I’m gonna sit back with my bag of popcorn on this one!!!:D

In short, if you like them you normally love them. Others will tell you different.

Troy

My trad archer mentor told me everyone should own one at some time in their life…I am hoping sooner rather then later for me.

I’ve never shot a bow that wasn’t just a bow. I don’t believe there are any magic bows out there. I get sort of embarrassed for guys that wax so much about this bow or that bow… I’d like to offer them a cigarette when they get done 😯

That said, I just sent a black widow long bow back after taking the “test drive” And I did order one. Here’s what I can tell you about the longbow:

The limbs are rigid and stable. Probably due to their thickness and the layer of woven glass near the center. They have the most pronounced trapezoidal shape I have seen. I have seen many claims about “trapped limbs”, but these are the real deal. These limbs appear to have about twice the thickness of carbon as most bows.

The riser is heavy due to the paper phenolic in it. I like a heavy riser.

The overall fit and finish was good, but not the best I’ve seen.

The bow did have a strange “kink” in the upper limb. If it was a self bow, I would call it a hinge.

The bow shot well and felt good in the hand. I tested the standard grip.

The bow speed with a heavy arrow was good, but not great. I would give you the numbers, but I don’t remember them. I compared it to 4 other bows and they all shot within 2 fps of each other…

On Blacky’s website, the BW longbow he tested has the highest efficiency of the 4 longbows shown on the website.

If you are really interested, they will send you a bow and charge your cc for it. Upon return of the bow, you get your money back less shipping.

I ordered mine with no bells and whistles. The price was about 200 dollars more than other’s “basic” models.

Great post Steve. I too have been eyeing the Black Widow line and frankly, I just don’t like the way the bows look. I know that’s silly but to me it’s a break point and will stick with Bear.

Seriously – performance-wise, I’ll put any BW out there up against my Martin/Howatt Mamba, which cost half the price, and which I get compliments on all the time, especially after people shoot it and see how fast and stable it is.

And I would add that the fit and finish of my Mamba is top notch, in my opinion (I’ve seen a number of ‘custom’ bows with inferior workmanship by comparison).

If you blindfolded ten archers and had them shoot both, I bet the results would be pretty interesting.

BW may offer more eye candy options, but for performance, I haven’t seen anything to convince me that BW’s are any better than a lot of other, less expensive options out there.

I know lots of people love them, and I’m really not trying to put down BW, but I do think that they are expensive for what you get. Nor am I saying all this to plug my particular bow choice, but to your question – are they “worth” the extra money? I would say, only if you really want a BW, but not because you need to spend that much to have an excellent bow (both in performance and finish), by any means.

In addition to BW, a number of other bowyers offer ‘try before you buy’ options. Robertson Sykbow would be one to research.

I don’t know where you are in WV and how close any bowyers are, but Leon Stewart is in Coatesville, PA. His club has winter trad shoots Thursday evenings in a very nice indoor range. Leon often takes bows to those shoots for folks to shoot, whether they’re in the market or not.

http://www.stewartsarchery.com

hogup wrote: Great post Steve. I too have been eyeing the Black Widow line and frankly, I just don’t like the way the bows look. I know that’s silly but to me it’s a break point and will stick with Bear.

Thats not silly

A Bow is as much a work of art as it is a deadly weapon the act of shooting a traditional bow is an art in its self

the look of a bow is the main deal breaker for me i love the look of all my bows even thier Scars

Yes, you should shoot one before plunking down. I shot one of his Slammers at the traditional shoot of the Appalachian Bowmen in New Jersey. I told him I admired the craftsmanship of his bows. He grabbed a bow and a handful of arrows and sent me outside to shoot on one of the ranges. He didn’t ask to hold any collateral, just sent me off with a beauty. It was my first time with a long bow and it just felt right.

I don’t know how far you are from Coatesville, PA, but it’s worth the trip. His show schedule are usually on his site, but he doesn’t have it up yet for 2012. I’m sure he’ll post it as soon as he knows what show he’ll be attending. http://www.stewartsarchery.com.

Let me know how you make out. dwc

Started this Trad thing w a Widow, PMA 50#@28″ 62″ ttt. Since acquired Bear Super Kodiak which I had fully restored awa Allegheny Mountain from bowyer Jeff Strauss here in NJ for my son ( light but fun to shoot and workmanship is awesome). Gotta say I love them all for various reasons but next bow I’m ordering is another Widow. As for looks, you can get them without the phenolic or red glass. Not sure how performance will be effected but sure beautiful:D

I’ve seen, and read about here and elsewhere sooooooo many incredible bows …. Any ideas how we can collectively increase our “Archery Acquisition Fund” ❗

I really wanted to try a Black widow so i bought one on ebay. Ive owned a lot of nice bows and this one is pretty sweet but kind of heavy. im more of s longbow shooter so anythign else seems heavy. but the widow is a sweet shooting stable bow and you can get some deals on ebay if you watch. I bought two of them and resold one. I bought the secnd to get a second set of limbs. I now have 55# and 67 # the 55 is a bit light but shoots sweet. its a little different from most of my other recurves due to the riser layout.

I found that settting the string height to their recomendations made a huge difference. I was not impressed and almost sold it until i read that the brace height was too low by 1/2″ I readjusted it to spec and wow what a difference. it shoots very sweet and easily groups arrows very tight at 30 yeards. it appears to like everything from wood to carbon arrows. its a very forgiving bow.

Its easy to see how people become a widow fanatic after spending some time with this bow.

I have not tried a BW bow so I can’t comment on it. However I will say they are a lot of great bowyers out there that offer try before you buy and they have a great bow that works and looks great for less than a BW.

Poor comparison and also only my opinion.

Had one, loved it, sold it, wish I hadn’t, but the bottom line?

People that can AFFORD a Cadillac…..DRIVE a Cadillac.

Same goes for the BWs IMHO.

I can no longer afford a Caddy like I had, nor a Widow.

If I still had the funds?

uh…….yep……on both of them.

A Caddy dont make you a better driver, nor does a Widow make you a better shot so……food for thought only.

God Bless

Steve Sr.

One thing no has yet mentioned is the company or bowyer behind the bow is almost as important as the bow itself. At BW you can always reach them and they respond back quickly.I for example snapped a limb tip. While they were making a new set of limbs they lent me a set to continue hunting with in the interim. I am sure other bow makers have great customer service to. But you need to factor this in as well.

My maternal grandmother was an antique dealer. When her health started to slip, I started going to auctions and shows with her to help buy and sell items for her. One time I was looking for a particular item for my home and found one at another dealer’s booth that caught my eye. I asked my grandmother if the the asking price was good for that particular item. Her response was that if I liked the item and felt comfortable with the price, than the price was good.

I feel the same way when it comes to bows. If you like the bow and feel comfortable paying what the bowyer is asking, it’s a good price. Otherwise, it’s not. What someone else would pay for the same item is irrelevant.