Hello people, this is NUSensei. Today, I
will be going through several archery accessories available on the Mandarin
Duck Outfitters website. These items were sent to me
courtesy of Mandarin Duck. The item that I want to spotlight in this video
video is the Dragonborn quiver. Do I really need to explain why? It's impossible to
look at this quiver and not think of the fantasy designs we see in gaming
presented as a simple yet elegant and functional quiver. The Dragonborn quiver
comes in two colors: green and black. While the green one has a striking
resemblance to the elvish quivers used in the fantasy genre, the black version
has a unique look, especially considering that similar quivers tend to be made
from a natural brown leather. The main distinction is the shape of the quiver's
opening which is curved for an asymmetric leaf flair. The body of the
quiver is smooth leather. The light colored decorative stitching really
stands out and it's a hallmark of the other Quivers available from Mandarin
Duck. It's quality hand-stitching, and really adds to the contrast on the quiver.
The actual stitching used to hold the leather together is also well done. Overall, the quiver is simplistic but fancy.
The quiver contains several brass attachment points for the belt and straps, again suiting the overall design.
All in all, the quiver is a nice design to hold. It feels like it’s a reliable, quality accessory.
Of course, it works as intended. The quiver securely holds arrows. They slide in
nicely and the narrow shape actually helps reduce noise made by shuffling
arrows. Again you can see the leaf shaped design makes the quiver look like
something you will pick up from a fallen foe. One interesting design feature of
the Dragonborn is that it can be used as both a hip quiver and a back quiver. It
comes with this belt loop, although no belt is included. The belt loop contains
a metallic flower motif that is used in all Mandarin Duck products. The belt loop
is easily attached to the quiver using these brass clips. As I said earlier you
have to use your own belt. It's worth noting that some archers will use the
belt they are currently wearing, However this means that you cannot remove the
quiver without removing your belt. It makes more sense to use a separate one
for the quiver. Yes, it's an Assassin's Creed belt. Why not?
While I'm personally not fond of having a hip quiver dangling from the belt, the
long shape actually makes it tip to a rather steady horizontal level so it
doesn't feel like it's knocking against your leg. In fact walking around with it
is not as clumsy as it might seem. In this configuration the arrows are within
comfortable reach just below the hip, making loading arrows quick and natural
Another option is to turn the quiver so that it is behind your lower back. Again,
the balance of the quiver makes it more horizontal so it doesn't feel like it's
going to tip over.
Finally, the Dragonborn comes with a very attractive three-point sling. Again, it
features the metallic flower symbol in the center. Each strap is adjustable and
clips on to the mounting points on the quiver for a quick and easy setup
In fact, let's add in some extra thematic clothing to add to the epic look.
I really do think that the back quiver with a three-point sling is what it's
meant to be used as in my opinion. The hip quiver option does look okay.
Actually, its more stable than I thought it would be but I think this option is by
far the most attractive and really the appealing thing with the Dragonborn
quiver. In terms of its functionality and practicality, as long as you correctly
adjust the sling and the length of the strap you should find it to be a good
position around your shoulder so you can easily grab your arrows. You can pull
them out, nock, or replace the arrows rather instinctively. If you don't wear it
correctly it will kind of slide off and you're like "Ugh! Where's my quiver?"
That sort of thing. But these slings are quite easily adjustable so you should be
able to find a good fit for you. There are a couple of design elements
which I think might cause some frustration. If you're a purely
instinctive style archer where you love to pull, nock, shoot in one motion. While
the lip of the quiver is a nice elegant leafy appearance, this can interfere if
the quiver is angled in the wrong direction. So for example, here I might be
reaching for an arrow and I might touch the lip of the quiver instead so
instead of pulling an arrow out, I'm like trying to grab the top of the arrow from here whereas
if this was a perfectly flat shape or round shape you wouldn't have have this
top lip so you can scoop up an arrow from the
bottom and pull it out there. Because of this I tend to scoop here, tap the nock
of the arrow, then flick it upwards and grab it like this. That's a very common
method for back quivers, something you can definitely use here.
