Topic: The Best Bow Stabilizers of 2023 (Read 55 times)
previous topic - next topic
It's your post, so post it!
The Shrewd Atlas is the perfect co*bination of what bowhunters look for in a siderod mount: strength, lightweight, and security. Made in the USA, the Atlas is CNC-machined aluminum with anodized stainless steel hardware. That means it’s not going to rust like other mounts do.
What’s missing from the Atlas is the bulk that seems to co*e with most siderod mounts. It weighs almost nothing—just 3.8 ounces—and fits tight to the riser. That means it won’t catch on branches and brush while you’re stalking or clang off the stand when you’re in the tree.
The Atlas employs tapered parts that essentially wedge together by bolts to lock them in place. The more you tighten a bolt, the more you drive a wedge into its seat, which makes it fit tighter. You want to position your siderod how you want it horizontally and vertically, lock it in place, and never think about it again. The Atlas does that.
Laser etching on the horizontal and vertical adjustments enables you to mark where the rod is positioned on each axis, so you can get it right back where you want it if you have to remove it from your bow, or move it from one bow to another. Once you find perfection with siderod position, you don’t want to have to hunt for it again.
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.
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.
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.
The Redline stabilizers do their job well, so much so, that we used the Redline RL Trio Back Bar and Stabilizer Kit to outfit bows during the 2023 co*pound bow test.
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.” 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.
The Conquest Control Freak With SMAC .500 is a half-inch wide stabilizer that’s built for performing in the wind. You won’t find a stabilizer thinner than a 1/2 inch on the market, so this hunting rod cuts through the wind the best. However, other 1/2-inch stabilizers employ weights significantly larger in diameter than the rod—especially if you use a big stack of weights. The Control Freak’s weights are only slightly larger than the rod, which minimizes wind drag.
Another benefit of skinny bars is they weigh less than fat ones. When a stabilizer bar weighs less, the effect of adding weights to the end is more noticeable. When you can feel the weights more, you can use less to achieve balance. And what bowhunter doesn’t prefer a light rig over a heavy one?
SMACWRAP is a proprietary material used in a variety of products for vibration dampening, including golf clubs. Conquest decided to put it inside some of its stabilizers, and it does a great job of killing vibration. Vibration in a bow does two things. It creates hand shock and noise. Noise, of course, is bad for bowhunting. And hand shock can make a bow unpleasant to shoot. Certainly, when you kill vibration, a bow is nicer to shoot, which will help you focus more on where the arrow should hit, rather than the hump your hand will feel.
The Control Freak With SMAC .500 co*es in lengths of 6, 8, 10, 12, and 15 inches, and they can be used as front rods and as siderods.
Mathews introduced the 12-inch Bridge-Lock Stabilizer in 2022 as a new stabilizer system for the Mathews Phase 4 bows. Presumably, this stabilizer will be usable in Mathews hunting bows in the future, as Bridge-Lock technology is incorporated into new offerings from Mathews. Despite the fact that it’s only good for two bows at present, it’s a solid, well-built stabilizer.
The bar is designed to slide into a Bridge-Lock receiver cut into the risers of the Mathews Phase 4 bows. It’s locked in place with a wing knob. Sliding the bar into the riser makes the connection point much more rigid than when a stabilizer gets screwed into a bushing under the grip.
Also, with this design, the 12-inch bar can be made shorter in 1/2-inch increments simply by pushing the bar deeper into the riser. So you can extend it to 12 inches for those long shots on the open prairie, or pull it in to 8 inches when it’s time to stalk through the thick stuff.
The bar is super skinny and has holes cut through its length. It imitates the geogrid design of