AAE Trad Vanes Initial thoughts- Updated

[GregB]

I decided to try some of the AAE trad vanes and thought I would share my thoughts if anyone else is thinking about using them. I have been using 4" gateway feathers so I ordered the 4" AAE vanes, the vanes have a slightly lower profile than the feathers. They are about 2 grains heavier each than my feathers, the listed weight is 5.3 grains each and all the ones i put on the scale were within +/- .2 grains. The vanes do not require any special prep or AAE specific products, I glued them onto my wraps with Bohning platinum fletch tight no issues. One vane has come loose at the back, but it also tore some of the wrap so I think it is from another arrow and not a problem with the vane. I've been shooting them for about three weeks, mostly at 20 yards and some at 25 and 30 yards. I shoot off the shelf and they fly and group with my feather fletchings, as well as I can shoot anyway. One issue I have noticed is my bottom vanes have been getting some contact and rub marks on them, I've been adjusting the nock to see if that helps. This has also put a small divot in the front of the vane, I attached a picture of what it looks like. I still need to shoot some broad heads with them and will update this thread when I have a chance to do that. For now I plan on taking a few of these hunting in case the weather gets real wet.

 

[WJS23]

Thanks for the input I’m thinking about switching to these

 

[William Sublette]

What makes them traditional vanes?

 

[DWinVA]

I’ve switched over to them and like them so far. I’d been shooting 3-4” Trueflight feathers & now have 4-4” Trad vanes on my Easton Axis arrows. For me they fly the same but are much quieter. No durability issues so far w/ 2 3-D shoots & a bunch of back yard shooting.

God Bless.

 

[DWinVA]

What makes them traditional vanes?

Aron Snyder worked with AAE to come up with a softer vane to shoot off of a longbow/recurve shelf with one of the main benefits being wet weather performance.

God Bless.

 

[mrbillbrown]

Thanks for the review. Planning to order a few to replace the feathers that I keep ripping off while pulling them out of the grass and ground around my target. :^)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rwurdeman]

The vanes are great. If anyone is on the fence about them I highly encourage you to try them out and see for yourself. One benefit that I do not see talked about often is how quiet they are when sitting in a quiver. A feather hitting a pant leg can really screw up a stalk bc of the noise. These vanes, however, do not have that problem. If they touch brush or my pant leg they are nowhere near as loud as the feathers.

 

[Tradchef]

I like them. I’m running the 5”. I’ve had no difference in flight or accuracy with broadheads and field points. I’ve got 8 fletched with vanes to have for bad weather and whenever I want to use them and the other dozen with my feathers. It totally worth trying out if you haven’t yet.

 

[Caleb7mm]

Been shooting them mixed in with my feathers daily. Both 4”-4 fletch. No difference in point of impact from 20-30 yards. At 10 yards they impact 1-2” lower? Weird, but not a big deal to me in the least because it’s most likely me causing it..........I shall keep testing them.

 

[Wilderlife]

I can hardly call myself a traditional archer, but I bought some of these vanes to try recently. Here are some pictures I took last night while shooting at my local indoor club. All groups are about 16 or 17 yards. Yes, I'm fairly new to it all, but they seem to fly off the shelf of my bow fine.



I still haven't figured out my point on, so pay more attention to the groups than where they are.





I did hold lower for this one.

 

[GregB]

I changed my setup from my initial post, I'm shoting Victory VForce 350 22 grain insert w/50gr brass weight and 200gr point, 4 fletch, total weight is about 570 out of a Stalker Wolverine @58lbs. I've been shooting at 20, 25, and 30 yards both field points and broad heads. They still fly and impact the same with both heads. After fine tuning my nock alignment I have not had any of the contact issues I talked about in my original post. I'll have 2 of my 5 arrows in the quiver fletched with these along with some spares at camp. I attached some pictures of how they shot with broadheads, the tighter group is at 25yds and the other is at 30. The AAE fletched arrow has a Zwickey no mercy single bevel and the feather fletched arrow had a grizzly double bevel.

 

[Beendare]

Thx for posting....I may have to give these a try.

 

[juanblanco1981]

Has anyone found them hard to fletch? Mine are holding, but they don't look the best. I heard on a bitzenberger I may need to file part of the clamp. Any ideas?

 

[jmav58]

I've used the Bitzenburger with a right helical to 4 fletch my trad arrows and I haven't had problems yet. They don't look as nice as other arrows I've done but they stick really well.

 

[GregB]

No issues fletching I've been using a Bohning pro class jig and Bohning platinum fletching glue no prep on the vanes.

 

[Tbashaw]

I love em so far. I was on the fence on trying them i have a hard time changing anyrhing on my setup when i have it dialed down so far i can't tell the differince in the way they fly

 

[paulforward]

I've been using them since they were first available and have taken them on 2 hunts so far. I hunt in a lot of wet weather and was really excited about these initially but, overall, my results have been mixed I'm sticking with feathers for now for most of what I do.

