[shhh-thunk]
In a previous video I made a point about certain things that I'm not really
comfortable in advising, and that includes compound bows, especially cheap
compound bows. In other videos I have made points about how much you should expect
to pay for your first set of bow equipment, but despite that I still get a
lot of requests and questions about cheap bow kits that people find online, and I
really want to make a point in this video about how this low-budget
mentality can be harmful in your enjoyment and experience of archery.
Generally I gently push people away from buying the cheap options and instead get
something decent.
Now, if you go to a store or to go to a manufacturer, you'll probably get the same advice.
Obviously there are business interests, but if you go to a
shop or coach, they would generate advise you the same thing.
Don't buy crap equipment!
I keep on getting questions and emails and
messages and Facebook asking about these eBay bows, and to me it's like asking me which
piece of crap is better. They are both crap! You're pissing money into things that
you won't enjoy shooting, and, look, you probably won't shoot it.
You'll probably just leave it in your garage for 5 years.
Don't do this to yourself. Because so many people are budget conscious,
I'll explain this in terms of money. I conceptualize this in two ways. There are
entry-level bows which encourage growth and development, and there are
"just bows". They exist for the sole purpose of fulfilling a short-term thrill.
The problem with these "just bows" is that they have an inflated number of reviews online.
One, because they're really cheap, and two, they work. That's not saying much.
Let's start with recurve bows.
if you want to start off with a decent entry-level recurve you should budget at
least 200 US dollars.
This will get you most wooden take-down recurves, such as the Samick Sage, the Samick Polaris,
the SF Optima Plus, the Fuse Focus, the PSE Razorback.
All these bows are very similar.
These look and feel and handle like real bows, because they *are* real bows.
This should be your minimum baseline when looking at buying your first bow. Beyond
this price point you're looking at high quality hunting bows with different
wood and high quality finish. Some of them even have smooth draws and clean
releases. Beyond this even further, you have the more specialized bows like
the metal hunting bows or the target bows which are made from aluminium and
carbon technology, and all the accessories that come with a fancy bow.
If you go under the $100 price point you start looking at bows like this.
These are the really cheap fiberglass recurve bows. They are really cheap. I'm talking
about $50 or less, and, look, if you're looking at having a bow that you're
just going to use to plink at targets in your backyard, then these bows are fine.
There are bows like the PSE Snake, which are often recommended for beginners because they
cost around US$75, they are ambidextrous, like this one. They can
be used by anybody. They're really cheap and easy to buy at a good entry point.
The problem is that they don't really go much further than that. It's just a bow
which we use in the short term. So if you're buying these boys for a singular
purpose such as doing a project, they're fine, but, if you're looking at making progress
these bows are very limited. They don't encourage you to be a better archer. What
you get with these bows is limited options. For example, you can't put much on it.
No stabilizers, no sights, no options.
It is a very flimsy bow. You won't feel anything solid, very thin grip, very
simplistic designs, a lot of vibration, a lot of hand shock, so usability is very
limited. While you can use it, it's not satisfying to use. Even issues like the
way the riser is cut, often these bows are made to be ambidextrous, so there's not
enough clearance in the riser window for the arrow to go through so you often
have arrows coming out really poorly. Now, I know a lot of people are thinking look
"I just want a bow to buy so I can learn with," and that's fine. I understand
that these bows are really appealing because you just want to have the basics
of getting your archery form, and I get that. The problem is that you can do the same
thing with a $120 wooden recurve. This thing is a dead
end. You're just wasting money. If you are trying to progress in archery, you may as
well learn on a wooden recurve. Clubs don't use these bows. They use the
wooden recurves or the metal basic beginner recurves, because for fifty dollars
more you get a bow that handles like a real bow, and it's really fun to use.
This isn't. This is just a toy. The $150 recurves are what you
want as a basic beginner recurve, and for a lot of people it may be their first and only bow
because it fulfills all they need in one package,
not this one-off set of training rules which you'll throw away in three weeks. An actual bow
which functions on the target range, even on the hunting fields, where you have a
bow that fulfills your needs. If you buy a $150 wooden recurve,
you have a bow that you can grow and develop with. This kind of bow is only
useful if you only "just want a bow." By the way, if you are seriously strapped
for cash but you still want to have a go to archery, you may want to consider
do-it-yourself projects like making PVC bows. There are lots of tutorials on
the Internet including the channel BackyardBowyer on Youtube, and they provide a lot of
resources on how you can get started on making your own equipment using easy-to-find
resources. This may, in fact, be your kind of thing. You may find it's quite
fun, and you can get into archery on a very low-budget. OK, compound bows.
