We saw Athens make the backend adjustability last year and are no longer in business. Elite provides tunability from the front and also shims in the axles. In all fairness if they are not a 5 for tunability then no one is other then Bowtech. Otherwise it appears as though a fair and accurate review. The bow caught my interest as I've been finding myself leaning more into the longer ATA bows for hunting.
Elite are phenomenal to tune. Elite and bowtech are the only 2 companies that have made significant pushes in tuning technology. This new bow would be great for those that only want 1 single bow to shoot some target and still hunt.
I love your scoring system. I appreciate that you differentiate between statistical data and your opinion, but your opinion is what we're looking for from you. Nobody's doing reviews anywhere close to this qualityt! Thank you so much for what you're doing.
So I love the scoring system and how you break everything down. With so many bows on the market it gives archers an idea of what bow they might want to try and love the non bias reviews!
Don't really care about the scoring system, not interested in it, but getting all the information in relation to measurements and speed vs factory advertisement I find valuable and appreciate.
Your scoring system is fine for me. You stay consistenly with it, therefore you make the bows comparable for us. Thanks for all the effort you put in the reviews.
The scoring system is great! Thank you for what you do! It adds great perspective as we go into our dealers in our areas to test and buy new bows. Unfortunately we are not all as lucky to have bow shops like yours.
Forget ford vs chevy.... bow people are super loyal... i have been a ELITE lover for over a decade and love that all the companies are pushing each other to provide us with the best equipment that preforms better than most of us can shoot....
Just bought the first Exalt 35 to go out the door of SVA today. Love it! Thanks to you and your crew at SVA. They are the best group of guys I’ve ever been around in an archery shop. Thanks for that. By the way, ask Justin about the first, Podium exclusive accessory for the top pic rail that we invented! Thanks again! Good luck on your trip I was told you are headed out on. 🤘🏻
Very much enjoy the scoring system. Even if there is any kind of ‘opinion’ involved, it’s the same guy shooting dozens of different bows using the same system to grade them by, which in itself is a WAY more consistent and reliable means for the consumer to judge one bow against another. if they’re only going by video. Especially with the way you explain each bow within each category. It’s impressive you put so much time into this in the first place for viewers. No-one else does, to this high level well designed degree. Anyone saying there’s something wrong with this should recognize they’re having unrealistic expectations for a RU-vid video and the man making them. I appreciate the work! Thank you.
You should go to a 10 point scoring system over the current 5. All bows today are very close to each other and it would be more fair to the manufacturer to give a 9 or 10 out of 10 instead of just rounding up what you would have be a 4.5 to a 5. Either that or just give a 4.5
You have the best scoring system there is, No one else comes close on these bow reviews. I wish you had the time to review every bow produced lol. I won’t buy a bow without watching your review of it first. I wouldn’t change a thing. Honestly your opinion is the most valuable part. You have the knowledge and expertise that is needed to truly make an opinion valued.
Great vid! having any kind of empirical data, especially from someone with as much hands on experience as you, is super helpful. It gives us something to think about. Ultimately, we must decide for ourselves by getting our hands on it but without your honest info we may overlook a bow that may work for us. Thanks again!
Personally believe the reviews are great. Always informative and helpful and DOWN TO EARTH.... always able to bring the hype down to normal like it should be with some of these bows
Scoring system is solid. And I remember listening to the most recent Josh and Tim podcast and a little mention about Elite's new bow in the box still hehe. I wonder if Elite was supposed to release this bow last year but listened to a bunch of your podcasts and bow reviews to delay the release lol. Anyways good stuff Josh! Mahalos!
I went from not knowing what an elite is to owning the exhalt , your review went a long way in my deciding. Love the tests. Id suggest 0-10 and i dont think all the measurements are necessary , im not concerned if the ata is out by 1/16" keep up the great work
Keep the scoring system, and like the bow manufacturers do, refine it to stay in step with the new stuff coming out. The scoring system helps add some objectivity to what tends to be a very subjective realm, and it helps your viewers add a usability, value and performance level context to a given bow for comparison's sake. I was ready to pull the trigger on a Bowtech Core SS, but now I need to reevaluate. You have excellent content and you present it in an interesting way that appeals to the nerd and the layman at the same time. I appreciate that very much, as I am both a nerd, who likes to get down in the weeds, and a layman, who just wants to know if it works the way I need it to. Keep doing what you're doing, because it works!
