Hi, I am a newb when it comes to knowing whether this bow is better than that, or really even what exactly makes it better and doesn't. I purchased the Topoint M1 on ebay a week a go for 200.00 brand new it came with a lot of attachments and 18 arrows and quiver. The instructions were hard to understand especially beings it was my first time ever setting one up and I had no one there who did know how to. I did look up reviews on google and youtube before finializing the purchase and i went for it. But, now i'm seeing that the attachments are cheap and what not. So, I suppose i'm wondering. What do i need to do to make this bow able to bring down a deer this year?
Sherlock0110
Buy a bow from a bow shop or the classifieds with good rest and sight, have someone set it up and maybe take some lessons or talk to some of the guys on AT that can get your form as good as they can online. Then Practice a year and get efficient at 20-30 yards and try next year. If your planning to hunt this year I would advise against it if you haven’t shot a bow before. That’s my 2cents take it for what it’s worth.
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You saved money now but it will cost you 2-3 times what you just spent in the upcoming year. Those super cheap bows are not made for hunting and are strictly put out to take money from people. I would return it while you can and go down to your local archery shop. Have them set the bow up for you correctly. There are a lot of new bow options from reputable companies that make a quality product for not much more than what you just spent. You don't need to spend $2000 on a bow to hunt but the little extra you spend at a shop will get you 2-3 times farther. Get lessons, shoot every other day for the next 2 months and you very well could be lethal of hunting by November. But it is going to take work and practice and definitely someone to teach you how to do things properly. Spend a little extra now and save a lot of money down the road.
@Sneak1413- I kinda figured that with as cheap as it was that the quality was probably very low. But if figured i'm just starting out, if i end up sucking really badly, or I break somethin then it isn't such a big deal as it would be had i spent 500 on it. I do think though i am going to take it to an Archery range maybe talk to the worker there see if he or knows anywhere i could find someone to teach me. what is AT?? Thank you!
You will be out the same amount of money selling a quality setup that you paid $400-$550 for as you will be for after you sell that one. Honestly if they cut as many corners as they had to in order to make it that cheap, it probably isn't safe or accurate/consistent. The strings are garbage, which no matter how good the bow is it is only as good as the strings. If the bow doesn't shoot consistently or stay in tune you will never get proficient at shooting it, and you will most likely not be successful in the woods. The odds of wounding an animal and have a very poor experience will go up substantially. Unfortunately you will also tend to get much better service at a pro shop if you buy your equipment from them. There are good shops that will help you out no matter where you bought your equipment, but most are not willing to work for free. Their labor and service is usually incorporated into the cost of the equipment and you may be charged up to $150 just to get that bow setup for you. That is just the beginning. If you buy your equipment from the shop you will be money ahead 12 months from now. Another option is to buy used but of one of the brands your local shop/range carries. They will know the equipment best. The shop may have a consignment or used rack of bows for you as well to check out. Either way showing support for you local shop will almost always be beneficial to your success until you can do all the work and have the skills to be self sufficient and not need a shop for anything anymore. Most archers never get to that point though.
I wouldn’t hunt this year. That’s me. Put a good chunk of time into honing your skills and learning proper shooting form as well as some basic set up stuff. Lots of helpful folks on this forum. Shoot as often as you can with good form. I try to shoot just about every day. I have what some may call an unhealthy obsession with archery though.
Sometimes cheap does not end up being cheap in the long run. :wink:
All joking aside welcome to Archery and best of luck. I know nothing about that brand of bow so have no opinion on its quality. Probably would have been better off to purchase a used "name brand" bow here on AT (Archery Talk) for around $300 with most all the accessories on it and go from there.
What I found years ago when I bought a cheap bow I could not make shoot no matter how hard I tried, I gave up on it. Two years later I grabbed ahold of a bow that wasn't as cheap and could shoot it well and have been hooked since (30 years).
I would definitely recommend taking it to a shop and have them set it up for you initially. If not you may end up just throwing it in the closet and not using your $200 dust collector.
