Post by Trey Lawler on Apr 19, 2006 15:59:39 GMT -5
I have tested mini blazers, blazers, Vanetec Super Spines 3", Arizona Elites 4" and Vanetec Vmaxx 3" and 4". In all the tests I was able to get a good tune with bare shafts and all the different vanes except the Super Spine 3", they were the shortest (in height) at 0.38" tall so vane clearance should have been awesome but no matter which way I oriented the nock they would produce a 1/8" high left tear with the bow tuned to shoot a bullet with a bare shaft. I was able to get the fletched arrow to tear 1/8" right only (i.e. removed the high tear) but never could get completely rid of the right without making the bare shaft tear "nasty". The other vanes tuned perfect with a bare shaft bullet. The next thing I did was to check forgiveness and ability to control broadheads, I shot identical arrows (CX300s) all fletched with the different vanes with both Slick Trick and Rocky Mtn Ti heads in 100 grn. I checked the runout in three of each type head and choose one of each that were with in 0.002" runout and two that were out as much as 0.020" to see if there was a noticable difference. I shot all combinations of vanes and broadheads at 30 and 60 yards. The Super Spines had the largest groups, the mini Blazers the next largest and it was a toss up between the Blazers, 3" Vmaxx, 4" Vmaxx and 4" Arizonas, with both Vmaxx vanes possibly edging out the Arizona and Blazers. I then repeated the process but bumped my nock down 1/8" and shot at 30 to see how each would control the out of tune condition. Man the Super Spine and mini Blazers went way high of field points the rest were high but not nearly as bad (between 4" and 6" depending on head). From there it was back to paper, I retuned (corrected nock location) then proceeded to test vane clearance by rotating the vanes 30 to 40 degrees in each direction from nominal. The Blazers contacted with minimal rotation while I got a full 30 to 40 degrees rotation on the Vmaxx and Arizona with no contact (Drop away rest). It is very possible for vanes to get bent due to them leaning against objects or objects laying on them so clearance to me is very important as it is a major factor in good arrow flight. At that point I narrowed it down and had a broadhead shoot off with the two Vmaxx and Arizona vanes. Both Vmaxx edged out the Arizona and there was no noticable difference in the two Vmax so I opted to go with the 3" Vmaxx. The Slick Tricks also edged out the Titaniums so since they also have a one piece steel ferrel I'll be shooting them some this hunting season. The one thing that I noticed during all that was the vane height seemed to make the most difference in control, but the Blazers lacked enough clearance to be robust enough for me (i.e. one gets bent and you could have contact issues and not know it). I shot them last season and that was a constant worry, I continually was watching and pampering the vanes. Since the height makes a big difference and the height of the Vmaxx seems about right for a balance of control and clearance, I'm gonna give the 2.5" Vmaxx a serious try in the near future. As far as broadhead runout a spin test would be hard pressed to show up to 0.020" and there was very little difference between 0.005" and 0.020" out to 60 yards, but I still sort mine down to 0.005" or less for hunting.