Compound bows are a little different because they tend to be more expensive
than recurve bows. Because of this, more people are driven to find cheaper
options. If you are buying a compound bow for the first time I recommend that
you budget at least US$400.
This will get you practically any bow in the beginner to intermediate
range, including bows like the Diamond Infinite Edge. These bows are very useful
and flexible, because they have a variety of draw weight and draw lengths, which
allows you to grow with your bow. If you go below $300 you're starting to get into
the unknown territory of cheap Chinese knockoffs. Now, there is a huge market for
these because so many people want to start archery while only paying a hundred
or two hundred dollars, so you get a lot of these cheap manufactured knock-off bows. They're
very poor quality, very poor quality control, very poor quality of equipment,
very cheap parts which break easily. You know, archery stores don't stock these
items for reason. These bows are marketed straight to the consumer on Amazon
or eBay. These bows look and feel terrible.
These are literally just metal risers with wheels on the end, and they call them compound
bows. Even the more expensive models are simply the same thing in a fancier
shape. I'm not saying these bows will blow up in your hand, but they're just really bad
quality bows. The vibration and shock are very high. The accessories barely function.
I mean, really, these bows are there to give you the illusion of shooting like a professional.
What *is* dangerous is the mentality that comes with buying these bows. Now I'm
going to profile a certain demographic in the archery community. Not all
people are like this, but I've seen so many people who fall into this stereotype that
I have to make a point of it. You get men with this macho complex. They do gym 3-4
times a week, with huge shoulders and arms, and they go "you know what? I feel like some
shootin' and huntin'!'" So they go on eBay and find these really cheap compound bows because
they are the highest on the search list, and they come in camo, so it looks really tough,
and "look! It goes up to 70 pounds," so you're super manly. Then they get their
bow, and they're like "oh my god, this is such a cool bow!"
and then they pretend they're Robin Hood or Oliver Queen [Green Arrow].
They do some poses.They make a new Facebook profile picture, and they'll try to impress
girls with their bow. That's what do. I'm not kidding. I've seen this. They try
to impress people with their $100 bow off eBay, and then they
go for a beer, and they shoot kangaroos. I'll go as far as to say that these
clueless purchases are meant for your ego. You have a bow. Not many people
have a bow, so you are officially the coolest kid on the block, and you know
what, you don't see this kind of person at the club, because this kind of person
hates being around people who are better than they are. Of course archers have
better equipment. They know what they're doing, and these cheap compound buyers, these
impulse buyers, they don't want to be told what to do. They'd rather hang out
with their mates on their uncle's farm and shoot rabbits. This compound kit from
eBay has been sent to me many times. It's from Atunga. It's AU$140,
and nearly 500 have been sold. That's a lot of bows.
That's the power of online shopping, but I want to make a point of
how little value you are getting from this kit. You get an "extreme" compound bow.
One of the simplest and cheapest designs you can possibly find in a
compound. This bow is barely worth AU$70. You get an aiming device, a piece
of plastic with two movable pins.
This is so cheap and fragile that it barely deserves to be called a sight.
Instead of getting a decent drop away rest, you get this really cheap generic
leaf-shape rest, which is mostly used with recurves. You get this small cheap finger tab, and
the cheapest kind too. This isn't a fancy finger tab they use with recurves, it's
literally a bit of fur or leather, which you stick your middle finger through. Look,
most compound bows are meant to be shot with a D-loop and a release aid.
I know some people do shoot off the fingers on a compound. That's completely
fine, but it is slightly more risky if you don't know what you're doing.
As a a beginner you really should be encouraged to use a mechanical release aid.
That's half the point of a compound. If you don't want to, it's your choice, but
again, if you are buying a kit, and this is all you're given,
I think that's really poor. You get a "wrist guard". It' so small. It only
covers your wrist, of course. You get three arrows. Generic arrows, not brand
names like Easton or Carbon Express, just generic Chinese arrows with no name.