Just a suggestion as you asked for comments on your system for new bow evaluations. I'm not a huge fan of the system you have even though it is informative, it is also very subjective. The scoring system you use seems to be kind of complicated. Changing your your evaluation system to a simpler format would be a good thing. You mentioned you are considering just listing the specs of the bow. I think that is a great idea. In addition to talking about the specs it would be very informative to your subscribers if you would shoot 10 arrows out of each new bow at a spot on a target and then share your thoughts about the bow after each arrow. Like your thoughts on the draw cycle, vibration, how it aims, ect, Once all 10 arrows have been shot, measure the size of the group you just shot and that measurement becomes the final evaluation of the bow. Viewers may be surprised at the group size certain bow can shoot. Thanks for all the information you give archers.
JJ you did a solid review on this bow. On video, it is an awesome looking bow. I have never shot an elite, but it is tempting to go in and see if my shop would allow me to shoot it. For the price, that's a lot of bow as you mentioned. Elite did a really good job with this bow. If given a chance, Elite has a really solid dual purpose bow and at a reasonable price. I don't remember the exact amount, but I think my lift 33 in black was around 1400 otd. This doesn't seem far off from that. God bless you sir.
The scoring system is fine! No need to change. Your videos are great. Very informative! I’m in Ohio and in the market for a new or new to me, mainly hunting bow. I have many questions about reflex and how it directly coincides with accuracy? I’m 41 years old and have been bow hunting with a Fred Bear Epic Extreme compound since high school. I’m ready for some newer tech.
Scoring system is good. Banter about each model is great. You are doing a ton of bow reviews so you have to be able to turn these fast. Besides most archers coming here are capable of taking the data you produce and decide on a couple of models to go shoot. I think most shooters come here with an idea of what they are using for the coming season of TAC, 3-D and hunting. Just need to get first impressions, keep it simple. I really like that your pushing folks to shop at local brick and mortar, thats a solid, stand up thing to do.
Fingers crossed they come out with a long draw bow for ‘25 this gets me excited. I’d love to see a review on the xpedition x-lite 35 to see how that compares.
I LOVE your scoring system. But, I REALLY love the way you share your thoughts and show us your struggles at times in arriving at a score. It's super-cool when you talk about how the manufacturer could have added, modifed or removed a gadget or gizmo on a bow to improve it. One thing I would like to see added is a dependability score. I mean, is there anything on this bow that could potentially result in a failure while on hunting that possibly a different bow from a different manufacturer doesn't have that makes it more dependable? You're great!
The review format is great. You try to provide as much objective measurements as possible, and not let personal bias interfere. It's always good to tweak things year over year on how you review and score....kind of like Lusk does with broadhead reviews. When you finalize the updated criteria it would be a good video to simply go over the scoring format and any changes compared to last year.
Would love to see this bow with the sp cam.. the ethos cam. It's a super nice hybrid bow. Great for ibo, Asa , indoor spots, or anything else in the target world. Having 2 of them one for target and one for hunting would be awesome you can be so use to the string angle and draw cycle. Especially you guys out west shoot longer distances. I'd think this would be a great bow. Would be perfect for a Tac event too! I love my Verdict.. but these Exalts are super nice too
Yeah, opinion matters more to me in your video's. I just know stuff like the draw feel for me is very subjective and almost every time I get use to it and love it. I focus on the other aspects, but your opinions overall is what helps me think about the important items, for me.
If Elite’s logo didn’t look like something you’d see on a bag of socks at Walmart, I think they would sell better... that said, I’m going to have to give one a pull in the fall.
This bow has me VERY excited for what's coming in November. I may even pick up one of these Exalt 35s for a 3D/Target rig. 👍👍 for adding the pic mount and Hamskea C.O.R mount.
I think ranking is a good system. Maybe revist the first ones you do in the year just for fairness between the first and last and time ellipse. That being said time/reality of being able to do that is difficult. Thanks for what you do for the sport. Great content. Great instructional videos.
I love Elite grip, draw cycle, and backwall. I will never get rid of my synergy. But I switched to Mathews a few years ago because of their accessories, overpriced, but nice. The grip sucks but can be changed. The limblegs are awesome. I keep wanting to go back to Elite. I've been eyeing the ethos. Now, the Exalt has pic rails and accessories to come. Oh, I think I'm gonna go back to good old Elite now that they are coming out with accessories to match the rest of the bow companies. Can't wait until the new releases in October, November!
