Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

My half dozen V1 Vforces arrived a bit ago- wehavearrows.com was great! Super fast shipping and Mike Lundeen quickly answered all my questions. Great service.

Initial impressions of the arrows-

1- Finish is "meh"- smooth, but unpolished and streaky/wavy- reminds me of the original goldtips. Outer finish on current Goldtip, Easton/Beman, CX, etc is much better.

2) DIRTY- insides are full of carbon residue-worst I've ever seen. Jeez, how about cleaning these things out a bit better? It will def makes the weights wacky, especially if they are being matched with this crap in it- some have lots some have a little.

3) Component fit- again, meh

Don't know if this was done by Wehavearrows or Victory themselves, but nock fit is sloppy and there was plastic "film" used on the nock as it was pushed in to make the nock fit tighter. I used to do this with scotch tape back when nearly all of the carbons had crappy inside diameter tolerances. After taking the film out, all of the nock were loose- I tried brand new extra nocks I had ordered and fit was still hit or miss. Some rotated too easily, some were stiff as could be.

Inserts have the same issue as well- I took one single insert and tried it in all shafts at both ends- tighter on some, loosey goosey on others, often loose on one side and tighter on the other of the same arrow. Tried all inserts on all shafts, and same issue.

Bottom line-ID tolerances seem iffy- this usually does not bode well for spine consistency.

4) Straightness is (as it should be for highest straightness grade) very good- only one arrow has a very slight wobble/runout on the nock end and is easily cut out.

So far, I'm totally unimpressed- they remind me of early production (late 90s) Goldtips (i.e. crap).

Next week I will be spine testing them and shooting them to see if thats truly the case.

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

Thanks for the review Jeff. Doesn't bode well for those arrows. I'm holding off on a new dozen myself, can't decide what I want to try yet.

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

I have 2 Goldtip Pro Hunters still around that survived my layoff from Archery. I used to shoot these in my Liberty-and were the best set of Goldtips I personally ever tested or owned. They have a much more uniform/polished finish without any streaks/waves compared to the Victorys.

I just found a unused Goldtip insert in my box o' stuff, and checked the fit in both of those old goldtips (one was missing an insert-never installed- the other missing the uninbushing I had installed originally) and the GT insert fit snugly in both shafts.

These Victory arrows will have to spine and shoot very well for me to bother with them after next week.

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

Very nice review so far. I have heard much about the Victory arrows but this is probably the first serious look someone has taken at them and then reviewed them that I am aware of. The component fit is troubling for sure. I am definitely interested in hearing how they spine out. I wonder if they are dazzling us with straightness so they can BS us with spine tolerance.

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

Jeff:

That does not sound good, I'd agree. The HVs (V1) set that I got last year did not have the issues you are talking about. They spined very well, just a little better than my Carbon Tech Cheetahs. I thought they shot well, but were somewhat fragile, which was not a surprise due to their light weight. If the quality has degraded that fast, it is definitely not a good thing. I guess it was good you only got a half dozen.

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

I bought a half dozen myself about a month ago and my impressions just about mirror yours. Just the finish alone will keep me from buying them again. If you're a little sloppy when gluing the inserts or refletching it's as if the fiinish soaks up the glue and it will leave a stain, not really a big deal but it does look unsightly. I don't have the means to test spine tolerances so I will be standing byawaiting your results. BTW- Great review!

Dan

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

That is how all of vicory's arrows are I suppose[:'(] My X-ringer HV's are the exact same way. I take a plastic sack, and push teh pin bushing in to the arrow so they will fit decent. I even used a burr tool to clean up the insides of mine when gluing the points in (cleaning stages) and ive still lost quite a few tips in foam, and those points arent cheap! 20$ a dozen, it hurts to lose one. Ive got some FatBoys coming and i expect them to be a much better arrow;)

BTW, they are very brittle as well. Ive seen a ton of them break where other arrows didnt. My X-ringers do fly well though, and seemed to tune good for being so light.

Good review
Derek

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

This seems to be the general concensus-component fit is sloppy.

