Hello all,
I am very new to the sport and this will be my first bow. I am going compound because its easier than recurve on my bad shoulder from indoor target shooting. I am looking at a used Hoyt Viper (online and not able to preshoot) vs. a Fred Bear Instinct that I have shot and like. Any feedback from someone who has shot the Hoyt?

I have read several articles that rate the Instinct as very good even compared to more expensive bows. The obvious answer I know is buy the Bear but it will be roughly 4 times the price to get sights, rest, quiver I am sure.

Hello all,
I am very new to the sport and this will be my first bow. I am going compound because its easier than recurve on my bad shoulder from indoor target shooting. I am looking at a used Hoyt Viper (online and not able to preshoot) vs. a Fred Bear Instinct that I have shot and like. Any feedback from someone who has shot the Hoyt?

I have read several articles that rate the Instinct as very good even compared to more expensive bows. The obvious answer I know is buy the Bear but it will be roughly 4 times the price to get sights, rest, quiver I am sure.

4x the price? are you shooing gold plated arrows? For a normal startup archery I normally say they will spend 200 - 250 on accessories (here is the breakdown:)

35 - 50 - Sight
25 - 50 - Stabalizer w/ stram
50 - Rest
35 - 50 - Release
50 - 75 - Arrows
25 - Quiver

I've also heard good things about the new Bear bows, the Vapor and the Instinct. If you've shot the Bear and you really like it go with that. I would strongly suggest you get 50 - 60 pounds limbs and shoot it at the lowest setting possible to keep stress off the shoulder, last thing you want to do is re-injure it by shooting to much weight.

also make sure you get 80% letoff.

btw: I shot the Hoyt Viper when I was looking for a bow, personally I didn't really like the feel of the riser/grip. just my personal preference though... I wouldn't count it for much if I were you. :biggrin1:

Thanks for the clarification. I should have been more specific with the costs; the Hoyt comes with rest, quiver, sights, stabilizer. with the Bear I would have to buy it all and because it would all be new my total investment would be 4x the price of the Hoyt. A follow up... is the newer horizontal limb design dramatically better and the future of the industry? As a newcomer will I even recognize the difference?

Hoyt Viper, VERY fast, VERY unforgiving......unless you are a top notch shooter, I would stay away from it.....sold a few of those and good shooters loved them, beginners and novices hated them........

i shoot a fred bear element just a notch below the instinct and i love it bear has come a long way in the last few tears i would recommend them to any body just starting to shoot one of the reasons i bought mine is my son in law wanyed to start shooting and i told him i would help him get started and we went to our local shop and bought our bows at the same time. like i said i love mine