Like I said I like what your doing I looking to get back to compound instead of crossbow I am on disability so I am limited what I can buy I tried to win a couple with no luck but I guess luck is I can still walk keep up the good work I enjoy watching you
The scoring system is fair and definitely keep it. Nobody else on here (that I know of) reviews bows like this and I personally find it to be valuable.
I like the scoring system, I think a 10 scale might be better to see a more defined separation between bows, the only thing I would say is I’d like to see just the rating on performance and specs out the door and not rated on the manufacturer specs. Maybe comment on the difference but a bow that shoots 330fps compared to another bow that shots 330fps perform the same. Thank you for all the info you put out, I learn a ton from you and Dudley
I want to work on my own product, my local shop closed down. Is there any chance that you will do a video about building your own home shop? Going over all of the products you would recommend in order to work on everything. Please!
Loovely comments 😊!And I have couple of questions! Why the all new bows are slower than old one ?My Hoyt torrex XT still doing 330fps with 350g arrow . ! Why everyone who reviews bow’s this year have zero vibration but next year when new comes out the new one don’t have but the old ones had ,if that makes sense.Do I need to buy new Bow each year like a new iPhone ! to be cool ?
I like your scoring system. I wouldn’t worry too much about fairness, not of it is fair, and it shouldn’t matter that much. Your reviews and system allow us to gage an interpretation or awareness to certain factors that you bring up and provide us. To me I’ve always liked it, except sometimes on Prime, but then again Prime never comes close to that posted speed.
I like the scoring system, but would like to see vibration replaced with “torque” or something to that nature. Like does the bow want to kick left or right, forward? I would also like to see a 20 yard and 40 yard accuracy test. Accuracy is king in my opinion.
Great review MFJJ - you've got the gravitas/years of expertise to give the context to your conclusions (as someone else said here). Would it be better to give a weighted average to some of these? Some really seem more important than others - for example, actual axle to axle versus published - who cares about axle length being off by a quarter inch if the bow's balanced, dead in the hand, quiet, fast and smooth drawing?
Love your bow tests! If anything maybe ad some actual metrics to the mix that correlate to a specific score, so as to take some off the subjectives out of the mix. Also would love to see a running spreadsheets posted someplace with all the bows and their scores (in your free time).
I like the opinions being in there and ranked as a score. There is always opinion, and it helps with the comparisons when you compare different bows and I can always choose that one area of your opinion isn’t as important to me. That said, sounds like the ranking system needs to move to be out of 10 for a bit more granularity.
Hello, thank you for the great reviews. I was wondering which bow you would recommend (exalt or reckoning 36) for an indoor target bow and some 3d. It would be set to around 55lbs and 28 inch draw. Thank you!
Always shot elite and unfortunately got a lemon Omnia that just keeps having issues and zero response from Elite customer service after my local shop reached out and myself. I get things happen but make it right for the customer.
I’m pro-scoring system. It forces you to delineate between bows. You might want to consider 10 pt scale or doing half points, since you are evaluating a lot of very competitive products.
Scoring system is fine. But could/would there be a higher number if the performance mods in. Other question and food for thought could you take that riser and limb pockets and put a set of bowtech limbs on it with their adjustably for the cam? Might make one hell of a Frankenstein bow. Keep up the great work.
Keep the MFO Josh..... We bow hunters and target archers want to hear it because we will have our own MFO's about products at the local shops as well and its nice to watch then say oh "sh*t didn't think of that!" I would like to see a score on string quality as you are a guy that knows what to look for ie; How are the loops done? Is the average guy going to leave the center serving or have to reserve it out of the box with brand X arrow and nock? what brand end servings get used and how do they hold up from wear and separation in your experience. Just a quick and dirty about that stuff to start out would be super helpful.
MFJJ, will you please, for the love of god, do a video in regards to what Mathews is doing with the limb delaminating on the LIFTs. Explain what is happening, why you possibly think it is happening, what bow shops are doing as well as the process. Is Mathews paying the dealers to replace the limbs at said shops. How many have you seen delaminated? Any thing would help with social media and the RU-vid certified bow techs we have roaming the groups.
As far as the weight goes, I have a 2010 PSE Vendetta XL, 35" A2A and is 4.2 pounds I think. No reason they cannot make it lighter. Interesting comment about Elite not selling in the west too well( in WA too), I bought a Kairos this year and told my friend about it and he didn't know who Elite was, never heard of them.
While I might not always agree with what you give for scores (who would always want to agree anyway ) I think the way you rate is just fine and gives a good overall impression for each bow.