Of course the thing that really matters is spine/weight/just how well they shoot. Despite my reservations- I am going to give them a fair shake. Carbon Techs aren't all that nice for the finish either but they have it where it counts (though component fit is much better on CTs)

We'll see- I am fletching up a couple to shoot Monday evening and will save the rest @ full length to see how they spine on the RAM and check weights. I had checked some V3s my shop has had sitting around for a couple of years and they were not bad- I'll see how these compare to those for consistency too ("dozen to dozen" as it were- they are the same spine)

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

I'll be interested to see how they shoot and spine out. The claim is that is their strong suit. I've also heard the component fit was too hot with them initially, but they have claimed to have fixed that. Who knows?

Keep us posted Jeff.

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

Was talking with a Elite/Victory dealer from the left coast over at EAF- He wants to see how my spine test turns out as he stated the ID slop is a recent thing(?) He did say though that they have proven quite accurate/durable for him so he continues to use them.

Frankly, I'm really hoping these work out- cos I love the durability of the Goldtip style shaft , and the finished weights with my choice in fletch/components is right where I want it.

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

Curious to know how things turn out as well. My bow guy just ordered my Vforce HV6's early this week, should be here any day. I will see how they look.

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

I too bought a dozen V1's this spring - im comin off of gold -tip hunter xt's. the only reason i bought these was , pro shop dude said victory makes gold tips and these were very close. im no guru but it seems these are very brittle ? idk. waitin on your spine test !

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

Sorry guys- results will have to wait. I've been sick for a couple weeks and it';s been getting worse, went to the Dr this morning. Not sure what is going on quite yet, but my blood pressure is dangerously high, so I'm on bedrest for a few days, on meds, etc (high blood pressure runs in the family so not too surprised..)

Anyhoo- on a GOOD note- I am trading one of my guitars to Terry Martin for a brand new 2009 Warthog- should be a fun toy to play with!

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

Huh? Thats really cool! Don't hear a lot about the Warthog, but I hear its a speedburner, and should be with that brace height. Sort of wished you would have traded for an Alien-X because I would like to see an unbiased review on the Alien.

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

Yep- he posted a thread on AT looking for guitars- been talking with him via email, and he is hardcore like me with playing. I have a particular guitar sitting around I don't really play, emailed him about it and he was interested, so.....asked me what I wanted, and frankly I never even thought about the Alien. Since I have been really wanting a 60 pound screamer but couldn't blow a bunch of cash, I thought this was a perfect opportunity. I like the CAT cams on the Firecat/Firehawk I messed with- they are a Binary style and not a CPS style, and they have the limbstop. Apparently it's more refined than the Slayr (Slayer)- much lighter, better balanced and smoother shooting. I hope so, I was not a fan of the Slayer at all.

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

Take care of that BP!!!We need a guy like you around here to keep us straight.

Dan

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

I was Not impressed either!

Carbon Express, Easton, & Goldtip are hard to beat when you come out with a so, so product.;)

Dan

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

Thanks Dan- appreciate the kind words. I'm def feeling like crapola today-better than yesterday but yeesh.

On another good note-Got in contact with Ken @ Martin and they should be getting my bow out today! Hunter Black riser/limbs or black riser/camo limbs- I told him whatever was easier for them to build

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

Very interesting. The way these things are so talked up about over on AT, you would think they're the next ACC:D I love this place.

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

see..thats the thing right there- When I started up Archery again a few months back, and visiting AT, I noticed IMMEDIATELY that many of the pro-victory guys were the SAME guys who 5 years ago were claiming Goldtip was all sunshine and rainbows. Many of them just jumped ship in recent years. In addition the GM of Victory has made some very strong claims about tolerances at AT and EAF and when I pressured him, he gave me some very "meh" tolerances they try to hold to, and several times have basically told people to find out for themselves how good they are.

Just the whole thing rubs me the wrong way. BUT- like I said the curiosity got the better of me and want to see for myself.

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

Good unbiased review Jeff. Without reading all the posts here I often see nothing but rave reviews about Victory arrows. Of course we all don't know the experience level of those posting so this is always a question.

My common thought is just how the Victory arrows would compare to Gold Tip as the same factory used to make Gold Tip's arrows for them. Just wonder how they would all spec out for the different sizes in comparison to Gold Tips. I would imagine that they still use the same mandrels and other equipment so I would conclude that Victory arrows are the eexact same thing as the earlier American made Gold Tips. Just a different cresting logo.

Whacha think?

RE: Initial Impressions of Victory arrows
 

Sounds like I need to talk Terry into taking my RG550 off of my hands Jeff:D Id take an alien for it lol!

Derek