PSE Dakota Bow?

[auburnsportsman]

Just wondering if anyone has this bow? I'm looking at this one for the price and features. Seems like a decent budget bow. Any thoughts?

[Banditto]

It looks like a nice econo bow. I would note out a couple of things. It is a dual cam so it will be a little less forgiving when the cams go out of time when the string stretches. Also dual cam bows will go out of time whenever and you won't know until you shoot it.

That bow has a decent brace height and nice long axle to axle so it should add to it's accuracy.

For $250 you could probably get a 2 year old bow mid/high range bow with accessories.

[GVDocHoliday]

What cam Option are you looking at?
Here's the specs for the 2004 Dakota with the Synergy 8 cams:

The Dakota's sweeping, slightly reflexed machined-aluminum riser combines with long recurve Magnaglass™ limbs to create a comfortable 41" axle-to-axle length. This moderate length offers the enhanced forgiveness needed to produce tight groups no matter if you shoot with fingers or release. Best of all, it produces all of this forgiving performance while generating IBO ratings of 303 feet-per-second. The 65% let-off Synergy Pro eccentrics deliver a unique blend of smoothness and speed. And they offer 3" of draw-length adjustment in accurate 1/4" increments. Every bow has an integrated, fully adjustable Cam-Lock™ cable guard as well as a comfortable molded grip. Each comes in Mossy Oak® Forest Floor™ camo finish.

Cabelas has a great price for this bow. I must say the 41" axle to axle is very tempting to me...I like the fact that PSE is still catering to those of us to see absolutley no advantage to using short bows for hunting. Of course who can't fall in love with those slightly recurved limbs. PSE's customer service is second to none in the archery industry...in fact, whoever is in second place is three laps down and still losing ground. My main suggestion to you if you are considering this bow is to stay away from the 'kits'. You know, the bow that 'comes with' a sight, rest, and quiver. These are very cheap accessories that they usually put on so they can raise the price and make a little more money. With the price of the bow, you can buy some very high quality and very nice accessories to go with it. If you're looking for a good solid dependable hunting setup, shall I suggest a Copper John Deadnuts Hunter 3pin. One of the best hunting sights out there, all aluminum and very dependable with good light acquisition from the fiber optic pins. For an arrwo rest you can't go wrong with any of Golden Key Futuras rests. The arrow rest in my opinion is one of the most important archery accessories you can buy. It could make or break your tuning efforts. Plus, GKF caters to everyones tastes from full containment rests like the shootout and Whisper Disk, Fallaways like the Hunter Elite and Infinity(High end models) to the TKO(Best bang for the buck yet very very solid), to the tried and true TM prong style rests like the Premier series(very easily micro adjustable) and Platinum rests. If you're looking for a fallaway, look at the TKO, Trophy Taker micro adjust, and the guide series dropzone from Trophy Ridge archery. They are all easily adjustable for tuning purposes.

With the long axle to axle length you don't have to worry about a string loop. Though I'd never shoot a bow without one, I can honestly say that you will have no nock pinch using a release off of the string on this bow, which is one of the main reasons for people going to string loops.

Then there's the usuall limbsavers, they are a must for every bow nowadays...they will simply prolong the life of those limbs and take away over 25% if not more shock.

If you shoot fingers, good for you. I wish I had the patience to shoot with fingers but I started right into archery shooting with a caliper release and I'm set in my ways. This is a great bow for finger shooters in my opinion.

One more thing, this is a dual cam bow. So yes, there will be some timing issues...very minimal, but issues none the less. There will be a shootin period for those strings. Roughly 500-1000 shots or less. After that, if the strings and cables were going to stretch then they've stretched as far as they're going to. With today's string materials constant stretching is a thing of the past. So after your break in period so-to-speak, take your bow to a very good pro shop and ask then if they could help you bring your bow back into time. Once your cams roll over at the same time you should now start your tuning process all be it paper tuning, or group tuning, or walk back tuning. I will post methods for all three on this forum for future reference within the next couple of weeks. I had hoped to of posted the walk back method, which is the method I use by this past weekend, but I got sidetracked and now I'm just getting hugely busy.

You may noticed that I am sponsored by another bow company. You will find I will never hijack a thread telling people to buy this bow or to look at this company unless somebody asks. On other forums that's the norm for people, and I hate it. You asked about the Dakota from PSE, and I gave my opinion and I think it's a good'n. You can't go wrong with this bow. Hope I could be of help.

Bryan

[auburnsportsman]

Thanks for the input guys...