went to huntingfriends.com and recently read a article about the champion diablo and the liberty and noticed they rated its ibo rating at 10 fps lower than the bottem end of there 304-308 rating---plus there nock travel was not the greatest.if you were to purchase one and it was that far below there adv. specs shouldnt they give you a refund.i thought each bow is tested then shipped out--i know alot of manufactures lie about there ibo speeds but 10 fps slower than there lowest ibo rating

Well, my Liberty is right on par with IBO speeds. I am shooting a 405 grain arrow at 281 f.p.s. That is from a 71# bow with 29.5" draw length! Also, that is with a brass nock, a peep sight, factory hush kit, and two eliminator buttons. Figure a 5 f.p.s. loss for that half inch of draw length, 4 f.p.s. for the peep sight, 5 f.p.s. for the 2 eliminator buttons, and roughly 10 f.p.s. for the heavier arrow, and that would bring my "guestimated" IBO speed to around 307 f.p.s. Like I said, that is just a estimate, but it is gonna be pretty close!

Hunters Friend also states that they aren't sure that there chrono is right or not, the test was done to get a comparison of the bows!

Not all but most advertised IBO speeds ARE too high. Its not controlled by anyone except by the company that makes the bows.

I was one of the shooters in the test at www.huntersfriend.com
our test was performed just as stated, I think you need to notice the pounds that were shot, arrows and rest, we tested both just as a comparison.
The Liberty will deliver when needed.

hey hibow i went and checked the site again and it stated 70lbs with a 350 grain 5575 goldtip shaft---shot 12 times and the fastest was 294.was it because they were to far away from the chrony.

I had hoped to have chronoed both the Liberty and the MM VFT this weekend. A problem arose in that the cold weather seems to have an adverse affect on my chronograph...and I do not have an indoor lighting unit to use instead. I intend to rectify that in the next few days with the purchase of a new unit and light kit.

Something to consider though is that the speed rating for the Liberty is between 300-308 fps without the hush kit installed. The hush kit usually reduces speed by 3-5 fps. This may account for the difference between the listed speed rating and the rating that HF found provided the hush kit was installed during their testing.

Both bows in this test were below the advertised speed so there is a good chance that the chrony is off a bit.


Highbow,that was a nice head to head but what I found VERY interesting was that most shot the Diablo more accurately but when asked which they prefer,the majority picked the Liberty.I quess the feel of the bow outwayed the shootability.

Most of the bowtechs I have seen have been right in the specs for IBO - if the draw varies from that & any additions to the string the speeds will fall off.

So far I think Bowtehc does a great job of being right in line with the speeds.

TFOX.. I remember that the bows didn't fit many of the shooters.. so they had to deal w/ shooting a bow that was too long/short for them..

It's possible that maybe the Champion fit more of the shooters better...

Just a possibility...

The other thing I found interesting in their test was that they had Bowtech owners as judges for the subjective part. Not sure it would have made any difference in the outcome, but hardly impartial when 30% of the judges own a bow from the same manufacturer. The other thing I would have scored the Champion strings down alot more than they did with the wear they were showing after only a few 100 shots.