All joking aside welcome to Archery and best of luck. I know nothing about that brand of bow so have no opinion on its quality. Probably would have been better off to purchase a used "name brand" bow here on AT (Archery Talk) for around $300 with most all the accessories on it and go from there.
What I found years ago when I bought a cheap bow I could not make shoot no matter how hard I tried, I gave up on it. Two years later I grabbed ahold of a bow that wasn't as cheap and could shoot it well and have been hooked since (30 years).
I would definitely recommend taking it to a shop and have them set it up for you initially. If not you may end up just throwing it in the closet and not using your $200 dust collector.
I just got into archery as well. Started shooting in July. I bought a Bear Cruzer G2 9ready to hunt). It was all I could afford. I didn't have a ton of money to spend to get started. I've set the goal that I want to be skilled enough to hunt next year. I watch tons of videos on proper form and then video tap myself shooting over and over. I'm totally hooked and I shoot 50 to 75 arrows a day. Usually 10 yards in my basement just to work on proper form. I'll shoot out at 20 yards at my local range and in my backyard as much as possible too. If I were you I would take the bow to an archery shop and have them set it up correctly just to make sure it's shooting accurately. If they can do that then you can just work on proper form and shoot the crap out of that bow until you are ready to buy a higher end model. Good luck!
A bow purchase is a very personal thing. A lot of the time it comes down to how a particular bow fits an individual. 2 people can shoot the same bow and have very different opinions of it just based on how it fits them. For that reason I'd never purchase an unknown bow off of ebay, especially if you're new to archery and aren't sure exactly what you need or what you're getting. You basically gambled $200 and its likely going to cost you at least that much more once you start upgrading the cheap components.
I'm curious do you know your draw length and if so do you know if this bow fits your draw length? Its entirely possible the bow you bought may not even fit you.
Once your bow arrives the first thing I'd do is run, don't walk, RUN to your nearest archery shop. Bring your new bow into them and have them look it over. First have them make sure your new bow is actually new and not a damaged bow the seller tried to pawn off an uninformed buyer. Once that checks out have the shop set the bow up to fit you. Hopefully it works with your draw length. Once thats done look at the components (sight, rest, strings, etc) and see if any need upgrading or if they're good enough to get by. You don't need the best top end accessories you just want to make sure what you have is consistent enough to give you reliable results. You want to know your gear is performing consistently while you learn so that you know the results you see are because of your form and not your equipment.
Once you've got it set up and you're comfortable with everything then you need to practice. I picked up archery 4-5 years ago. The first year I didn't hunt. I spent the entire first year practicing. You'll probably start with groups the size of a dinner plate at 20 yards. As you get more practice and refine your approach and make it more repeatable you'll see that group shrink slowly over time. However, don't expect the process to be perfectly linear. You'll probably have some ups and downs and days when you shoot good and days when you shoot bad. If you're like me you might have a rough patch where you're grouping ok but the group moves around the target depending on the day. It just takes time to clean all that up and to build a repeatable process. Once you're grouping well and consistently you'll want to mix up yardages and start stretching your distance. I'd aim to be proficient at 30 yards by the end of the first year. You can also start mixing in shots at different angles. Deer don't always walk by broadside so also practice with a target quartering away from you. Then you'll also want to practice set up like you will for hunting. If you'll be shooting from a elevated tree stand practice from an elevated position and practice bending at the waist. If you'll be in a ground blind practice from a seated or knelling position. A year of practice will really pay off big time in the long run. When you finally hit the woods you want to be confident that you can execute the shot you're presented. I can't imagine anything worth the drawing on a deer "hoping" you can hit it. You've got to KNOW you can hit it.
Good luck with the new bow. I hope it ends up being workable for you. I suspect if it is you'll probably shoot it for a year and then want to upgrade but thats pretty much par for the course no matter what bow you buy.
I'm curious do you know your draw length and if so do you know if this bow fits your draw length? Its entirely possible the bow you bought may not even fit you.
