Iron Will Vane - Personal Feedback

[AttackMode]

I think I’m going to stop testing this year and pick it back up. I may have set these up “other than intended.”

Of note - I practice at 60 (and beyond sometimes) but my live animal limit is 50 in perfect conditions, 40 otherwise. Just in case someone is applying my thoughts to 80 or 90 yard shots.


I shoot 125 solid IW broadheads, and at this point I honestly can’t tell grouping difference between the IW vanes and the TACs I already had built. Longer ranges could be a different story. But even to an untrained ear they are LOUD. Much louder than the TAC, to me. BUT: I also put a mondo helical on them with a mini max fletching jig, and I don’t think IW Bill set the test up with that much helical. I suspect that may be inducing more noise.

I’ve seen that with field tips (I don’t group broadheads) the IW vanes seem to have a touch less drop at a given range. So even with the high helical, it appears that they are maybe a tad more efficient? The TACs I’m using are 3 fletch 225’s, so they’re pretty small. Small enough I’m kind of nervous about using them with fixed blades but man they are quiet and drop BH’s within a finger width of my field points. (No real drop off with the IW vanes on accuracy.) I have definitely
Lost more IW vanes to damage than the TAC, as mentioned here.

TL;DR - Bill and his work through the U of Co has done more objective testing than anywhere I’ve seen or read about. I have no basis to doubt nor refute his work. But it’s now August and I’m out of time. I fully expect to be running them next year, but it’s almost elk season, folks!!

I feel the same way. Spent alot of time between the IW vanes and the TAC driver 2.75's. TAC's are on my hunting arrows this year again.

 

[Bluto]

I’m gonna get a new bitz and try a little more tame helical/offset and see if I get the same practical results as IW. (In the off season.)

I’m gonna fletch a half dozen with 2.75’s vs the 2.25’s this weekend and see if I get any different. The TAC’s seem to like the heavy helical from the EZ fletch just fine.

Full disclosure - I could have had all of this done this year, but gave up. I whiffed on tags in 6 states (7 if you count twice in WY) and just got a leftover outfitter Hail Mary tag last week. Luckily I spent so much time getting dialed in last year I was already set with good arrows/IW 125’s/TACs.

 

[doverpack12]

I haven’t liked them that much so far.
They fly fine or as good as max stealth, however I tend to hear them flutter in flight and have a really loud shot from time to time. That is likely me making a bad shot and the arrow is being forced to recover.
They also seem to pick up color from other vanes in a hip quiver, I haven’t seen that before either.

I still have more and will continue with my testing but they will not be on an arrow shot at game this year.

Future testing will be with same model broadheads on arrows I know those heads fly well using max stealth but instead reflected with IW vanes.

 

[Keener22]

I've been shooting them all summer without issue. I revamped my whole arrow setup this summer, switching from FMJs w/ Blazer vanes to the Axis shafts with the IW vanes ordered through them. I'm still new to this DIY archery world, so I've never shot most of the other vanes everyone is talking about, only the FMJs with blazers out of the box.

I will say that the IW vanes on these shafts, with the IW field points and SB125 heads have shot well (or at least as well as I can shoot them). I can get them to group with my field points out to 90 yards so far, in about a 7-8" group when I do my part. That's about 30 yards better than I was doing last year with my FMJs and Kudu broadheads.

I can't speak to how quiet they are over other vanes, but I've taken videos to compare the noise of the broadheads to field points, and they don't seem that loud to me. Shooting your bow is louder than the arrow in flight, to my ear.

As for durability, I'll admit I've bounced these off the ground, into logs, and buried them into foam more than once. They're all still very well glued and have no tears. One vane of my 6 practice arrows is starting to rip at the very first 1/4" of the vane, otherwise they're all still completely glued, intact, and no folding or creasing. I think it's important to look at the goal of the IW vane being designed to be the best middle ground for fixed broadhead flight, not necessarily the absolute quietest or absolute most durable.

 

[WoodBow]

I decided to try them out of curiosity. I have nothing bad to say so far. I built my arrows 4 fletch. They shoot extremely well for me. I can't necessarily say they shoot better, but that is only because I am not doing head to head testing. And I'm constantly changing things to try to improve my shooting. So it could just be the intersection of me getting more consistent and trying the new vanes. This photo would lead you to believe that the BHs and field points grouped slightly differently but I think they were mixed up. Regardless that is just about as good of a group as I am currently capable of.

