Friday, May 8, 2009

PSE Bow Madness Review

I’ve been shooting my new PSE Bow Madness for a little bit now and I feel confident in it enough to start writing out my review. This review will probably be done over a period of a week or two just to allow me the time to think of all I need to write about and to give me sufficient time to get the bow and I used to each other. I’m doing this as what I feel is an unnecessary precaution but you never know. From the time I picked up the bow for the first time it just felt “right”! As a smaller guy 5’ 9” and 153lbs currently I really appreciate a lightweight bow and the 32” ATA is just right for me as well. I really considered getting the XS version of this bow with a 28” ATA but after tinkering with both the 32” just felt better all around.

The first thing I noticed about the bow is the grip and the weight. The grip is the new “Biomechanically Ergonomic Slim Throat (B.E.S.T.) Grip” from PSE. It is slim and has rubber inserts that make it easy to handle and provides a secure hold. The grip is very comfortable and when you combine it with the 3.5lb weight of the bow you have something that feels great in your hand!

The next thing I noticed about the bow occurred after I shot it the first time. I had to shoot it several times to make sure I wasn’t imagining it and I wasn’t. The bow is virtually dead in the hand when shooting. You don’t feel a thing and you don’t hear it either. The first shot I took I thought something had gone wrong because I didn’t even know I had shot the bow. It’s amazing how smooth this bow is on the release of the arrow.

PSE is known for putting out great shooting bows and the Bow Madness is not going to break that rule. To me the most important thing to have in a bow is accuracy. All of the speed in the world doesn’t make up for a poor shot. The 7” brace height on this bow makes it very forgiving. My groups instantly improved my first day with this bow. It’s very easy to shoot and very adjustable as well. You can get 6” of draw length adjustment without a bowpress; can adjust the poundage, and also the letoff. The bow was great out of the box but with just a little tinkering we got it setup perfectly for me. The bow is extremely smooth on pull-back and has a very solid back wall. It even has a little more room for creep-up built in to the cam than its big brother the X-Force.

While speed isn’t the most important thing to me, it certainly doesn’t hurt. This Bow is one of the fastest single cam bows on the market. One of the secrets to PSE achieving the speeds that they do on this single cam beauty is the use of pre-stressed limbs. The limbs on the Bow Madness are already stressed to a point, beyond parallel, that a lot of bows are when they are fully drawn. So when you pull the Bow Madness you are fully arming a dangerous weapon! It's hard to believe that a bow at this price can be so powerful and yet so smooth! I haven't had a chance to test my particular bow out on a chronograph yet but it sure is shooting much quicker than my old bow ever did. I have to use two targets now as my field tips are going through my first bag. I only have a 27" draw length so I know I'm not shooting the 332fps IBO speed, but I would imagine I'll be shooting somewhere between 280 and 300 by the time I get everything tweaked in my set up.

If you have any questions about this bow, or anything else for that matter please email me at tnunley@gmail.com.

Sorry it took so long to get this review up but our recent move really took over our lives. I’m happy to report though that things are starting to get caught up and life “should” return to normal soon!

8 comments:

Andre Mostert said...

Hi there... I am keen to hear how the rest of the testing went. I am also looking at getting a bow madness.

Anonymous said...

PSE Bowmadness Test I too am lookin at BM. What is the real world(hunting) speed?

I now shoot pse bow @70 lbs 30 draw, 31 inch carbon express 350 w/blazer vanes 100 gr tip getting 270-272

Anonymous said...

i just recently bought the new PSE Bowmadness. the first shot i took with it after it was set for me, was amazing! everything he said is true, its quiet, perfect in your hand, and incredibly fast for my 26 inch draw and 55lbs setting. i love this bow! anyone whose going to buy this bow is going to fall in love with it immediatly!

Tommy Nunley said...

I'm glad you like the bow! I still love mine as well!

Anonymous said...

I bought the Bow Madness XL, $100 sale through Cabellas. It arrived on Tuesday, mounted sight and rest on Wednesday. Arrows cut and bow paper tuned on Thursday, paractice shooting Friday lunch, First 8 point shot at 5:15pm Friday. Two blade blood runners in high on left ribs, out low on right ribs, arrow stuck in ground on other side with no angle change. Trailed for 55 yards, dead deer. Bow is very smooth. The beyond parallel limbs make all motion go up and down with opposing forces. There is no jumping of the bow from limbs moving forward. Quiet. 288 fps with setting of 29" and 65#. Will be using this bow through black powder and rifle season, it's that fun to shoot!

Tommy Nunley said...

Great, great bows!

buck stops here said...

The BM is a perfect hunting bow. It has plenty of speed without sacrificing any accuracy.

buck stops here said...

Good speed, 7" brace ht, light weight, short ata, great accuracy. There are a few things however that could be improved. Nothing that can't be fixed with after market things. The string it comes with won't last very long as well as the vibration dampeners. All in all for deer hunting this bow is the one.