For reference, I've shot them out of a number of longbows and recurves, mostly my wooden Morrison ILF riser, Big Jim Thunderchild and Black Widow PLX. I've been hunting exclusively with trad bows in Alaska for almost 30 years.

I've been playing with the Valkyrie system so most testing has been using micro diameter shafting.

Fletching: I used both a Bitzenberger and AAE mini max in both 3 and 4 fletch configurations. I used 3" full length and also some 4" that I cut down on the back to 3" AH shape. I found that I needed more glue than I usually use with feathers and initially had a lot of issues with the trad vanes falling off or coming partially loose after lots of shooting. Using more copious glue (AAE glue) helped but I still don't find that they stick as well as feather especially when stuffed in a pack for multi days and when repeatedly dragged through the alders and brush.

Target shooting: I shoot exclusively off the shelf and found the trad vanes more sensitive to bow tune and to feather tune relative to the shelf vs feathers of the same size and configuration. Grouping was pretty good overall relative to feathers but much more sensitive to release errors or swapping to other bows to which they weren't tuned.

Broadheads: I shoot a mix of valkyrie Jagers and a variety of single bevel 2 blade heads. As above, the trad vanes seemed more inconsistent and more affected by any issues related to tune or release from shot to shot.

Hunting: I kept a few in my quiver during my deer and goat hunts in August but never shot one at an animal, instead opting for my feathered arrows, even in rainy weather when I shot my billy.

Durability: this is probably my biggest issue. They just don't seem to hold up. I'll try to enclose some photos but these things just haven't held up for me. they tear easily and compared to the identical shafts with feathers that have been in my rotation for the same time (I shoot every day all year) the trad vanes have fallen apart while the true-flights still look pretty good.

Overall, I'm disappointed. On average I spend 40-50 days per year on wilderness trad bow hunts in Alaska and had high hopes for these. I'll probably keep one in my quiver on my upcoming hunts this year just to see how they hold up and in case I find my feathers thoroughly soaked but I'm pretty sure I'll be sticking with feathers for now.

 

[Gerard Marcaurele]

I fletched up a dozen arrows with some 3” trad vanes only Bitz Saturday.

As far as the adhesion, I had great luck with Gorilla Super glue, BUT since they are so dang small you really gotta make sure your clamp is lined up perfectly. I had some issues on a few arrows where the front end of the vane was slightly raised up and I had to work to get them to press back down.

The durability seems to be mediocre, as my practice arrows look like trash after just a couple days. However, they still steer well enough for my current skill level. I’m gonna just keep using them and see what happens.

Not blown away by them, but they do what they’re advertised to do and I don’t have to worry at all about rain.

 

[Tartan]

Interesting results from everybody bc I’ve had nothing but great luck using the Tradvanes. Not problems getting great adhesion with several different types of superglue and about as much helical as my bitz will allow. I am using wraps.

Very thin bases do make it a little harder to get set up. But I am getting great results with just a thin layer of glue.

Durability has been great shooting the same couple of arrows all summer long. The only damage I have gotten is from stacking in arrows. I would have also damaged a feather from those same shots.

For those with a lot of “wrinkle” it looks like excessive vane contact with the shelf/side plate.

I know my set-up doesn’t clear with normal vanes. I get a major tail kick. So I have some contact, but almost no signs of wear on the Tradvanes and great flight. I generally shoot 30-50 arrows 4-5 times a week and only have 4 feathers fletched up. They’ve seen a lot of use.

 

[Gerard Marcaurele]

Interesting results from everybody bc I’ve had nothing but great luck using the Tradvanes. Not problems getting great adhesion with several different types of superglue and about as much helical as my bitz will allow. I am using wraps.

Very thin bases do make it a little harder to get set up. But I am getting great results with just a thin layer of glue.

Durability has been great shooting the same couple of arrows all summer long. The only damage I have gotten is from stacking in arrows. I would have also damaged a feather from those same shots.

For those with a lot of “wrinkle” it looks like excessive vane contact with the shelf/side plate.

I know my set-up doesn’t clear with normal vanes. I get a major tail kick. So I have some contact, but almost no signs of wear on the Tradvanes and great flight. I generally shoot 30-50 arrows 4-5 times a week and only have 4 feathers fletched up. They’ve seen a lot of use.

I am sure I have contact in some way, I just meant that they definitely pick up a wrinkle, which to me just looks bad and makes me think they won’t hold up to thousands of shots.

I am running a bear weather rest, and I had issues with the adhesive tape that comes with it ripping off on the back side of the rest. I got rid of the tape and glued the rest onto my riser and the wrinkling definitely slowed down. Also, I run 4 fletch on a 90°, and as soon as it’s time to re-fletch I’ll be running them on the 75x105 configuration to help clearance.

I don’t think I’ll be using feathers simply because of how much it rains here, so these vanes do the trick.