Hello, here's another one of those annoying what-crossbow-should-I-buy-? threads.

Long-time hunter, new to crossbows. My main motivation is that it is the only type of weapon with which I can hunt fall turkey AND deer - at the same time!

I must say I'm a bit shocked by the prices at the high-end now. Still, I may well buy a TenPoint Vapor RS470 Xero. It sounds phenomenal. Yet, I know from many years' experience carrying firearms that hauling a 10 lb bow all day in the woods is going to be tiring. (I'm not young anymore.)

I can't have my cake and eat it too. I want SOTA performance - velocity - in a lighter bow. Can I get it? Can I get, say, 450 FPS in a bow that's ~8 lb scoped and ready to go?

2nd question: Other than that slick Garmin rangefinding scope, what's the best solution now for mounting a rangefinder on a bow so that it can be easily used manually?

There are a lot of choices on crossbows. I bought a 400fps Ten Point and it is very flat shooting out to 50 yards. I am an experienced bow shooter so judging yardage is something I have gotten pretty good at
I still have a range finder but use it to learn correct yardage when I first set up a tree stand or popup blind. I zero in on features like a big tree, stump or high grass in a field. Identifying whether a deer is 25 or 35 yards isn't that difficult for me and if I am off a little the flat shooting crossbow makes up for the error. One thing I will suggest is getting a crossbow with a cocking and de-cocking mechanism. Having to shoot into a target or into the dirt at the end of a hunt isn't good. I can cock mine using the built in crank right up in the tree and de-cock just as easily and all silently.

I have been shooting a Carbon Express 390 for 5 years. I have taken a lot of deer with it it is fast and flat shooting. It is not as fast as a Ravin but it didn't cost $2,000 either.

This is good advise. I do the same thing. When I set up a stand, I range landmarks all around to know in advance what the ranges are. When you see the deer, it's too late to start messing with ranging, especially if it's moving. You need to set up for the shot. Also, the decocking feature is something I wouldn't want to be without.

first thing I do as well.