Darton Sequel st2 long term review forthcoming

[manitou1]

Which of the three mods?

My hold-up on delivery is the multi-cam process, but, I don't have my next shoulder surgeon follow-up until 4/1.

I don't know what mods Wyosam is running, but mine is the slowest/smooth mods.


280 fps, 57 lbs, 31" draw.
Garmin Xero chrono

 

[sndmn11]

I don't know what mods Wyosam is running, but mine is the slowest/smooth mods.


280 fps, 57 lbs, 31" draw.
Garmin Xero chrono

It was 441grs?

Did you put the other included mod on yet to feel what it is like?

 

[manitou1]

It was 441grs?

Did you put the other included mod on yet to feel what it is like?

Yes, 441g.

Yes on the other mod too.

When I bought the bow I had not shot a bow in about ten years, so I was a little weak on the draw, lol. I used to compete with recurve a LOT and tore my shoulder up shooting 15,000 plus arrows annually.

The other mod was a bit stiff for me, but that was right as I got the Sequel.
I never chronoed it with that one as I replaced it with the smooth cam immediately after trying the other.

Now that I have been shooting a couple of months it would be no problem.

 

[wyosam]

Which of the three mods?

My hold-up on delivery is the multi-cam process, but, I don't have my next shoulder surgeon follow-up until 4/1.

Mine is actually last years model, it’s the 60-70 and haven’t done anything other than tuning.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sndmn11]

Anybody played with one?

Updated April 2025, mine arrived! I ended up with a 35" Folds of Honor 50-60lb.

5.16ish pounds out of the box.
View attachment 871277

What's attracted me to this bow is the Perfect Tune Limb Pockets. Essentially a bolt is turned into the riser end of the limb/limb pocket to provide more pressure than the other limb, therefore more bend, and has the effect of leaning the cam.

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I'm 9 weeks out from draw shoulder labrum surgery, so I am shooting two turns out from max draw weight. I did check draw weight at 4 turns and 3 turns out, and got 51.x and 53.xlbs respectively. So, I am guessing I am 55-56lbs currently.

400 spine Black Eagle Spartan, 28.5", 30.5"DL, 100gr tip with center shot and rest height/nock point eyeballed.
View attachment 871287

Started at 20 yards with bare shafts getting thrown left and high. I suspected these might be weak, but want to see what can be accomplished with the perfect tune system. With the perfect tune bottomed out on the shooter's right side limbs it helped, but not good enough.
View attachment 871288

A few clicks on the Hamskea Epsilon to move the rest into the riser (rh bow/shooter) had much better horizontal flight but still planing high. 30yds below...

View attachment 871289

I was surprised how responsive the bow was to a slight movement of the rest.

Dropped the rest a few clicks and this was good enough for me at 30yds to start playing with sight pins and rehab my shoulder.


Here's the paper tune progression. I didn't shoot through paper after dropping the rest. Z is without the Perfect Tune bolts in, R-1 is 1 full turn out from bottomed/total tight, R-full is bottomed out/total tight. Again, 400 spine shafts.


The shelf has a center shot groove to help in eyeballing things up.




I've written here for Rokslide about a few bows the past three years, all of which most would consider short axle to axle. 32" Omnia, 31" Era, 30" RX8, so, I wanted to grab a "hybrid" hunt/target bow. Additionally, I havent shot with stabilizers the last few years. In keeping with the hybrid concept, I've grabbed some front and back stabilizers.

I suspect that a 300 spine will give me some flexibility in playing with the Perfect Tune system as the summer progresses, and if I luck out I'll draw a pronghorn tag.

 

[sndmn11]

I'm finding a miniscule left tear through paper WITH the perfect tune fully tightened on the right side with 400/300/250 spine. My bow came with two small red shims on the left and a large black on the right, both top and bottom. Despite this, accuracy is fine but it eliminates the tuning features.

My total vise came in handy for a shim swap, and I moved one red to the right, this moving the cam left. Shims are a pain in the butt.

 

[sndmn11]

Some new 300 spine shafts came today. I ultimately ended up returning the top cam shim configuration to how it came. Two thin red shims on the left and one fat black shim on the right. The bottom cam i left as adjusted with one thin red shim on the left and the fat black with a thin red shim on the right.