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[Bluto]

Yeah, update from me as well.

I ended up tinkering a bit because I couldn’t help it, and my hunting arrows for next month are dialed.

I fletched a few with the IW vanes on a Bitz with the helical clamp versus the mini max. That made a WORLD of difference. They are far quieter, still mixing them into shot groupings to see how they compare with the TAC’s. Oh - and with some loctite super glue, no primer, no prep, they stick like a champ. YMMV.

I’ll re-assess once I have any useful info as far as accuracy at range.

 

[WoodBow]

I was shooting vanetec vanes previously. I shot both past my wife (she was shielded by the house) and she said the IW vanes were quieter and sounded more like the wind compared to the unnatural sound the vanetec vanes make. I shot both vanes together for probably 200+ shots at 90+ yards and the IW vanes consistently grouped better.

My question is how do they compare to plain aae hybrid hunters? I assume sound is the only difference, since shape is identical? The IW vanes are about 50% more expensive. So I think that is the apples to apples to comparison that I want to see.

I have managed to shoot a few under the target and they have held up the same as any other vane I've ever shot.

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[Zachman373]

You might take a look at the DCA Super Sabre vanes. Reviews are really good. I just ordered some so I really can't speak yet to their durability just passing on to you a potential option.

DCA Super Sabre vanes are super durable. Have pulled mine through multiple targets and they always hold their shape with no issues.

 

[WoodBow]

It’s all marketing… he does a test with the University of Colorado. Sounds good and all but all that means is that the college basically paid for his vane testing.

He paid to have the study done.

To say there is no way they are quieter seems unfair. They are different, therefore it is possible.

I believe they are exactly the same as the aae hybrid hunter, or whatever they are called, as far as shape and size. Maybe some micro texture difference? Not sure. It is definitely a softer material. Bill does not strike me as the kind of guy that would lie or fudge the numbers for marketing purposes. My only gripe is I haven't seen listed metrics for how they performed better. It should be on the site with a list of decibel ratings of every fletch tested. If they are quieter, but it is by an insignificant margin, maybe the consumer would prefer more durability in another vane. If they stabilize broadheads better, by what margin? I want group sizes listed. Maybe all this is listed in a report of the study somewhere? I have not found it yet.

They are roughly 50% more expensive than the aae hybrids. Tell us exactly what we get besides an iron will logo.

But I'm happy with the vanes and just received more in the mail.

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[Christopher.Reed]

Iron will is becoming ridiculous with his testing. No way that his vane is quieter than a max stealth or a tac vane. I’m sure the vane stabilizes a fixed head great. But for him to say that his vanes are the quietest is plain false.

It’s all marketing… he does a test with the University of Colorado. Sounds good and all but all that means is that the college basically paid for his vane testing. You don’t have to have that to figure out how quiet or how well a cane stabilizes.

He also recently said on a podcast that his arrows are 10x more square than if you cut them and square them yourself… square is square. So another false statement for marketing.

And last… he is now saying that mechanicalals fail 40% of the time! I’m not arguing that they don’t fail but that’s a big statement to make.

He makes a GREAT head it Just seems like he is really reaching and just spouting out some false info all in the name of making more money.

While I can see your point, I disagree with it.

In a world of over-marketed garbage, Iron Will stands out to me as one of the few suppliers whose products are better than their marketing and IW Bill is one of the most sincere and knowledgeable spokespeople in the industry.

I listen to most of his stuff and have never heard a 40% failure rate claim for mechanicals but, if he made that claim, i bet he either has the data to back it up and is willing to explain it, or will gladly retract the statement if it’s false.

Regarding the dB of vane; as I originally stated, I can’t really notice a difference while shooting but the people I shoot with swear there is a noticeable enough difference down range that they purchased them. Unfortunately, I haven’t shot with them again since they switched vanes so I can’t personally confirm or refute the claim.

I am admittedly a bit of an IW fan boy, but IW has earned that with the quality of their products. I have used almost everything they make and it’s simply superior to anything else I have used, with the exception of vane durability as I referenced in the original post.


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[Deerscat]

While I can see your point, I disagree with it.

