I've watched tons of bow reviews by different folks over the years including the most popular. These are the best and it's not close. Great objectivity, stats/measurements, and fairness from review to review. Absolutely excellent!
That's really kind of you to say! I try hard to be as objective and repeatable as possible in all my measurements, and a ton of effort goes into each review. Really glad you're enjoying them!
I would love to see a comparison video or website to see all the bow stats all together. Also Thanks for measuring the full draw brace height of each bow. Also I would love to see you shoot all the bows at 40 yards like 20 arrows and give a review on grouping and ease of grouping and how the bow points and if it torks or just things you love and don't like about the shot. Thanks
Overall, I really liked the bow. I'd be curious to get one in for longer term testing to see if the asymmetric nocking height and the grip positioning help with aiming and overall performance.
Great review! I can't wait to get my hands on one. I've had a couple of Prime bows, and the strings are great. Never had any issues. Prime does still offer free strings every two years for life to the original owner. And, thankfully you don't have to send your bow in, just set it up through your dealer.
Thank you for the info and confirmation! I came away generally liking the bow. They may be missing some of the added features of other manufacturers, but it certainly includes everything you need in a modern bow, and I am intrigued by the grip positioning. I would be curious to get one in for a longer-term review where I could fully set it up with peep, sight, and stabilizers to better understand how it aims.
Thank you! Yep, I was super excited to get my hands on one for a review. Honestly a solid performer, and I'd love to spend more time with it to see how it aims and shoots when it is built up with all the accessories.
Can you explain the math behind reflex impacting torque? I think the dynamic brace height is the important factor. I can do the math for dynamic brace height to see the difference in forgiveness to hand torque but don’t see/understand the math for reflex. Does it really matter?
I'll be frank, it's a little complicated and hard to explain. In essence, you have the pivot point of the bow (let's call this pivot point #1 - the point where the limbs last touch the limb pocket) and the pivot point of the grip (pivot point #2). The greater the distance (reflex) between these pivot points, the more unstable the system becomes, and therefore more sensitive to non-ideal force inputs. Additionally, a more reflexed bow will place more system mass (riser, limb pockets, etc.) further laterally from the centerline of the optimal arrow path. This creates a longer arch and more inertia as the bow might seek to return to center upon firing (by rotating around the grip), meaning that torque inputs may have more impact on actual arrow flight as the shot is released and the bow is putting energy into the arrow. Having said that, I do think there are other factors at play with regards to accuracy. I suspect that the conventional reasons why higher brace heights = more accuracy are incorrect, and it has more to do with what PSE's engineers are saying about longer dynamic brace height providing a longer lever to resist torsional forces at the grip. Especially since bows with longer brace heights will have longer dynamic brace heights (all things being equal).
@ thanks for the response! I’m not sure I understand why the point where the limbs contact the limb pocket is considered a pivot point (other than this is where the limbs are no longer supported and therefore start to deflect but this is not relevant to hand torque). The reaction torque to hand torque is happening by way of the string creating a side load on the cam. The distance between where the string contacts the cam and the grip (dynamic brace height) dictates how much angle you get between the string and the cam track for a given amount of hand torque. As for the mass being further from the axis of the grip with higher reflex, wouldn’t that increase the mass moment of inertia and actually make the bow react slower therefore decreasing the impact to the arrow flight? Either way I think this would be a negligible impact? I hear people talk about reflex and I just suspect it used to be something people looked at because it was correlated with dynamic brace height but isn’t directly related to hand torque forgiveness (maybe?). I could be wrong, but ive never seen it explained with physics and math that proves it. Not trying to be argumentative, just trying to see if I’m missing something with my opinion that it doesn’t actually matter :)
I've watched tons of bow reviews by different folks over the years including the most popular. These are the best and it's not close. Great objectivity, stats/measurements, and fairness from review to review. Absolutely excellent!
That's really kind of you to say! I try hard to be as objective and repeatable as possible in all my measurements, and a ton of effort goes into each review.
Really glad you're enjoying them!