This let me completely remove the Perfect Tune bolts, and with a 90 degree nock height shaft flight is as clean as can be with field points.

Easy easy easy.


Clean bare shafts out to 60yds; based on past experience that equals no broadhead tuning.

Same time, same arrows, same Xero, specs as identical as I can make them... The only difference is the Sequel has the heavier Raptor FS peep vs the LiftX having a standard Raptor peep.

 

[Piscatory_4]

I'm finding a miniscule left tear through paper WITH the perfect tune fully tightened on the right side with 400/300/250 spine. My bow came with two small red shims on the left and a large black on the right, both top and bottom. Despite this, accuracy is fine but it eliminates the tuning features.

My total vise came in handy for a shim swap, and I moved one red to the right, this moving the cam left. Shims are a pain in the butt.
View attachment 872047View attachment 872048View attachment 872049View attachment 872050

How thick would you say those shims are? I may need to move them a little.I have a right hand 70# 33st2 and just had the 70# limbs installed. Tried the speed mod today with bow at 69#, 443g rampage 300 with 30" draw was getting 299 through the chrono, 292 with the regular mods. 300 spine Spartans with 125g points and 469g were doing 283 through chrono. Pretty good boost with the speed mods. Some 395g GT airstrikes I have are dong 312-314FPS and 304 with the standard mods. Trying to sort out a right tear now, was doing good at the shop but I must have done something to mess it up.

 

[sndmn11]

How thick would you say those shims are? I may need to move them a little.I have a right hand 70# 33st2 and just had the 70# limbs installed. Tried the speed mod today with bow at 69#, 443g rampage 300 with 30" draw was getting 299 through the chrono, 292 with the regular mods. 300 spine Spartans with 125g points and 469g were doing 283 through chrono. Pretty good boost with the speed mods. Some 395g GT airstrikes I have are dong 312-314FPS and 304 with the standard mods. Trying to sort out a right tear now, was doing good at the shop but I must have done something to mess it up.

Shim Kit

Darton Archery - The Archery Innovation Leader

dartonarchery.com

The black shim that came on the bow I didn't measure because I was afraid I'd lose it. The thickness stated on the above link for the two different black shims doesn't make sense. I assume the red shim thickness is correct on the link.


Darton told me not to swap the thick black for the two reds, so I think with a right tear if yours is configured like mine, the shim kit would be needed. ...and some measuring plus math skills.

 

[sndmn11]

The bow stand works.


I haven't used stabilizers in a few years and am still playing around with these. I can say that I have no change of poi centers when switching around quivalyzer side/front/off and stabilizer size/location. That tells me the grip fits my hand well and the bow is handling any torque I might be imparting on anchor/release.

 

[Billy Goat]

I have a few friends who have been shooting this bow for a while.

Probably doesn't matter to many, but this bow in a 35" also shot a perfect 660 @ Lancaster Classic this winter(maybe brought up before)


I spent a little time with one today, most bows these days are repeatable, but the little I dealt with it, this bow felt really good, and sight picture made it seem like you could be repetitive with it.

Bow wasn't setup for me, was working with someone else at their specs, but from what I have seen it's no slouch.

Don't ignore it.

 

[sndmn11]

The scaled showed 58lbs today, so the velocities above were at 58lbs, so I played with the Perfect Timing system. 10ish twists without pressing by loosening a set screws and rotating the yoke hanger. Pretty simple, and the draw board on the @Total Vise press let me get perfect contact on the draw stops.

 

[AlwaysChasinTailNHorns]

Can anyone who has shot this comment on the draw cycle compared to the other bows? I guess I'm trying to weigh out the cycle. I have never shot Darton. The only dealer is a Sportsmans and I have very low expectations about that. I won't mind ordering one blind. I'm trying to reference the siffness. Is it stiff in the front end? throughout? Speed seems decent so that speed has to come from somewhere. I have tested a Lift and it was stiff in the front. I didn't really enjoy it. I'm considering a bowtech Proven (essentially updated SS34) for the draw cycle. I don't care about speed. For reference I shoot a bowtech revolt x now

Can’t speak for this model but I shoot a Darton Spectra E32 their flagship from a couple years ago and the draw cycle is butter smooth in the front end but you do have a bit of a hump in the back end before dropping into the valley and your back wall is rock solid the bow doesn’t want to jump out of your hands at all. It holds really solid and is extremely quiet (big reason I bought it was because of how quiet it was compared to other bows I tested). As for speeds I’ve never sent anything through a chronograph with my Darton but I can tell you out of the bucks I’ve killed with this bow none have jumped the string and most my shots have blown right through the cage on whitetails. Hope this helps!

