Topic: The Best Bow Stabilizers of 2022 (Read 39 times)
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Why It Made the Cut
This setup has everything you need for a co*plete stabilizer/side rod setup in one pack. All the pieces are high quality and highly adjustable to your tastes.
Key Features
Pros
Cons
Product Description
The Dead Center Dead Level Hunter Verge Lite Stabilizer Kit 12/9 is a one-stop package that has everything you need for a front-bar, side rod setup. It’s got a 12-inch bar for the front, a 9-inch bar for the side, and it’s got the mount you need to connect both bars to the bow, or just the side rod.
The bars are Dead Center’s best high-modulus carbon, so they are super stiff. The end caps are machined aluminum, which adds to the stability and rigidity of these bars. And each bar is topped with the Verge Dampener. It’s a ring of rubber surrounding a weighted centerpiece. At the shot, vibration hits the dampener, causing the weight to move around inside the rubber ring. That action soaks up the vibration, preventing most of it from getting to your hand. Set screws on the end of each rod allow you to position the dampeners perfectly vertical or horizontal once your bars are locked in place in the mount.
The mount can be used to attach both bars from the front, or you mount the front stabilizer by itself and then bolt the mount for the side rod to the back of the riser. If you mount both from the front, run the bolt on the long bar through the mounting bracket into the riser and then swivel the side rod connector to face backward.
The side rod connector pivots left and right and up and down so you can get the bar positioned precisely where you need it for the best balance. Once you lock it in place, it won’t budge. The two pieces you’re forcing together with the locking bolt are cone-shaped, so the more you drive in the bolt, the more you wedge those cones together. It’s super solid.
Six, 1-ounce weights are included in the kit for weighting and balancing the bars. I’d go 2 ounces out front and 4 ounces off the back, but you might find you need more to get the bow stable and balanced.
Why It Made the Cut
If you want the balance of a front rod and side rod, but in a more streamlined setup, the Bee Stinger Microhex Counter Slide is the best bow stabilizer for you.
Key Features
Pros
Cons
Product Description
The Bee Stinger Microhex Counter Slide is a thin, 15-inch bar that sits off the riser’s side, opposite your sight and quiver. Sitting there, the bar can offset the weight of those accessories.
From there, the unique mount allows you to slide the bar forward or back to adjust the distribution of weight. But it sort of mimics having a front stabilizer and a side rod. Given the length, you could adjust it so 8 inches stick out front and 7 inches extend backward. Then you add weights to each end to achieve the leverage you want. If the bow wants to tip forward, add more weight to the back, or slide the bar back. If it wants to tip up, add more weight to the front, or slide the bar forward.
The bar co*es with the mount that connects it to the bow. It features a dovetail bar with a line of divots, which allows you to adjust how close to or far from the side of the riser the stabilizer sits. You can also pivot the riser mount up or down to pull the mount even closer to the riser if you want.
Bee Stinger’s Microhex bars are its narrowest, which makes them ideal for cutting through wind. And the Countervail material used inside the bars is very efficient at killing vibration. These bars transmit very little vibration back to the archer’s hand at the shot.
To be honest, I view dual-purpose bars like the Bee Stinger Microhex Counter Slide as a gateway stabilizer to a true front-rod/side rod setup. The Counter Slide does a fair job imitating the balancing effect of having two bars, but I believe it will convince you of the benefits of having both, and you’ll eventually pull the trigger on a two-bar rig.
Why It Made the Cut
Quality carbon bar that’s 8 inches long and includes a rubber dampener and three, 1-ounce weights.
Key Features
Pros
Cons
Product Description
The Redline RL-1 8-inch stabilizer features a stiff carbon bar, a rubber dampener at the end of that bar, and three, 1-ounce weights. With the weights attached, the stabilizer is properly end-heavy. That is, the vast majority of the stabilizer’s overall weight is concentrated at the end. That’s especially critical when using a bar as short as 8 inches.
I chose an 8-inch bar for the “best budget stabilizer” because that’s the minimum length I believe stabilizers should be for most of today’s co*pound bows. (More on that at the end.) And the Redline RL-1 8-inch is the least expensive, 8-inch bar Lancaster Archery Supply carries.
But it’s not just a cheap stabilizer. It does its job. It helps the archer hold the bow steadier at full draw than without it, and it kills some vibration at the shot.
Why It Made the Cut
Thin, light, lots of vibration dampening. For bowhunters concerned about having accessories stick out in front of their bows, the 9-inch Vantage is so slender and unassuming, it’s hard to argue that it’s “in the way.”
Key Features
Pros
Cons
Product Description
Without any weights on it, the Vantage is incredibly light. Shrewd says that’s because of a unique tapered interior, which allows for a rigid, high-modulus carbon bar without any extra weight.