I would love to see a comparison video or website to see all the bow stats all together. Also Thanks for measuring the full draw brace height of each bow. Also I would love to see you shoot all the bows at 40 yards like 20 arrows and give a review on grouping and ease of grouping and how the bow points and if it torks or just things you love and don't like about the shot. Thanks
Had to say it twice, which was a beast of a review!
🔥Extremely good in-depth review, the top one I've seen so far. I'm curious to know how accurate it was for you.💯
It is a very nice bow! The hold is solid.
I’m looking forward to getting this one in my hands and shooting it. Interesting design.
Overall, I really liked the bow. I'd be curious to get one in for longer term testing to see if the asymmetric nocking height and the grip positioning help with aiming and overall performance.
I appreciate your reviews and your ability to articulate your thoughts without profanity. Consider a mohawk to spice things up! lol
Haha - I think the mohawk is already officially trademarked in the world of archery reviews.
Great review! I can't wait to get my hands on one. I've had a couple of Prime bows, and the strings are great. Never had any issues. Prime does still offer free strings every two years for life to the original owner. And, thankfully you don't have to send your bow in, just set it up through your dealer.
Thank you for the info and confirmation!
I came away generally liking the bow. They may be missing some of the added features of other manufacturers, but it certainly includes everything you need in a modern bow, and I am intrigued by the grip positioning.
I would be curious to get one in for a longer-term review where I could fully set it up with peep, sight, and stabilizers to better understand how it aims.
Nice review. I like that Prime does things differently.
Thank you! Yep, I was super excited to get my hands on one for a review. Honestly a solid performer, and I'd love to spend more time with it to see how it aims and shoots when it is built up with all the accessories.
I hate the bow but great job on the review, keep them coming!
Can you explain the math behind reflex impacting torque? I think the dynamic brace height is the important factor. I can do the math for dynamic brace height to see the difference in forgiveness to hand torque but don’t see/understand the math for reflex. Does it really matter?
I'll be frank, it's a little complicated and hard to explain. In essence, you have the pivot point of the bow (let's call this pivot point #1 - the point where the limbs last touch the limb pocket) and the pivot point of the grip (pivot point #2). The greater the distance (reflex) between these pivot points, the more unstable the system becomes, and therefore more sensitive to non-ideal force inputs.
Additionally, a more reflexed bow will place more system mass (riser, limb pockets, etc.) further laterally from the centerline of the optimal arrow path. This creates a longer arch and more inertia as the bow might seek to return to center upon firing (by rotating around the grip), meaning that torque inputs may have more impact on actual arrow flight as the shot is released and the bow is putting energy into the arrow.
Having said that, I do think there are other factors at play with regards to accuracy. I suspect that the conventional reasons why higher brace heights = more accuracy are incorrect, and it has more to do with what PSE's engineers are saying about longer dynamic brace height providing a longer lever to resist torsional forces at the grip. Especially since bows with longer brace heights will have longer dynamic brace heights (all things being equal).
@ thanks for the response! I’m not sure I understand why the point where the limbs contact the limb pocket is considered a pivot point (other than this is where the limbs are no longer supported and therefore start to deflect but this is not relevant to hand torque). The reaction torque to hand torque is happening by way of the string creating a side load on the cam. The distance between where the string contacts the cam and the grip (dynamic brace height) dictates how much angle you get between the string and the cam track for a given amount of hand torque.
As for the mass being further from the axis of the grip with higher reflex, wouldn’t that increase the mass moment of inertia and actually make the bow react slower therefore decreasing the impact to the arrow flight? Either way I think this would be a negligible impact?
I hear people talk about reflex and I just suspect it used to be something people looked at because it was correlated with dynamic brace height but isn’t directly related to hand torque forgiveness (maybe?). I could be wrong, but ive never seen it explained with physics and math that proves it. Not trying to be argumentative, just trying to see if I’m missing something with my opinion that it doesn’t actually matter :)
Can you do a review on the elite Ethos?
Would love to! I was also considering doing their Hunter 33.