These are probably fiberglass or carbon if you're lucky, and they'll be way too stiff.
But three arrows, and finally you get a target face. If you have a problem with
this kind of bow, and you bring it to the club or to the shop,
more than likely you will be told to buy a new bow. You have seriously just wasted $150
on something which you can't get spare parts for,
that people won't repair because it's so unknown and cheap and unreliable.
You could have saved this $150
for a decent bow. You are really doing yourself no favors by going
so low on the budget. You really want a bow that you can grow into and grow with.
These bows won't let you do that. They are poor bows. They are a poor man's bow.
They function, yes, but you won't learn with these bows. Nothing you do with these bows will make you
a better archer, and you are better off skipping this bow and buying something
that you actually want to use, because many people who buy these bows will simply
give it up after a few weeks and never use them again.
Don't be this kind of person!
Oh, and please don't buy those cheap Chinese bulk
arrows off eBay. I know there's this mentality of "oh, I'm a beginner so I'm going
to lose a lot of arrows, so therefore I'm going to buy a lot of cheap arrows so I
don't feel bad when I break them." You are losing arrows because you are using
cheap arrows! You need to buy a decent dozen arrows that are matched to your
draw weight.
Only then will you start seeing consistency and straight flight. These cheap
fiberglass, or carbon if you're lucky, arrows made from China and sold on eBay for
$60 for 24 something,
these are really poor arrows. They give the impression of a high-quality arrow
because they're shiny fiberglass or carbon, but really they don't have any of
the characteristics which make a good arrow. For one thing, they are "rated" up to
say 40 pound or 60 pounds, and that is BS. There is no arrow that is so versatile
that you can shoot it from a 60-pound compound and a 20-pound recurve. You need to use
the right arrows. Usually these arrows are too thick and too stiff,
which means they'll flop around like a wet noodle. In fact one of our new members
made this mistake. He bought this fantastic package:
the SF Forged+, beautiful bow, with no arrows. So he bought eBay arrows. This
was an honest error. I can't blame him, but it was a mistake. These errors were
too stiff and too thick for his arrow rest, and he couldn't use them.
There just wasn't a point in using arrows that don't fly straight, and this is the
point I'm trying to get at with this trend of buying cheap equipment. I know
that people want to invest as little as possible into a sport they might not
enjoy, and I understand this, but you are limiting yourself by getting equipment
that doesn't allow you to progress and feel that development. You are buying things
which are stopping you from becoming a better archer, and that will turn people off.
I know some people do progress from a cheap plastic bow to a decent bow.
That's fair, but most people won't. For most people a bow is a one-off purchase,
and if you buy the cheapest possible recurve or the cheapest possible
compound, then you are unlikely to buy a better one if you didn't enjoy this one,
and because you bought the cheapest one you probably won't enjoy it. If you want
to experience archery, and you have a very low budget, there are a couple
alternatives that you may choose. The one I recommend is to find your nearest club and
look at basic beginner sessions. This may be all you ever need. If you want to get
a decent bow, but not break the bank,
you may want to look at used equipment. There is a lot of stuff floating around because
people will get into the sport, they'll buy new bows, they might get out of the sport.
There's plenty of stuff lying around, and you can buy quality equipment for a fraction of
the price. If you "just want the bow" that's fine. Buy what you want, but look if
you ask for my opinion, I'm not going to recommend cheap eBay bows made from
generic unknown Chinese manufacturers.
These bows don't give you that satisfaction of using a bow. It's a
one-off purchase. I've seen so many people buy these bows and never use them,
and, to me, I think I'd be doing you a disservice if I said these bows are
remotely viable. Avoid these bows. You aren't doing yourself any favors.
I don't want you to have a poor archery experience, and the last thing you
want to do is to buy equipment, to invest money in equipment, that will frustrate
you. Remember, you don't need a bow to start archery. If you know what you are doing, then
get a bow, but don't jump into buying the cheapest things you can get. You will get
what you pay for, and if you don't want to have a disappointing frustrating
experience, save that money and buy a bow when you feel comfortable.
Anyway, this is NUSensei, I hope you found this helpful.
Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.