Once your bow arrives the first thing I'd do is run, don't walk, RUN to your nearest archery shop. Bring your new bow into them and have them look it over. First have them make sure your new bow is actually new and not a damaged bow the seller tried to pawn off an uninformed buyer. Once that checks out have the shop set the bow up to fit you. Hopefully it works with your draw length. Once thats done look at the components (sight, rest, strings, etc) and see if any need upgrading or if they're good enough to get by. You don't need the best top end accessories you just want to make sure what you have is consistent enough to give you reliable results. You want to know your gear is performing consistently while you learn so that you know the results you see are because of your form and not your equipment.
Once you've got it set up and you're comfortable with everything then you need to practice. I picked up archery 4-5 years ago. The first year I didn't hunt. I spent the entire first year practicing. You'll probably start with groups the size of a dinner plate at 20 yards. As you get more practice and refine your approach and make it more repeatable you'll see that group shrink slowly over time. However, don't expect the process to be perfectly linear. You'll probably have some ups and downs and days when you shoot good and days when you shoot bad. If you're like me you might have a rough patch where you're grouping ok but the group moves around the target depending on the day. It just takes time to clean all that up and to build a repeatable process. Once you're grouping well and consistently you'll want to mix up yardages and start stretching your distance. I'd aim to be proficient at 30 yards by the end of the first year. You can also start mixing in shots at different angles. Deer don't always walk by broadside so also practice with a target quartering away from you. Then you'll also want to practice set up like you will for hunting. If you'll be shooting from a elevated tree stand practice from an elevated position and practice bending at the waist. If you'll be in a ground blind practice from a seated or knelling position. A year of practice will really pay off big time in the long run. When you finally hit the woods you want to be confident that you can execute the shot you're presented. I can't imagine anything worth the drawing on a deer "hoping" you can hit it. You've got to KNOW you can hit it.
Good luck with the new bow. I hope it ends up being workable for you. I suspect if it is you'll probably shoot it for a year and then want to upgrade but thats pretty much par for the course no matter what bow you buy.
I had a college age kid show up last summer to my house with his buddy and he had bought the same amazon.com bow that you have and the other boy had a 20 year old compound of his dads. Yeah the amazon.com bow sucks as far as quality but overall it shot better than the old used bow, in my opinion right now you are going to be able to shoot and find out if archery is something you want to really dive into like most of us here on archery talk. It won't take long and the amazon.com bow will die but it should get the job done of getting you hooked into bowhunting. Then find a bow shop in your area and get set up with something nice.
That bow is as good as most of the entry level bows available. The accessories are the same as what comes on these entry bows as well, except maybe the arrows. It's very capable of taking a whitetail if its tuned to you. It's adjustable for both weight and draw length, so any shop should be able to get it tuned within a short time. You will need a string loop and peep tied in. I've seen people who have never shot a bow before pick up a well tuned bow and shoot 3" groups at 20 yds. immediately. That bow is a lot better than what I started with, or even what I had another 20 years later.
The main issue I had with the amazon.com bow I had in my hands was the riser is not a heat treated aluminum and you could tell that any stress added to it was a bad thing by tightening the bolts to much etc. From a distance it looks good but when you inspect the limb pockets and the cams it just made me cringe thinking of shooting it and I stepped back. For example the bow strings didn't have twists in them at all.
Sherlock, I can't say if that bow is any good or not. As long as the riser is made from a material that can handle the stresses of drawing and shooting a bow (so actual aluminum/magnesium alloy, and not pot metal) and the cams are machined so that they don't have any burs or anything like that, I am sure it will fling arrows safely.
That said, there will be some factors inherent to that price point that you should be aware of:
While the string is made from a known quality manufacturer, that is only half the battle. BCY makes a lot of different fibers for bowstrings, some being more stable than others. Also, how the string was made will affect the final product as well. If the string/cables on this bow were made with cheaper fibers, designed for relatively low loaded bows like recurves and longbows, or built to inconsistent standards (tension on the individual strands, tension on the string during serving, post build stretching, etc) after a short time of shooting they will stretch. This will put your cams out of synch, and the bow will become less accurate, louder, and probably produce more vibration at the shot. That can be fixed, easily even, but it may take a few cycles of shooting and adjusting to get everything to stabilize, as even the cheapest fibers will eventually reach a point of maximum stretch/creep (archers call it "creep" as unlike stretching, which implies a return to a previous state, like a rubber band, a poorly built bowstring/cable set will get longer and stay longer, throwing your bow out of whack).