If I'm shooting instinctively and I'm trying to just reach behind I might grab,
tap, pull and then nock the arrow and then shoot. Tap, pull,
nock the arrow, shoot and so on. I kind of do it this way and again this is what a lot of
back quiver shooters have to do if you don't quite have to you reach to grab the
arrow from lower down. The other way to work around this is to reach
a bit further round, follow the back of the lip and grab the arrow lower down
and pull it out in one shot like that so you don't have to flick it up to it. You can
reach around much lower and pull around like this and again this is normal
back quiver usage. If you feel that you can't just reach and grab the arrows and again
I am a short person so I do use shorter arrows. I don't have the convenience of
sticking it out and grabbing from here. It doesn't affect the shooting
in any way. It does take some time for me to get used to it but it's fully
functional regardless of what method you use and I think that the design of the
quiver does make it really easy to use. Whoops, that's my fault there. It's really
easy to use, just chuck it in and again, I find that particular lip there with the
leaf shape scoops the arrows in quite nicely through the back. Overall I am
very impressed with the Dragonborn quiver
It is a little costly but it's the same cost as a high quality quiver, and I do
think this is a high quality quiver. It has a nice look, it has a nice finish and
it feels nice when you use it as well, whether as a hip quiver or as a back quiver.
I think all the options that this gives you make this more versatile as a
purchase and I think that if you are looking at this quiver and you go wow
that looks quite nice then yeah I think it's worth it. Now before you grab one
you might want to take a look at some of the other products on offer. Mandarin
Duck was also kind enough to send me several additional items - these ones from
their Ranger line of accessories. The first one is the Ranger quiver, a
minimalistic field style hip quiver. The Ranger quiver contains the same metallic
flower motif and leather stitching. Aside from that,
the only other feature is a pouch.
Again, a belt is not included so you have to use your own. While it doesn't look
like much, the Ranger quiver is more than enough for its intended role. For
those who are unfamiliar with field quivers, the arrows are actually angled
towards the back, opposite to a normal hip quiver. This prevents the arrows from
being caught on other objects and gives you more range of motion with your arm.
The quiver's narrow shape keeps the arrows pinned tightly together.
Next is the Ranger arm guard. Similar style to the other Ranger products
with the four prominent metallic flowers. The leather bracer is comfortable to use and
fits nicely though it can be hard to get a nice wrap. I find it works best when
you wear it on top of an outer layer of clothing. I have noticed that the string
can scrape across the metal decorations if you have poor alignment and the
bracer has a tendency to slip without an easier way to adjust the band. Otherwise
it's easy to put on and a good addition to your kit. Finally, we have the Ranger
shooting glove. This one is in the style of the open web design with only the
fingertips having coverage and nothing else. I personally did not like the style
glove preferring more closed designs. For what it's worth, the Ranger glove does
what it's meant to do, with the finger tips well covered. The wrist strap is a letdown.
This really needs to be a Velcro strap. It's awkward to fumble around with the
small buckle, especially with your opposite hand. The glove works though I'm
obviously struggling to get the right feel. I did find that the strap has no
restraint so it tends to pop up in your face at undesirable moments. It's an OK
design but not what I personally prefer.
Overall, the accessories available from Mandarin Duck are excellent. The
materials are very good, the quality and finish is excellent, and they all look
and feel really nice. Of course I really enjoyed using Dragonborn quiver. That was
the spotlight for me, the luxury item. I like back quivers because they're kind of
novel and they're kind of cool to carry around, and the fancy look of the Dragonborn does
suit the whole notion of some fantasy warrior or archer just pulling
arrows back and letting loose. That does look and feel awesome. But I was also
surprised at the Ranger field quiver. That was really - I'm still wearing it, actually -
that was really good. It was really light, you could stick arrows in and pull them
out really easily. It doesn't look like much but that was the
most surprising package. Again, the quality and finish were excellent but
all these designs are fully functional and very practical and I think you will
like these whether you're a traditional archer, a sport style archer or just a
recreational archer. All these things look nice, they feel good
and they definitely have that value for money. So if you've been looking around
on eBay or you're following Mandarin Duck's products and you're
wondering if they are good enough then they get the thumbs-up from me. I do
think that these products are very good products. These are things that I would
have bought myself and I do thank Mandarin Duck for providing these for review.
I am confident that if you purchase these items then you will get the same
satisfaction I did and that's saying a lot. Again thank you Mandarin Duck.
Hopefully this was helpful for you. This is NUSensei. Thanks for watching
and I'll see you next time.