I got a 2013 Bear Encounter RTH package this Christmas, and here is my review on it. The bow is set at 29 1/2" draw, 70#, and is shooting Easton xx75 2317's cut at 30" with a 125 grain tip.
The Bow shoots pretty quiet, isnt very heavy, is pretty consistant, and is a good size for moving back and forth in a treestand. I am very happy with it. The arrows i was shooting when i first got it were Carbon express speed freaks (cheap from walmart) with a 100 grain F-15 fixed blade broadhead. It shoots both the Heavy Aluminum arrows and the light carbon very well. I shot a doe on the 31st at 20 yards with a complete pass through; my first bow kill ever. I am overall very happy with my purchase of the Bear Encounter, but there are also a few things i am not totally satisfied with.
First, the allen screws for the sights' up/down and left/right adjustments were not included in the bow package, and are also not on the standard Allen Bow tool i have. i had to find one laying around my Dad's shop. That is just an inconvinience, but a little annoying.
Second, The whisker biscuit pulls at the full sized vanes on the larger aluminum arrows peeling them backward. They shot the carbon arrow's blazer vanes just fine, but it would have been helpful to know before hand that particualr biscuit was designed for carbon arrows only.
Third, whenever i bought the bow the only thing that was setup correctly was the nock loop. The sight was way to the side, the biscuit was canted up, the peep was really low, etc. The pro shop i bought this from seemed to be under the impression that it was already setup and tuned properly, coming from the factory this way, so they didnt check anything or correct it. This may have been fully the Shop's mistake, it may have been an advertisement miscommunication making shops believe it is entirely ready to go, or it may have been setup wrong in the factory. Either way i had to look up and learn how to tune it myself (which wasnt very hard, but it still made me seem like an idiot for shooting it as long as i did without realizing... )
fourth, the quiver. I love the design, its very compact and it works great. two issues though: First, with multiple shots the locking lever will loosen causing the quiver to shake or rattle. If you hunt with this quiver attached to your bow, it may cause a sound issue. I take mine off in the stand to shoot, so its not neccessarily a big deal for me, but that is one thing i noticed. Second, the arrow holders do not fit my aluminum arrows, they are too small. The two outside arrows get pushed out and wobble loosely. For the Speed Freaks it worked fine.
So overall, the bow is great for hunting purposes. Its fast, quiet, compact, accurate, and best of all affordable. Some of the accessories that come on the RTH package arent quite as satisfying though. Im going to be changing out the whisker biscuit for a drop away rest (a QAD ultra rest hd, ripe cord code red, or a trophy ridge revolution), ill be changing the quiver to a 6 arrow quiver (probably the g5 outdoors Head-Loc Rtap quiver if it holds aluminums better), and i may change the sight. I havent entirely decided on that yet because the sight on it works fine, but we'll see. If you shoot Carbon arrows, everything on the RTH packasge will work perfectly, but not quite so for the larger diameter aluminums. If you want a good entry level bow for hunting and just getting started this is definitely a good bow to look at. If you want high performance out of this bow, get the bow "plain" and accessorize accordingly, but if your looking at a cheap and easy hunting bow the RTH is the way to go. I would give this bow and package a 8 out of 10. could be better, but im happy.
have fun, shoot straight, and bag ya a big one.
Alex
The Bow shoots pretty quiet, isnt very heavy, is pretty consistant, and is a good size for moving back and forth in a treestand. I am very happy with it. The arrows i was shooting when i first got it were Carbon express speed freaks (cheap from walmart) with a 100 grain F-15 fixed blade broadhead. It shoots both the Heavy Aluminum arrows and the light carbon very well. I shot a doe on the 31st at 20 yards with a complete pass through; my first bow kill ever. I am overall very happy with my purchase of the Bear Encounter, but there are also a few things i am not totally satisfied with.
First, the allen screws for the sights' up/down and left/right adjustments were not included in the bow package, and are also not on the standard Allen Bow tool i have. i had to find one laying around my Dad's shop. That is just an inconvinience, but a little annoying.
Second, The whisker biscuit pulls at the full sized vanes on the larger aluminum arrows peeling them backward. They shot the carbon arrow's blazer vanes just fine, but it would have been helpful to know before hand that particualr biscuit was designed for carbon arrows only.
Third, whenever i bought the bow the only thing that was setup correctly was the nock loop. The sight was way to the side, the biscuit was canted up, the peep was really low, etc. The pro shop i bought this from seemed to be under the impression that it was already setup and tuned properly, coming from the factory this way, so they didnt check anything or correct it. This may have been fully the Shop's mistake, it may have been an advertisement miscommunication making shops believe it is entirely ready to go, or it may have been setup wrong in the factory. Either way i had to look up and learn how to tune it myself (which wasnt very hard, but it still made me seem like an idiot for shooting it as long as i did without realizing... )
fourth, the quiver. I love the design, its very compact and it works great. two issues though: First, with multiple shots the locking lever will loosen causing the quiver to shake or rattle. If you hunt with this quiver attached to your bow, it may cause a sound issue. I take mine off in the stand to shoot, so its not neccessarily a big deal for me, but that is one thing i noticed. Second, the arrow holders do not fit my aluminum arrows, they are too small. The two outside arrows get pushed out and wobble loosely. For the Speed Freaks it worked fine.
So overall, the bow is great for hunting purposes. Its fast, quiet, compact, accurate, and best of all affordable. Some of the accessories that come on the RTH package arent quite as satisfying though. Im going to be changing out the whisker biscuit for a drop away rest (a QAD ultra rest hd, ripe cord code red, or a trophy ridge revolution), ill be changing the quiver to a 6 arrow quiver (probably the g5 outdoors Head-Loc Rtap quiver if it holds aluminums better), and i may change the sight. I havent entirely decided on that yet because the sight on it works fine, but we'll see. If you shoot Carbon arrows, everything on the RTH packasge will work perfectly, but not quite so for the larger diameter aluminums. If you want a good entry level bow for hunting and just getting started this is definitely a good bow to look at. If you want high performance out of this bow, get the bow "plain" and accessorize accordingly, but if your looking at a cheap and easy hunting bow the RTH is the way to go. I would give this bow and package a 8 out of 10. could be better, but im happy.
have fun, shoot straight, and bag ya a big one.
Alex