 

[sndmn11]

Adding 10 twists to each cable yielded a draw weight increase of about 5lbs, so 62.8lbs. I sent both the standard mods and the included speed mods.

About a 5fps gain; the load feels heavier up front and is a little steeper dump at the end. Noticeable at first and then easy to get used to.

What has me most excited is the responsiveness with bare shafts.

At 30 yards I was seeing a stiff arrow kick, tail right, and drifting to the left. Following the instruction book for putting the perfect tune bolt on the left limb to move "tear" left (tail right condition) cleaned this up. I started at half a turn off from fully in and that's where I left it.


At 50 yards I am seeing no kick and consistent flight.


At 60 yards I am seeing some kick and drift. One of the two bares found the berm high and left. This has always been the line in the sand for form-critical distance. I'll need multiple days to sniff this out, and it's also the first full shooting session at 60lbs since labrum surgery.

100yd "groups" are fair and this was shot immediately after the 60yd bare shafts.

 

[Eastman528]

Catching up on this thread. I finally got my Sequel ST2 35 a while back but between bear season etc. I didnt start setting it up until last week.
Interesting to see different people's tuning methods. I might have gotten lucky but I setup my Hamskea epsilon with COR mount centered in riser. I had to bring it up towards top of berger holes to not have shelf contact (my shop also told me they seem to like to be there vs. Centered in berger hole). Leveled and tied in temporary D loop and checked timing and it was perfect. I switched out to the larger 75% stops. 1st shot with bareshaft through paper was a bullet hole I shot a couple more just to be sure!
I mounted and leveled sight and quickly sighted in and got a preliminary sight tape going. Went and shot my local 3D league last night and shot really well, on the high end of my average and if not for a couple of dumb mistakes on my part could have easily been a personal best. Considering I am half ass setup and I haven't been shooting really at all this year I am impressed.
Ill plan to add some pictures and more info as I get time.

My take is this bow is a "shooters bow" doesn't have picantiny sight mount or fancy accessories but It flat out aims and shoots and in my opinion has all of the important stuff!

 

[sndmn11]

I switched out to the larger 75% stops. 1st shot with bareshaft through paper was a bullet hole I shot a couple more just to be sure!

I haven't tried these yet. Do you feel like it shortened the DL any?

 

[Eastman528]

I haven't tried these yet. Do you feel like it shortened the DL any?

Yes, very slightly. Says its supposed to be 1/8 so makes sense but honestly I am not sure how much of that is DL or just that it feels that way because less letoff.
Also thats with the standard mods I might try the speed mods and smaller stops. I got 293 fps with 400gr arrow at 28.5 DL 70 pound limbs maxed out.

 

[sndmn11]

I measured actual draw length with the standard draw stops and the 75% draw stops. I think a person could say draw length was shortened by 1/8"-3/16" and be correct either way.

I also noticed the cables on the timing system were lighter in color and suspected they were frayed. So I swapped string sets to some Catfish Customs and confirmed so. I believe this was my fault, however. When I had been turning the timing system I was using my bare hands and there's a little play in how the two pieces fit together. I am pretty certain turning by hand cause the two pieces to compress and jiggle together, pinching the cable slightly.

I ended up finding a piece of arrow shaft to put in the hole, but not contact the cable strands looped through, to turn the timing system. I think this is a better solution because it allows the tension to remain on the two pieces, and that pulls them apart rather then jiggles them to pinch.

Gold is 75% stop, silver is normal.




Teal, pink, with orange pinstripes.

 

[sndmn11]

Curiosity got to me and I ordered the shims.


I had been shooting fine with the top cam in factory form of (from shooter's left) 2red/cam/thick black and bottom red/cam/thick black&red. Last night I pulled one red and replaced with two whites to make each cam the same white&red/cam/thick black&white.

 

[sndmn11]

This was the result I was after. Slight nock left tear, cleared up with a put 1/2 turn of pressure on the perfect tune system with 400 spine shafts.