The other thing I saw about this bow that would make me hesitate to recommend it to a new archer is its length. 28" axle to axle seems very short to me. Shorter bows are reputed to be less stable, and therefore less accurate. Its not the bow doing anything differently from shot to shot, but rather the shorter bow is harder to hold steady. Maybe you will shoot this bow great and achieve excellent accuracy. Maybe you won't. If you don't, before you decide you hate shooting archery, try a longer bow, or get clever with some side rod stabilizers on this one.
Finally, once you decide you really like archery and want to upgrade bows, because lets face it, most of us are always looking for a "better" bow, ask around a bit. I think if you would have asked the AT community about this bow before buying it, most would have tried to steer you into a different direction, like the AT classifieds, where there are dozens of excellent bows, from quality manufacturers, for right around what you spent on the ebay bow. Everyone on here is pretty committed to helping others enjoy archery as much as possible. Everything from shooting form related advice to bow reviews and opinions is freely and openly, and often enthusiastically shared here.
Have fun, and best of luck
That said, there will be some factors inherent to that price point that you should be aware of:
While the string is made from a known quality manufacturer, that is only half the battle. BCY makes a lot of different fibers for bowstrings, some being more stable than others. Also, how the string was made will affect the final product as well. If the string/cables on this bow were made with cheaper fibers, designed for relatively low loaded bows like recurves and longbows, or built to inconsistent standards (tension on the individual strands, tension on the string during serving, post build stretching, etc) after a short time of shooting they will stretch. This will put your cams out of synch, and the bow will become less accurate, louder, and probably produce more vibration at the shot. That can be fixed, easily even, but it may take a few cycles of shooting and adjusting to get everything to stabilize, as even the cheapest fibers will eventually reach a point of maximum stretch/creep (archers call it "creep" as unlike stretching, which implies a return to a previous state, like a rubber band, a poorly built bowstring/cable set will get longer and stay longer, throwing your bow out of whack).
The other thing I saw about this bow that would make me hesitate to recommend it to a new archer is its length. 28" axle to axle seems very short to me. Shorter bows are reputed to be less stable, and therefore less accurate. Its not the bow doing anything differently from shot to shot, but rather the shorter bow is harder to hold steady. Maybe you will shoot this bow great and achieve excellent accuracy. Maybe you won't. If you don't, before you decide you hate shooting archery, try a longer bow, or get clever with some side rod stabilizers on this one.
Finally, once you decide you really like archery and want to upgrade bows, because lets face it, most of us are always looking for a "better" bow, ask around a bit. I think if you would have asked the AT community about this bow before buying it, most would have tried to steer you into a different direction, like the AT classifieds, where there are dozens of excellent bows, from quality manufacturers, for right around what you spent on the ebay bow. Everyone on here is pretty committed to helping others enjoy archery as much as possible. Everything from shooting form related advice to bow reviews and opinions is freely and openly, and often enthusiastically shared here.
Have fun, and best of luck
I have set up two of those bows in our shop and got both to paper-tune fairly easily. For the price it's not a bad bow. Strings seemed a bit week though so that's something you should keep an eye on. As far as durability or warranty I can't say. All new bows we sell come with a lifetime warranty against defects. For those that want to get back into archery but can't afford 350$+ this is a great alternative. We did charge the customer 30$ to set up.
Get it set up by someone who knows what they are doing and practice. You never know it may be fine. Heck the new 200 dollar Taurus semi auto pistols are getting great reviews. This may work out as well.
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I was in the same boat with being new to archery, and I said f it and got elite option 6 kitted out. It was 1700$ marked down to 1150ish.
I had them set it up for me, and show me how to hold it and iv honestly put about 20 to 30 arrows down range. I have no problem hitting my target consistent, and decent group even out to 30+ yards. If you feel confident taking down game with your shots I say go for it.
