Hey guys, this is NUSensei. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the W&W Wiawis A-1 Quiver.
W&W aren’t particularly known for their quivers, though their discontinued model was
a luxurious and costly design. The Wiawis A-1 quiver still touches the higher end of
the cost spectrum. What’s so special about this quiver?
We’ll start off with the external features. The quiver boasts a “magnetic zipper”
system, which is basically a fancy way of saying the zippers work really smoothly, and
they have a very nice W&W logo.
There are two compartments on the outside of the quiver. The width of the quiver is
not much different to the slimmer designs from other brands, though not as wide and
spacious as larger quivers such as the Easton models. It’s enough to fit in some essential
tools and spares, but you might find the space to be lacking if you use your quiver like
an extended toolkit.
There is a hip pouch which contains two compartments – one intended for individual Allen keys,
though I’ve used it to store multi-tools, and one larger compartment, which I use to
drop my finger tab inside.
There are also a couple of neat mini-features. There is a pen holder sewn into the quiver,
and you always need a pen when shooting on the range. There is also slit along the quiver
where you can slide your bow square.
The quiver comes with a belt. It is attached by this rather stylish metal clasp, making
it easy to put on and it stays on. The belt itself is also easily adjustable.
The quiver also comes with this metal hook. This is designed to be slipped onto the belt,
and you can use it to hang your release aid or finger tab. While handy, the hook doesn’t
really stay on by itself. This isn’t too bad if you tighten the belt, but I found that
you can easily lose it when taking off the quiver, so I don’t make use of it.
The A1 quiver contains three plastic tubes – enough for most purposes. The arrows slide
in quite nicely.
The main draw card of the Wiawis A1 is the fact that the quiver tubes have magnetic bottoms.
This allows you to dazzle your fellow archers by performing the magic trick of turning your
quiver upside down and having nothing fall out.
It’s actually stronger than it looks. It takes a bit of shaking to get the arrows to
drop.
I’m not entirely sure when you really need this function. I’ve only dropped arrows
from a hip quiver back when I used the flimsy cheap clip-on ones, but most commercial hip
quivers are quite stable. Still, it’s impressive.
One benefit of the magnetic quiver is that the arrows don’t move around as much. This
has the effect of making it somewhat quieter when walking around.
Compared to my previous Easton quiver…I think this is actually a legitimate claim.
Come to think of it, the more you move the quiver around, the more you appreciate how
perfectly the shafts keep their place.
Finally, should you want to store the quiver and belt separately, they can be detached.
The two parts are joined by metal buttons and a Velcro strip.
One of the benefits of this magnetic design, which I didn't anticipate was, it's actually
really useful for transportation.
I'm the sort of person who tends to throw the quiver in the back of the car. By the
time you reach the range, your arrows are thrown around everywhere.
The magnets in this quiver stop that from happening.
You put your quiver in your car, you take it out, and nothing's moved.
I said before that the magnets aren't that powerful but you really have to shake the
quiver to make the arrows fall out.
This will survive a regular car trip without the arrows coming out. So if you're that kind
of person and you're not putting your arrows in a separate case, then this is actually
pretty handy.
What I like about the Win&Win quiver is that it's quite compact. It's light. It's a sleek
shape. It's very simple in design.
The accents are nice. The zippers look good.
Lots of W&W branding.
So if you want to promote your W&W loyalty like I am, then this looks really nice and
it does come in good colours as well: blue, red and black. I wanted black originally,
but they ran out of stock so I went with blue. It looks just as good.
The magnets are nice. I think it does make a difference. It does feel nice to put the
arrow in and take it out. They do kind of maintain where they sit in the quiver.
It does have a nice feel when using it. It's something you don't really measure in a quiver.
But it is definitely something that has a nice luxury factor to it.
Downside: space. Because of its slim design, there's less space for accessories and tools.
I'm the sort of person who likes carrying everything with me. I know some people will
prefer carrying things in their case, but I make sure that I have enough spare parts
and tools, so in case I need to do an immediate repair for myself or someone else, I've got
it in my quiver.
It's fairly common at a club or range.
Compared to my older quiver, which is the Easton hip quiver, this has much less space.
While it is lighter, you don't carry as much in it.
This isn't a problem, for the most part. In fact, I've managed to fit in most of my tools
here anyway.
It's not as neatly organised because the other quivers have more elastic bands and more carrying
space, so you can sort things out quite neatly.
Here, I've just crammed everything in, so if I want to grab my pliers, I have to be
more awkward in pulling things out.
Not a big problem. You accept that because it is a smaller, lighter design, you're not
going to fit as much in. This probably wouldn't affect most of you. I'm not going to care
that much if I can't carry all my hot-melt sticks and lighters.
It doesn't matter that much.
But if you are that sort of person who wants their quiver to be a Swiss army knife, then
this might be slightly limiting.
The other downside is of course the price tag.
If you can get this quiver for cheap...
Nice.
But otherwise, this is a serious luxury buy.
It's a nice quiver. The design is good, it functions nicely.
It feels really nice against your hip.
But is it worth three times the price of a normal quiver? Definitely not.
It looks good, but you can pay half this price or a third of this price for a quiver which
functions just the same.
You're really paying for the luxury of having the magnetic tubes.
Even that, arguably, isn't that valuable.
How many times will you have to accidentally trip over to justify this functionality?
I like this because it's like showing off your sorcery skills to your fellow archers.
But as cool as this is, it's not worth that money. It's a luxury buy.
If you get it, it's a good quiver. Will I buy it just for this functionality? Definitely
not. You can buy better quivers with more carrying space, with more functionality for
lower price.
But if you can get this, and you want this, then it's nice.
Anyway, this is NUSensei. Hope you found this helpful.
Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.