In a world of over-marketed garbage, Iron Will stands out to me as one of the few suppliers whose products are better than their marketing and IW Bill is one of the most sincere and knowledgeable spokespeople in the industry.

I listen to most of his stuff and have never heard a 40% failure rate claim for mechanicals but, if he made that claim, i bet he either has the data to back it up and is willing to explain it, or will gladly retract the statement if it’s false.

Regarding the dB of vane; as I originally stated, I can’t really notice a difference while shooting but the people I shoot with swear there is a noticeable enough difference down range that they purchased them. Unfortunately, I haven’t shot with them again since they switched vanes so I can’t personally confirm or refute the claim.

I am admittedly a bit of an IW fan boy, but IW has earned that with the quality of their products. I have used almost everything they make and it’s simply superior to anything else I have used, with the exception of vane durability as I referenced in the original post.


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I 100% agree that he makes the absolute best head on the market. A taller vane will always stabilize better. I get that. But there are zero decibel readings on the study to prove that.

If you want a cane to sell. What’s easier… invent a new vane, buy material to produce them, come up with a material that haven’t been used, purchase equipment, employees ect… OR go to aae and say can I get the aae stealth vane in the shape of a max hunter?

IW is very knowledgeable. One of the best! Im sure the vanes a great. But u cant claim a tall vane is quieter and that his arrows are 10x more square. It’s all a sales pitch. Not fact based.

 

[Deerscat]

He paid to have the study done.

To say there is no way they are quieter seems unfair. They are different, therefore it is possible.

I believe they are exactly the same as the aae hybrid hunter, or whatever they are called, as far as shape and size. Maybe some micro texture difference? Not sure. It is definitely a softer material. Bill does not strike me as the kind of guy that would lie or fudge the numbers for marketing purposes. My only gripe is I haven't seen listed metrics for how they performed better. It should be on the site with a list of decibel ratings of every fletch tested. If they are quieter, but it is by an insignificant margin, maybe the consumer would prefer more durability in another vane. If they stabilize broadheads better, by what margin? I want group sizes listed. Maybe all this is listed in a report of the study somewhere? I have not found it yet.

They are roughly 50% more expensive than the aae hybrids. Tell us exactly what we get besides an iron will logo.

But I'm happy with the vanes and just received more in the mail.

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I’m sure they are a great vane. But he is claiming and selling as the best and quietest. And maybe it is the quietest TALL vane. He is an incredible archer and a brilliant guy. But he is also brilliant at marketing. I just want to see the study and decibel readings.

 

[WoodBow]

I’m sure they are a great vane. But he is claiming and selling as the best and quietest. And maybe it is the quietest TALL vane. He is an incredible archer and a brilliant guy. But he is also brilliant at marketing. I just want to see the study and decibel readings.

I see what you are saying. Fair point.

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[Christopher.Reed]

I’m sure they are a great vane. But he is claiming and selling as the best and quietest. And maybe it is the quietest TALL vane. He is an incredible archer and a brilliant guy. But he is also brilliant at marketing. I just want to see the study and decibel readings.

Fair point and well stated.

In the Bill V/Dudley podcast, I believe he mentioned dB’s was included in this years university study, so we have that to look forward to.


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[ddowning]

My take on them:
Field point groups out to 70, they shoot in the same groups as three max stealths .
Broadheads IW and regular they maybe have a slightly higher hit ratio then max stealths…I say maybe because I would have take about another 100 shots to be completely comfortable saying anything is significant better.

I find they are less durable then max materials, however plenty plenty durable for everyday shooting. I like them

Iron will is becoming ridiculous with his testing. No way that his vane is quieter than a max stealth or a tac vane. I’m sure the vane stabilizes a fixed head great. But for him to say that his vanes are the quietest is plain false.

It’s all marketing… he does a test with the University of Colorado. Sounds good and all but all that means is that the college basically paid for his vane testing. You don’t have to have that to figure out how quiet or how well a cane stabilizes.

He also recently said on a podcast that his arrows are 10x more square than if you cut them and square them yourself… square is square. So another false statement for marketing.

And last… he is now saying that mechanicalals fail 40% of the time! I’m not arguing that they don’t fail but that’s a big statement to make.

He makes a GREAT head it Just seems like he is really reaching and just spouting out some false info all in the name of making more money.

