So here is the precursor to what I was after.
I wanted an ATA of 31"ish-34"ish
If the bow felt right I would go shorter or longer
I wanted a 7" brace height
Again, for the right feel I would consider shorter
Smooth draw cycle and a softer turn over in the the valley
Nice deep valley and not jumpy to come out of it
A nice solid back wall
On Friday I went and shot the following bows and here is my notes on them
Hoyt RX-1
This was not the turbo. Had a better draw cycle than the turbo and was pretty decent compared to the other bows. It was still quite loud at the shot and there was still a lot of hand shock compared to the other bows. I had already decided that I wasn't spending $2000 dollars on a bow and after shooting it there was no doubt that the Hoyt wasn't for me. The back wall was solid and the turn over into the valley wasn't that bad. It did have a nice deep valley and didn't want to jump forward.
Mathews Halon 32 with 7" BH
Right off the bat the bow felt heavy, especially shooting it right after the RX-1. Upon picking it up I noticed that the grip was noticeably wider than the other bows that I had shot. They draw cycle was amazing and the bow held steady at full draw. The turn over into the valley was really nice and the valley had good depth. The bow didn't want to jump forward at all and there was very very little to no hand shock at the shot. The back wall was spongy and you could get 1/4 to 1/2" out of it if you pulled into it hard. I did find that I could never get my hand comfortable in the grip and it was a struggle to find a "home" for my hand. If the grip was narrower and this had a harder back wall I would have ended up buying this bow.
Bowtech Reign 7 & Bowtech Realm
Even though I have shot both of these bows already, I wanted to spend some more time with them and try the "performance" mode as I had only shot them in "comfort" mode. After shooting them for a bit, it was clear that these two bows made the short list. Originally I wasn't considering the Realm as I though it was a stiff draw with a some what harsh turn over into the valley. With that said, the first time I shot this bow I have no idea if it was in performance or comfort mode. The second time shooting it, I can honestly say that I had a hard time telling the difference between it and the Reign 7. Since I had now knowingly shot both of them in comfort I asked to try the Realm in performance to see what that was like. It was a bit tougher drawing and a bit harsher going into the valley; with that said, for the extra 12 fps it was well worth it. BUT then comes the bad with the performance mode... The valley becomes so shallow that if you give this bow a 1/16 of an inch it wants to jump forward.
At this point I have 4 bows that I considered buying.
Bowtech Realm
Bowtech Reign 7
Prime Logic
Prime Centergy
After going back and looking at the specs I decided that I was going to go with a Bowtech since they were equally as nice to shoot as the Prime's but they were a bit faster.
From there it was between the Realm and the Reign 7. I ended up going with the Realm because it is a bit shorter. Now I don't know if I will ever need that little more compactness but I though of a few situations in the past where if I would have had a shorter ATA bow then I would have had a better shooting opportunity.
So I am going with the Bowtech Realm, 70lb in Flat Dark Earth.
Like I said, I am no pro and these are only my thoughts and opinions on the bows.
I never did shoot the following bows
Mathews Triax - was told it was pretty much the same as the Halon 32
Prime Logic - not available in Calgary to shoot
Elite Revol - not available in Calgary to shoot
Elite Ritual - not available in Calgary to shoot
Elite Option 7 (shot it a year ago and loved it)
Obsession Fixation 7 - Didn't want to drive to Aidrie to shoot
Obsession Hemorrhage DE - Didn't want to drive to Aidrie to shoot
Xpedition XCURSION 7
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