to. [8D]