I'd say get some good arrows and relese.
I had them set it up for me, and show me how to hold it and iv honestly put about 20 to 30 arrows down range. I have no problem hitting my target consistent, and decent group even out to 30+ yards. If you feel confident taking down game with your shots I say go for it.
I'd say get some good arrows and relese.
Two things:
First, haven't there been a couple threads on here about Topoint and their "Mathews Look-a-likes?" Not sure I would personally purchase from this company solely based on principle.
Next, to the OP, based on some of the things you've responded to in this thread it doesn't sound like the bow is set up yet; I apologize if I have misunderstood but it sounds like perhaps draw weight, length, and d-loop have not been set up yet... If not I would STRONGLY recommend you stop trying to draw the bow with what I will assume [right or wrong] are your fingers before you pull the string off the cams and blow it up. Like I said, I could be wrong, but just from some of the snipets of your posts you're in danger of ending up with $200 of "not worth fixing."
First, haven't there been a couple threads on here about Topoint and their "Mathews Look-a-likes?" Not sure I would personally purchase from this company solely based on principle.
Next, to the OP, based on some of the things you've responded to in this thread it doesn't sound like the bow is set up yet; I apologize if I have misunderstood but it sounds like perhaps draw weight, length, and d-loop have not been set up yet... If not I would STRONGLY recommend you stop trying to draw the bow with what I will assume [right or wrong] are your fingers before you pull the string off the cams and blow it up. Like I said, I could be wrong, but just from some of the snipets of your posts you're in danger of ending up with $200 of "not worth fixing."
so I apolagize for not getting back to this sooner, been a hectic few days. I have not had a chance to bring it in yet, but i also up until today had not fired it. I went out about 20 yards today set up a target and shot 3 arrows down range. it was a little bit of a struggle to pull it back but not horribly. I found my draw length is 26. It is set to 24 no idea if that makes a difference. the arrows were all three high and to the left. so not sure what to do from here. I do plan to bring it in still though.
You need to get your draw lengthened, it will make a big difference. You move you sight with the way your arrows are grouping. Hitting high, you move the sight up, the housing or pins. Same with hitting left, move your sight to the left. Hopefully your sight has a way to accommodate this, most do. It sounds like a decent bow, you may want to back it down a little just to get used to shooting a bow, don't over strain yourself. Have fun and enjoy it !!--BB
Your bow is fine albeit a low end starter. Take it to a proshop and have them measure your draw length and see what poundage you can pull right now.
That bow is adjustable from 19=30 inch draw and 19-70 pound pull and is rated at 320 FFPS.
Get measured and have them set the bow for you....take a lesson if you can from a qualified archery instructor, and practice practice practice. You can kill a deer with it this year.
See if you are hitting a baseball sized group within 20 yards, I am sure you can if you practice enough, then you can hunt out to 20.
I know a guy who bought a recurve 3 weeks ago, for $125 48 pound pull, practiced for a week, went out on public land, and got an elk to come within his effective range of 20 yards (he was at 16) and killed it with one shot.
If, after trying archery/hunting, it is something you enjoy, get a better quality set up next year and you are on your way.
That bow is adjustable from 19=30 inch draw and 19-70 pound pull and is rated at 320 FFPS.
Get measured and have them set the bow for you....take a lesson if you can from a qualified archery instructor, and practice practice practice. You can kill a deer with it this year.
See if you are hitting a baseball sized group within 20 yards, I am sure you can if you practice enough, then you can hunt out to 20.
I know a guy who bought a recurve 3 weeks ago, for $125 48 pound pull, practiced for a week, went out on public land, and got an elk to come within his effective range of 20 yards (he was at 16) and killed it with one shot.
If, after trying archery/hunting, it is something you enjoy, get a better quality set up next year and you are on your way.
Nobody has mentioned this so I will. DO NOT DRY FIRE THE BOW. That is do not shoot it without an arrow. This will tear up the bow. It is not just your bow but any bow. Good luck with your new adventure and enjoy yourself.
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