Was it at 70 lbs or were those speeds with it over or under a little? Maybe I missed it, but I don't recall seeing the normal draw weight verification before testing the speeds.
Use the decimal point makes your five points system of 50 points system instead of going full of American and making it a 10 point system Big fan love all your content love archer
The exalt 35 is a very good dead feel with plenty of speed and comfort regardless the weight unlike the mean drawing bow techs and slower speeds. And much smoother than Mathews title 36. I just wish Elite would incorperate the same system with a single limb bow. Less moving parts are more reliable and less weight
The scoring system is great. The only thing I would say is you should go to a 10 point system. The amount of times you commented that a ten point system would better fit your thoughts I think it would be good.
This is the type of bow ive been looking for. I think the ranking system is good, especially when you yake your time like in this one and balance the advertising vs is it actually a good number especially in speed dept.
I like the scoring system... its fine, and EVERYTHING is opinion based to some point. Me, im mad i just got the Hoyt Highline. i like it but always loved elites wish this would have come out a few months earlier or at least advertise it was coming.
Surprising they wouldn’t make the DL range at least to 31 but maybe a different cam is coming in ‘25. It’s a solid bow. Speed was off but I’d hunt that thing for sure. Nicest Elite in awhile.
I think the scoring/point system is something that should be kept. Even if people dont ultimately agree with the number you gave it, hearing how you got to that number is what brings value to your bow reviews. We want to hear your opinion on the new bows and the scoring system is kinda like a rubric that we know the video will follow.
I like the scoring system 👍🏻 you do a good job explaining it. Maybe consider .5 pt scores or 1-10 scale since you’re already thinking you’d give something a 7 or 9? I didn’t like in this video how a score was changed bc the bow’s score came out lower than expected?
Just curious on the speed, I’m sure that bow was shipped with the letoff set at 90%, would be interested to see if the speed matches IBO rating if it were dropped to the lowest setting of 70%. Would be cool to see how much speed increases from 70, 80, 90% letoff. I have the Carbon Era and can notice a speed difference in my sight tapes if I play with my letoff so ELITE may have not been off with their 337IBO speed. Awesome review regardless!
@@mikeguy9668 "Deduct 2-3fps from rating for 60# peak weight (300 grain arrow)" . That doesn't mean all bows are tested with a 300 grain arrow, the 60# are. Which is 5 grain per pound...
I personally appreciate the scoring system. However I believe if a bow doesn’t shoot as fast as they say it should, that automatically drops that to a 1 out of 5 for me. I know there are plenty of variables to play with there. Still drops it to a 1 for me on speed rating. Should meet advertised speed directly out of the box (assuming it’s at 70lbs and 30”draw with a 350gr arrow) and nothing below advertised should be acceptable. I will add I am an elite fan. I have a Kairos, an Omnia and Echelon Wife has an Allure, a ERA and a E35.
I like your reviews. The empirical numbers should be pretty easy to develop a firm metric. For speed, anything within 8fps is a 0 score (congrats you didn’t lie to your consumer). 8-11 fps off -1, 11-14, -2, 14+fps off -5. If the bow is that far out of advertisement, then they are blatantly not being truthful. I think you could easily develop a similar system for all of the other firm metrics. I would keep this at 5 point scale. To me, going to a negative points system for the specs basically really puts the entire bow on a personal preference / opinion basis. In essence, a bow made perfectly would have a 0 score so only the individuals shooting preferences are in play. As well as adding a bit of “shame” on advertisers that misrepresent their product on a strictly numbers basis. For your opinion scores, I think you should move to a 10 scale to give yourself more room to evaluate certain points. Lastly, I think you should allow yourself 2 points as a “something special”. I don’t think 2 points would make or break a score, but sometimes somethings don’t make sense on paper but completely work as a package. It kind of seems like this Elite might fall into that category. This would only really apply in this type of review, where you felt the numbers were “right”, but felt the bow deserved some extra recognition, but you couldn’t quite place in any given category.
I like the scoring system, although I'd like to see speed ranked against raw speed, rather than whether it meets the claimed speed. A bow that says it shoots 400 fps but actually shoots 360 is still faster than one that claims to shoot 320 and shoots 320.
The scoring categories are fine, but I think scoring each category out of a possible ten points would be more helpful to show differences between bows and would better highlight positive or negative attributes. The difference between a 9/10 and 4/5 is an entire letter grade if you were in school.
