Bow Comparisons: Bowtech Liberty vs Champion Diablo. (SHOOT-OUT: ROUND#2)

THE MAIN EVENT: ROUND #2

BACKGROUND INFO:

Nock Travel is simply any movement in the nocking point of a bow as the bow is cycled. And of course, you would expect the nock to move horizontally (back and forth) as you drew back and released it. But could the nock move vertically (up and down) at the same time? It sure can. Of course, you can't see it normally - since the string moves too fast for you to detect it. But for those of us who have pulled our hair out trying to tune a bow that has significant nock travel, this can be a real issue to contend with.

If you drew an imaginary line through the axles of a bow, you would HOPE your nocking point would travel in a path that was exactly perpendicular (90º) to that imaginary vertical line. Hopefully that nock travel would be perfectly level (neither ascending or descending) and perfectly straight (not wavering up and down). If your bow has poor nock travel, the vertical movement of the nock is translated into the arrow's flight when you shoot the bow. So if your nock travel isn't level (let's say it's descending as the bow fires) then the nock is dragging the tail of the arrow downward - giving the arrow a "nock-low" attitude in flight. If your nock travel isn't straight, say it ascends then descends, then the tail of your arrow is jerked up and then down when you fire the bow, causing the arrow to cycle or flex improperly - making tuning more difficult

So the basic premises are, the straighter the nock travels, the straighter the arrow would likely travel and the easier the bow would be to setup and tune. However, achieving perfectly straight and level nock travel is VERY difficult to do. As such, few (if any) bows really can make such a claim. Fortunately, compensating for less than perfect nock travel is not such a terrible task, it's just a hassle we'd rather avoid. So the less travel, the better. If you wish to more learn more about this topic, please click here.

We made no attempt to correct travel issues on our test bows. How they arrived is how they were tested.

NOCK TRAVEL TEST: Firstly, nock travel is best tested from the CENTER of the bow's string. That is where the best test results are sure be achieved. But in the real world, this is not where nocking points go. Any nocking point that is installed in the exact center of the string would be WAY TOO LOW to actually shoot. Most archers position their arrows so they are roughly in-line with arrow rest bolt-holes, this usually puts the nocking point 1-2" above the actual center of the string. So to best approximate actual shooting conditions, we installed our nocking points to a position exactly square with the arrow rest mounting holes on each bow. As such, we expect our nock travel tests to each begin "tail-high".

THE SETUP: This is not a good test to try at home, as it's a bit difficult to setup and dangerous if done incorrectly. We carefully but firmly clamped the bow's riser into our vice, then swiveled the vice so the bow was laid on it's side but suspended 1/4" above our work table surface. A large 36" sheet of shipping paper was secured beneath (and behind) the bow and we marked the exact location of each of the bow's axles on our paper. A Sharpie marker was affixed to the inside of the nock point with serving string, and a short string loop was tied behind.

We then attached a 25 ft. cord to our string loop and stood back as far as possible. This was to make sure we didn't accidentally influence the nock travel when drawing the bow. Holding the end of the 25 ft. cord, we drew back each bow to full draw, had someone uncap the Sharpie marker, then slowly let the bow back down. The marker drug across the page, making a distinct green line - representative of our nock travel.

We then removed the bow from the vice, drew a line between our axle marks, then.....beginning where our axle line intersected our green nock-travel line, we drew another line exactly square (90º) to the axle line. So the red line indicates the path of perfectly straight and level nock travel. The green line indicates the actual nock travel of each bow. Please study these photos below (compressed for length).

ROUND RESULTS: As you can see, the Diablo scores a solid knock-down here. Although the Diablo's nock travel isn't perfectly level (as we expected neither to be given our setup), it is impressively straight. In contrast, the Liberty's nock travel isn't straight or level. This is a decisive win for the Diablo in round #2....10/8.

- - - - - - - - - - END OF ROUND - - - - - - - - - -

SCORECARD:


Bowtech Liberty	10	8
Champion Diablo	9	10

          ON TO ROUND #3
          RING THE BELL -------_>