I've only been a Darton Dealer for a short time... I've had this Departure Pro SD for a few weeks. The day it arrived, I eyeballed the rest, threw on the accessories, set the DL installed the peep and took it to league night. The 3rd arrow through the bow was the first practice end at leagues. I still managed a 440/22x on a Vegas face.
I spent a little time tinkering with my bars for the next week...and pulled off a 442/28x.
Now that I have the bars/weight where I want, I decided to do a little tuning and do my write up tonight. I found myself in a rare situation where I don't have any customer work to do tonight. (waiting on some strings and accessories to come in to finish up the bows that are already here) I'm still getting a feel for the grip so I'll likely finish the tune after I put at least another 100 arrows through it. (At this rate, it'll be right after the league ends) But scores are going up each week!!!
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Fit and Finish
I ordered the Grey with Black 60# limbs and the finish is perfect and exactly what I would expect from a Flagship bow.
Specs
The bow was perfectly in spec right out of the box. Timing was perfect, but that didn't stop me from tinkering with the Perfect Time System. Adjustments were simple and repeatable. The 60# limbs came in at 61.2# on my scale and the DL measured 28 5/8" with the mod set to 28 1/2". (my DL is 28 5/8" so that is perfect)
Speed
This bow is coming in DEAD on IBO rating!!!! For speed comparison with the Sequel from last night, I shot one of my 455gr hunting arrows through the chronograph. I got 258, 259, 259, 259, 259
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Note - This bow is rated at 327 @ 29.5" and 1/2" = +5fps for 30" rating of 332 so that's what I used for the calculator.
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The "shot"
This bow when shot bare has a little bit of feed back/vibration. With the accessories mounted, it's almost non-existent.
Draw Cycle and Back Wall
The draw cycle is smooth and gradually builds (without a hump at the end) and slips silky smooth into the valley and very solid back wall!!!
Perfect Tuning System
When I eyeballed the arrow rest, I ran it pretty close to the machined line on the shelf. It lined up down the center being just a bit outside that line. (maybe 1/4 of a 27 series shaft) I measured centershot tonight at 7/8"... I decided to leave it there, thinking it would give me a tear. I was right... I had about 1/2" tear at stabilizer length. I put 2 full turns in the PTS bolts and had a slight tear in the opposite direction. I backed them off half a turn and perfect bullet hole. Darton says you can tune out a 3/4" tear this way and by everything I've seen so far, I no reason to doubt that claim.
If I could change one thing about this bow
I wish it had a way to mount the back bar lower. I'm shooting the bow pretty good and it holds on target great but, I find bows with lower back bar mounting points easier to get balanced.
![Image]()
All in all, this is going to be a great bow for me and I am looking forward to spending some time with it!!!!
I spent a little time tinkering with my bars for the next week...and pulled off a 442/28x.
Now that I have the bars/weight where I want, I decided to do a little tuning and do my write up tonight. I found myself in a rare situation where I don't have any customer work to do tonight. (waiting on some strings and accessories to come in to finish up the bows that are already here) I'm still getting a feel for the grip so I'll likely finish the tune after I put at least another 100 arrows through it. (At this rate, it'll be right after the league ends) But scores are going up each week!!!
Fit and Finish
I ordered the Grey with Black 60# limbs and the finish is perfect and exactly what I would expect from a Flagship bow.
Specs
The bow was perfectly in spec right out of the box. Timing was perfect, but that didn't stop me from tinkering with the Perfect Time System. Adjustments were simple and repeatable. The 60# limbs came in at 61.2# on my scale and the DL measured 28 5/8" with the mod set to 28 1/2". (my DL is 28 5/8" so that is perfect)
Speed
This bow is coming in DEAD on IBO rating!!!! For speed comparison with the Sequel from last night, I shot one of my 455gr hunting arrows through the chronograph. I got 258, 259, 259, 259, 259
Note - This bow is rated at 327 @ 29.5" and 1/2" = +5fps for 30" rating of 332 so that's what I used for the calculator.
The "shot"
This bow when shot bare has a little bit of feed back/vibration. With the accessories mounted, it's almost non-existent.
Draw Cycle and Back Wall
The draw cycle is smooth and gradually builds (without a hump at the end) and slips silky smooth into the valley and very solid back wall!!!
Perfect Tuning System
When I eyeballed the arrow rest, I ran it pretty close to the machined line on the shelf. It lined up down the center being just a bit outside that line. (maybe 1/4 of a 27 series shaft) I measured centershot tonight at 7/8"... I decided to leave it there, thinking it would give me a tear. I was right... I had about 1/2" tear at stabilizer length. I put 2 full turns in the PTS bolts and had a slight tear in the opposite direction. I backed them off half a turn and perfect bullet hole. Darton says you can tune out a 3/4" tear this way and by everything I've seen so far, I no reason to doubt that claim.
If I could change one thing about this bow
I wish it had a way to mount the back bar lower. I'm shooting the bow pretty good and it holds on target great but, I find bows with lower back bar mounting points easier to get balanced.
All in all, this is going to be a great bow for me and I am looking forward to spending some time with it!!!!