I 100% agree that he makes the absolute best head on the market. A taller vane will always stabilize better. I get that. But there are zero decibel readings on the study to prove that.

If you want a cane to sell. What’s easier… invent a new vane, buy material to produce them, come up with a material that haven’t been used, purchase equipment, employees ect… OR go to aae and say can I get the aae stealth vane in the shape of a max hunter?

IW is very knowledgeable. One of the best! Im sure the vanes a great. But u cant claim a tall vane is quieter and that his arrows are 10x more square. It’s all a sales pitch. Not fact based.

Marketing has a funny way of using the truth to it's advantage. I have not ever shot setups on the fringes. I have mostly shot whitetail and turkey with a 74lb bow shooting 5 gr/lb arrows as it was also my ibo bow. That means no BIG game, no light draw weight, and no short draw 30") Almost all my kills have been with rocket miniblasters from the stone age. If you count a bent blade as a broadhead failure, there is probably a 40% failure rate on the miniblasters. I have been using some other broadheads recently, several different kinds. Everything I have shot has run further than when I was using rocket miniblasters. Which is the "failure"? All animals were dead. I prefer it to be as quick as possible. Some prefer to pull the arrow out of the dirt, sharpen it, and put the arrow back in the quiver. He didn't lie...but I'm perfectly satisfied with the results of my failed broadheads. Short tracks with lots of blood. I rarely needed to blood trail as most stuff died in sight.

Also, if a typical arrow is square to .001", and his are square to .0001", he is telling the truth. The question one should ask himself is, what is the increase in real world performance? Likely, it is nothing.

 

[Zac]

I don’t think we’ll ever see vane results from that study due to some well known products not living up to their claims.

 

[Roughwater]

I have been shooting arrows nearly every day for the last 3 months. Most of my shooting has been using the Super Saber Vanes. Overall they have held up well. Originally I had trouble getting them to adhere well so I switched to using the Bob Smith Maxi-Cure and a primer pen and it made a world of difference. I also tried the Bob Smith Accelerator and that hardens the glue rock hard almost instantly but I feel like it may set up too fast using it as I've had a vane or two come off later on when I used it. The Maxi Cure actually sets pretty quickly by it's self if done right.

As to the durability of the vanes it's pretty good but you don't want to store the arrows in a way where the vane is distorted for very long or the vane wants to stay bent. Someone told me putting a vane in very hot water for a little while can sometimes restore them but I haven't tried it. I can't tell if they are any quieter but I have heard they have been tested by some and demonstrated to be quieter than many. I feel like they are somewhat stiff vane and the tail is fairly high so I can easily believe they can help steer a broadhead. I also feel if you have any clearance problems they may not be the ideal vane for you.
I am using Iron Will 125 single bevels this season and haven't yet tried tuning them to my set up but very soon will need to. I just bought a like new Elite ERA and hope to set it up ASAP but in the meantime I'm using my PSE Evoke Lt. I will probably carry both bows to Montana in a couple weeks or so in order to have a back-up for my Elk hunt.

 

[Grechrist]

Thanks for the review, was looking to try them out myself.

 

[TX_Diver]

I just did some shooting side by side with the 3 fletch IW vanes and 4 fletch max stealths and found that I’m overthinking it (already knew that but was trying to isolate an issue and this was part of figuring it out). I’ll post some 15 shot FP and BH groups tomorrow of each combo. Short version is a slight sight adjustment and either will work for me. The stealths are a bit quieter and more durable but 4 fletch is slow on the bitz. The IW vanes are a bit louder (quieter than max hunters though), do tear easier, but fletch up fast in an ez fletch mini max.

 

[WoodBow]

Another point of feedback is these vanes are very tall. Taller than most. This is not something I considered, and I ran into clearance issues. I was noticing fletch residue on my rest, even though it appeared I had clearance. I was surprised to learn that the vanes begin rotating that soon. So they were rotating enough to hit the rest. I rotated nocks to get clearance, but window of clearance was very small. This may be less of an issue with 3 fletch. Ultimately I swapped my qad fork out for one that is 1/8" or so taller. This gave me a much larger clearance.

I was still grouping very well at 100 when I was getting fletch contact, but I couldn't imagine it not having some effect. I think the vanes were just managing to recover.

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