Buckfevr

I'm just curious here, but for those of you who especially made the transition to a parallel limb bow, how easy was the transition? Have you all come to prefer the feel of the parallel design? Anyone prefer the feel of a more traditional designed compound?

The other thing that struck me is perhaps it is simply a matter of shooting the same thing over and over again. Isn't there a benefit of learning a feel of a specific bow or does one learn to adapt? I mean I've got at least 5000 shots with this bow and have only shot this one bow during this time. I mean the thing feels like it is attached to me. Do you guys feel that your shooting has benefitted by shooting different platforms?

hunter9022

Parallel limbs are great! With the limbs going away from each other, they cancell vibration by going up and down, instead of jumping out away from you. Also, witht he limbs being farther apart, the riser is longer. This makes bows more stable and shooter friendly, especially the shorter AtoA bows. I plan on staying with Parallel limb design bows

TFOX

Bukfevr,I am with you.I feel that if someone will give a certain bow a chance and stick with it over a long period of time that it will become an extension of themselves.I have shot an Ultratec riser for several years now and they are like a glove to me.That is why I just ordered an Xtex for my hunting bow.Same riser but with shorter limbs.Should be very little change.Just look at what Hopkins has done with that old Conquest .


As far as the parallel limb design,I have never shot one but I can see where they would balance very well but all reflex bows tend to balance well to me.The only draw back I can see is that most of them have an extreme amount of reflex to keep speeds up.But most that shoot them love them and that is what counts.

Buck Magnet

I went from a 40"+ Browning Mirage Hunter dual cam (with the least parrallel limbs possible), to a Hoyt MT Sport, to a BowTech MightyMite, and now to the BowTech Liberty!

The more parrallel the limbs, the better for me! The feel is awsome for me, I get a great balance, but the kicker is the lack of shock! My Liberty sits dead still in my hand after my shot! My friends EX-VFT has a tiny tiny bit of "shock" but it just budges the bow forward on the shot a bit!

Another big reason I love them is that they are stable! The longer riser doesn't want to tilt to one side or the other as easier as some of the other bows in the same a.t.a. range!

It took me awhile to get use to the feel. I tried out a few Mathews about a year ago (before I got my MightyMite), and I just didn't think that I liked the parrallel limbs, but after shooting my friends EX-VFT for awhile, I realized that it was the grip that I didn't like on the Mathews! Now, I don't know what I would do if I was handed a bow without VFT!

walks with a gimp

I doubt if I'll go back to a more verticle limbed bow unless it would be a BlackKnight.

PABowhntr

It took a bit getting accustomed to though I believe going from a normal riser/limb bow to a Hoyt TEC riser made it somewhat easier to then go to a parallel limb design as opposed to going directly from the typical riser design straight to a parallel limb one. I believe it allowed me to be a bit more receptive to different designs.

Yes, I do now tend to prefer the feel of the parallel limb/long riser bows to a certain extent. However, it can be both beneficial and detrimental to some shooters. Beneficial in that the longer riser usually distributes the mass weight better along the vertical plane...which makes it easier to steady the bow. On the other hand some shooters don't like that long, almost "barbell" effect that a parallel limbed bow can exhibit. It is a matter of personal preference in many cases.

Yes, absolutely. As I mentioned above I believe it allows you to be more open to new designs...which can potentially lead to you being a better shooter/hunter.

muzzyman88

I've been shooting Hoyt's for the last 6 years and when I picked up the Liberty to try I found it very weird. I just did not like the balance of them.

To me, thats the biggest issue with them. They are top heavy IMO. At the shot, the top limb really wants to come foward very quickly on them. Not that that really matter all that much since the arrow has long since vacated the area, but something to consider. I found myself catching the bow often. The rearward stabilizer made that better though.

This is just my personal Opinion, but if Hoyt comes up with a true parellel design, its going to be awesome. The TEC risers seem to have more rearward wait which keeps the bow from coming forward like a bat out of hell. Mate that with a longer riser design and true parellel limbs and I'll be first in line for one

jsasker

MUZZY,
The LIBERTY was top heavy--try a LEGACY and you'll change your mind.I like the parallel limbs much better--it gives the feel and stability of a much longer bow.

JeffB

How easy was the transition? Not sure, as my initial experience was with Mathews bows, and I had issues getting used to their SL cam valley (on the MQ/Q series) or the grip (in the case of my Conquest). Otherwise I don’t think the transition would have been any different than getting used to any new bow regardless of design.

Most definitely I have come to prefer the feel of them. To the point where everything else feels just plain “wrong” in my hands. Like BuckMagnet mentioned for me, it comes down to how the bow feels at the shot. Non-parallel limb bows feel like a cannon going off now to me. I still have several bows from other companies and as good as they are, I don’t enjoy shooting them anymore. Too much recoil (at least comparatively). And since I don’t enjoy shooting them, I don’t shoot them as well. Could I get re-used to them? Of course, but I have no good reason to. I haven’t found parallel limb designs any less durable (after putting thousands of arrows each on several different bows), they feel nicer to shoot, hold better for me, and hence I shoot them more accurately/consistently. Even before I was on w/ BowTech, I was trying other wares and kept coming back to the BowTech Patriot and Mathews Legacy. If I wasn’t shooting a BowTech parallel limb bow, I’d be shooting a Mathews LX, Diamond Machete, Parker Phoenix, PSE Scorpion or whatever…something very similar.

AFAIC, Comfort is the most important foundation of good shooting. No matter how good the nock travel is or isn’t, no matter how fast the bow is, no matter how much it costs, no matter what name is on the limbs or who makes them, no matter what kind of cam you have, no matter what kind of arrows you use, no matter how good your form is, you will never shoot a bow as well as you’d like if it isn’t comfortable for you. You will always shoot the more comfy bow better.

Len in Maryland

Since this is a "Parallel limb bow" thread, it might be appropriate to issue a word of caution.

Make sure you use a bow press that is conducive to your bows design. This style of bow has a very long riser. I'm sure most of you are aware of that; and, it gets longer with longer ATA. There are also many that have very uneven lines in their riser design.

Certain presses, especially some of the center roller designs, could easily damage your riser. Other designs could damage your limbs.

I modified one of my favorite presses (no longer manufactured) to accomodate parallel limbs and bought a brand new Apple press that is designed specifically for parallel limb technology.

Good shooting.