rest suggestions

[Crowmangler]

The rest was 5-6 years old and stopped dropping consistently when shot. Never happened in practice, just when a $30K bull that may have been the new P&Y record was standing in front of him.

Oh lawdy! He probably knows how Bill Buckner feels after that

 

[Gone4Days]

I really like my Vaportrail Gen Integrate 8x. Sweet limb driven rest.

 

[deepcrawl]

Thank you all for the recommendations! I think I'm going with the Hamskea Trinity.

 

[xcutter]

What about the Epsilon was not successful for you?

Great info. I will look into the replacement blades.

I like AAE rests for recurve and barebow, which is why I'm interested in them for compound. What features do you like about AAE? Do you find them to be durable and reliable as well?

I did not like how it attached to a bow without the dovetail(universal fit for Hoyt). Access to the fasteners were difficult to get to because it is so compact. For me to get the center shot set the launcher was hitting the riser by a small piece of rubber overmolded onto it.

 

[2Stamp]

@MattB and @2Stamp and any others... can you elaborate on the QAD failures/ issue? I was getting ready to buy one but may hold off or change my mind now.
Getting set up dialed in for elk mainly. Thanks in advance

Internals broke somehow. IIRC, one wouldn't stay in the up (like when you thumb it into the up position) and the other wouldn't drop all the way. These failures for me happened in a two year period. Rests were setup and timed correctly. I just won't use them anymore. I know they are hugely popular. I see a lot of them come through our shop that are not setup correctly (cord too tight to the cable). I'm surprised more don't break.

 

[5MilesBack]

Arrow vanes smacking into the launcher arms on a mistimed QAD rest certainly can't help the internals of the rest at all. I'm convinced that a lot of people don't ensure their QAD's are perfectly timed even after every single tuning adjustment (rest, bow timing or cable adjustments, etc). It's more work, but I've never had a QAD HDX problem after getting them set up right, and much prefer that rest for hunting to the Hamskea's I've had. I do all my shooting year round with the same setup I hunt with, the same way it is during hunting season. So I use my QAD HDX for everything, and on my backup bow as well. But I do have a Trinity on another bow that I haven't shot in a few years.

 

[mod-it]

I like the simplicity of a Hamskea limb driven, I have a Trinity. I did NOT like the spring setup that came with mine, and have seen two failures, both where the spring broke. I have also seen the tension retainment bracket, the one with the oring, wear the activation cable badly.
I bought the rubber dampener and teardrop assembly for mine and just use a Blake's Hitch to hold activation cable tension. I very much like that setup over the spring, it has been problem free since doing so.
I think it is very important to take the time to mark up an arrow to time a limb driven rest. Hamskea recommends being between 70% to 50% arrow support, with 70% being more critical (target setup) and 50% being more forgiving (hunting setup). Devinhal has a great write up on how to do this on archerytalk, titled "how to time a limb driven rest", it may also be on the Hamskea site. Just involves making marks on an arrow so you know where best to tie off on the limb.
The only thing I don't like about it is the lack of a lock up feature. It is necessary to keep a finger on the arrow when stalking or a similar hunting scenario. Takes some getting used to after being used to a lock up QAD type cable driven rest. An arrow holder on the shelf of the bow helps, but really watch the height of them or you may have fletching contact. Most just put moleskin all over the shelf and side of the riser and keep a finger on the arrow.

 

[Dave0317]

I had a QAD that came with a bow I bought used. I didn’t have a bow press at the time, and didn’t know much about tuning, so I wasn’t sure how to get rid of some fletching contact issues I was having. Ended up replacing it with a Hamskea primer.

The ease of tuning a limb driven was a huge plus for me. Just the placement of the cord on the limb a little forward or back, and how tight to cinch it when tying it down are really about the only things to adjust. And, you can basically draw and let down slowly to see exactly how much the arrow is supported and when the rest will drop in the firing cycle. Super foolproof to get the arrow well supported and still know that the fletching won’t come close to hitting the launcher arm. My groups shrank the first time I used it.

My next rest will definitely be a limb driven again, and likely will stay with the Hamskea brand. Not that I’ll need one anytime soon, this primer rest is super simple and seems like it should last a while. The only reason I’d buy a new one, is if I get a new bow and donate this rest to my son’s bow.

 

[Billy Goat]

Setup a Trinity on a Lift 33 yesterday.

Thing I forgot about it is the closest you can get the launcher to the riser is still well over an inch of overdraw. The Epsilon sits back, but not as far.


Might or might not be an issue, just something that I had forgotten about.