By Alexis Seibert
Aug 25, 2009
Sponsored by BowTech Archery.
Boo, all smiles with her new Sentinel from BowTech.
Well this is my first evaluation on a Product here on Bowhunting.net but I cannot think of a better product than a bow from BowTech archery.
As many of you know I have been shooting a BowTech for a couple years now. My pride and joy has always been the Equalizer and I still shoot it often. When BowTech discontinued the Equalizer and retired the Bow I thought to myself “Oh NO”! I thought I would find myself in search of another Bow company but my Friend Jeff Eastburn assured me that the NEW line up had a bow that I would love even more and boy was he right! I found myself with the BowTech Sentinel!
I know there are the wars out there over who makes the fastest Bows on the market but the way I see it the Indians harvested Buffalo with longbows , sticks and stones so I do not judge bows on speed even though the Sentinel sends my arrows at 280 out of the box! Then again, I am shooting the Sentinel at 50 lbs.
I received my Sentinel in the Green flame color. Out of the box it is a very sleek, awesome looking piece of equipment. I checked it over carefully and could find no flaws in the finish and fit anywhere. The first thing that stood out to me was the Center Pivot system on the BowTech. I have been shooting the Equalizer and this is my first bow with Center Pivot technology.
For those who do not know what Center Pivot is, it is where the riser splits and sends a section back to the center of the limb. There is a great video on the BowTech website on how this type of technology works. And from the first shot I could feel the difference. Until now BowTech had not had a bow in my weight range that had the Center Pivot technology and I am glad to now be able to experience what others have been telling me since BowTech developed it a couple years ago.
Another great feature I like is no longer having to loosen the limb lock down bolts that I have had to undo before adjusting anything on my Equalizer. BowTech has really simplified the entire process.
The bow looked great but I was really anxious to give it a test run!
When I try out a bow I guess what I am looking for is shootablility. Shootability to me is a bow that is consistent, easy on the draw with a solid back wall and a no aftershock. So let me take these things on one by one.
I like to think that when I say consistent I mean a consistent shooter. If my form is right the bow will do its job the same way every time. One of the great things about BowTech is they make some of the best strings around. They are pre-stretched and I have never had an issue with a string that stretches after 100 shots. So when I take it out of the box I want the bow to shoot the same way on the 3,000th shot as it did on the first shot. Also the bow cannot have any cam lean and I have none on this bow at full draw. Cam lean will make a bow inconsistent down range. This bow is not inconsistent in any way period from what I have found.
So let’s move on to the draw. I have to shoot a bunch of arrows to stay sharp and for me being a 15 years old girl I do not want a demanding aggressive draw. What I look for is a smooth roll over into the bows let-off. The cams on this bow are not aggressive at all and roll over into a nice solid back wall. That is what I want when I am shooting in tournaments and also when I am hunting. This bow will not make you concentrate on the draw so much and will let you stay focused on the steps necessary to make a good shot. Smooth as silk.
Now, aftershock. I hear a lot of people say a bow is dead in the hand after a shot. Well I thought I knew what that was until I shot this bow. I had zero dampening extras on this bow except those that came with the bow. This bow needs no vibration dampening aftermarket parts at all! Whenever I have ever gotten a new bow we always ended up putting every little rubber dampening device known to man to help take out vibration.
Vibration always went hand in hand with noise to me. That wonderful little buzz at the end of a shot. I do not know exactly why there is no vibration on this bow but there isn’t. I don’t know why but BowTech has it all figured out for sure. The way I see it, the shooter is paying for the bow to be designed to do these things.
If I had to take a shot at guessing why this bow is so vibration free I would say vibration started leaving bows when limbs became parallel. I just think that BowTech has taken it to the next level with the center pivot technology. It takes parallel to the next level and stops the vibration from making its way back to the grip. If there is no vibration in the grip then there is none to the sight or accessories. In turn there is no noise. The sound of my arrow hitting the target makes a lot more noise than I hear at the shot. It is simply amazing! Others shooting around me actually could not believe how quiet my bow was and honestly, neither can I.
So all in all I am going to say this about the BowTech Sentinel This Bow is awesome. It is fast, shootable, dead quiet and consistent. I shot every bow at the ATA this past year and nothing I shot came close to this Bow!
To be a great bow company you have to be willing to take risks. You have to be willing to think outside of the box as Daddy says. BowTech consistently brings new and different designs to us each year. They put their self out there and they always take that risk to bring us innovations never seen before. You only have to look at the amount of bows they offer for everyone to shoot each year. They take the ordinary and make it extraordinary which is one of the reasons I choose to shoot a BowTech.
Until next time keep it in the 10 ring!