There are two Hi-Lo dampers on the Vantage. (Damper is a term often used to describe a rubber device designed to suppress vibration. It’s often used interchangeably with “dampener.”) The Hi-Lo dampers are designed to attack high-frequency and low-frequency vibration. Think of the difference as big, heavy vibration—low frequency—and smaller, lighter vibration—high frequency. A bow produces both, so Shrewd designed dampers to attack both. There’s no doubt the Vantage does a good job killing vibration with just 9 inches to its length.
The Vantage 9-inch co*es with two, 1-ounce weights that are added to the stabilizer between the bar and the end Hi-Lo damper. This allows the end damper to serve as a rubber protection for the end of the stabilizer. The long bolt that connects the damper to the bar allows for many weights to be stacked, if you need them to get the right feel for your stabilizer.
But even with just the two ounces of included weight, the 9-inch Vantage does a good job helping stabilize the bow at full draw. The bar is so thin and so light it’s hard to imagine bowhunters fearful of stabilizers “getting in the way” thinking the Vantage is a cumbersome accessory.
Why You Need a Stabilizer
A stabilizer is intended for two purposes—to help you hold a bow steady and to help kill vibration at the shot. A stabilizer helps you hold a bow steady by adding weight to the bow below your hand, and by resisting hand torque. A great, albeit exaggerated, example of how it resists torque is to think about holding a dust brush and a full-length broom out in front of you with your arm extended. It’s easy to move the dust brush side to side because it’s short and it’s light. But the broom is going to resist that sideways motion because of its length and the heft at the very end.
Stabilizer Length
Again, that’s an exaggerated example of what a stabilizer does, but it paints a general picture of the principle. And it demonstrates why target archers typically use 28 to 36-inch front stabilizers that can carry more than 25 ounces at the very end. Bowhunters don’t need to go that far. Such a stabilizer would be cumbersome in the woods.
But what bowhunters need to know is that a “stabilizer” offers no stabilization at all until it extends beyond the limb pockets. And with the way many of the best co*pound bow risers today are reflexed back toward the archer, the stabilizer bushing might sit 4 or 5 inches behind those pockets. That means you don’t get any stabilization at all from a stabilizer 6 inches or less.
On most bows, an 8-inch stabilizer would be the minimum length needed for a stabilizer to be fully functional. Ten- and 12-inch bars would be even better. Whenever I encounter a bowhunter who balks at the thought of a 12-inch stabilizer because it “sticks out too far,” I have them nock an arrow. No 12-inch stabilizer sticks out as far as a 27-30-inch arrow. The point being, if you think a 10-inch stabilizer is going to get in the way at some point during a hunt, your arrow will be an even bigger problem.
Weights
The good news is that the longer the bar, the less weight you need on that bar. On my setup, I only have 3 ounces on the end of my 15-inch stabilizer. If I went to an 8-inch bar, I’d have to bump that weight up to about 10-12 ounces in search of co*parable stability.
Side Rods
However, as the front stabilizer gets longer, the need for a sideroad increases to balance the bow. A long front bar with even just a little weight at the end will cause a bow to want to tip forward. A side rod adds weight behind the bow to counteract that forward tipping. Twelve inches with just a couple ounces of weight at the end is about as long and heavy as I’d go with a front bar before adding a side rod.
A stabilizer is an individual tool. It’s meant to help each archer depending on their abilities and needs. Most bowhunters don’t know what a good stabilizer setup can do for them because they don’t experiment with different lengths and weights. I get it. Who has the time and/or money to get a bunch of stabilizers and shoot them in different configurations?
If you can, get to an archery pro shop that will allow you to experiment with equipment on their range. Shoot with friends who have different stabilizer setups and swap bars. Or shop online for used equipment to eventually amass a selection of stabilizers over time.
A longer stabilizer provides more leverage, and many target archers use stabilizers from 28 to 33 inches. The minimum stabilizer length should be 2 inches longer than the gap between the riser and the outside edge of the limb pockets. On my Mathews V3X 33, that’s an 8-inch minimum length. Any shorter than that, and you’re only killing vibration.
This is a co*plex question, but the simple answer is, “no, you don’t need a side rod to shoot a bow accurately.” A side rod can help. It can help you hold a bow steadier than you ever have in your life. Every top end target archer I can think of who also bowhunts runs a front stabilizer and side rod on their hunting rigs. And these are archers who have the greatest ability to justify not using a side rod. But they do. Obviously, they see a benefit. I do too—especially when shooting long range. Can you consistently make the shots you need to make to be an effective bowhunter without one? That’s your call.
There are short, rubber vibration dampeners that you can mount in the stabilizer bushings on bows that cost as little as $15. But as I mentioned, those aren’t stabilizers. For true stabilizers, you’re looking at anywhere from about $30 up to $180 for single bars. co*bination front bars and side rods, of course, will push that top price higher.
When used correctly, the best bow stabilizers can make a decent archer a decent and consistent archer. They’ll help you hold steady and feel co*fortable at the shot. When you’re co*fortable, you’re relaxed. When you’re relaxed, you can drive tacks. Don’t just think of stabilizers as something to put in the bushing under the grip. They’re designed for a purpose. Take the time to figure out how they can make you a better archer.
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