I'd appreciate comments comparing and contrasting the two munfacturers esp with regard to uniformity and accuracy of spine, weight, straightness and duarbility.
Thanks
I upgraded to Gold Tips! Lost confidence more fliers! Anecdotal evidence here especially on spine issues is split! I changed to CT's per Matt and tuning became much easier. Not sure if my shooting/form improved or...confidence?
I also had durability issues with G Tips more expensive but they appeared to break easier especially when slapping side of target or ground. Maybe I spent more time looking for expensive arrows. grin. Yet others here have sworn to their durability!
Nothing worse than changing to the unknown especially if you are happy with your present lot! x-man,spike bull et al would have more "expert" experience. Good luck
I've been shooting GT's for 5 years now, but I always shoot the Ultralite Pro series both 500's and 22 series (300 spine). Sometimes I get an arrow that is out of spec, but I don't complain.
I've shot a lot of carbon arrows over the last decade or more and my all time favorites when it comes to quality is still Easton ACC's. Sure they're expensive but not much more than some of the premium all carbon arrows put out by Carbon Express and some others. And a dozen arrows will last me at least five years, although I only shoot about 5000 or more shots a year.
I don't see me making any major changes because some of these new arrows are just arrows with a different label and a much higher price tag, and I have enough arrows to last the rest of my life and they're paid for.
Good catch! I'm betting a lot of people miss the "North" part :)
I haven't tried Arrow Dynamics myself. Shot part of a round at the Bedford IBO with a guy who was shooting them about five years ago, and he liked his a lot, but aside from that I haven't seen them much around here. They're higher priced than I usually am in the market for, but may well be worth it, I can't really say.
I used to shoot GoldTips for several years and switched when they took their manufacturting to Mexico. They were very durable and had accuracy enough to satisfy my needs.
I also tried some Carbon Techs and found them to be more accurate and more durable than the GoldTips, but they had an inside diameter incompatible with my stock of GoldTip components and no local dealer, so I didn't switch, although I might have later had they not also went offshore with their manufacturing recently.
I've been shooting the Beman ICS for a couple years, and am very satisfied. Durability is, IMO, slightly less than the GoldTips or the Carbon Techs were, when they were made here. Not by a great margin, but they seem slightly less in my unscientific comparison. I did see one of them survive a square hit on a steel target though, and have only seen that happen once with any shaft.
Their accuracy seems to be very good, their consistency in use seems to be very good when comparing my new ones to the ones from earlier batches already in the quiver.
The smooth finish makes them noticably easier to pull from foam than the GoldTips were.
I like them and the price is right.
They say "Made in the USA" both in their ads and on the shafts themselves. I've never been to Utah, but they are supposedly manufactured right across the street from the Easton headquarters there. If they are indeed made there, shaft and all, they are an excellent example of an American product competitive with foreign ones and should be supported.
If they are just assembled there from foreign-made shafts and assembled by sticking lables on them saying they are "made" here, then they are another example of deceptive advertising and marketing, and should be exposed as such.
Does anyone here know for sure whether the shafts for Beman ICS series are actually manufactured in this country as I was told by the Beman rep?
