Bowtech Sentinel Review

when shooting the bow it stays true with long shooting periods. light weight, does not drop much. after shooting at the range bow handed much like a rifle. carrys speed to point B very good. very good draw weight for the woods. I would fill comfortable going bear hunting with this bow tomorrow morning. bow is a all around soild bow for all kinds of shooting applications.

I primarily use this bow for hunting, but also do spring time 3D. It holds the 1"/10yds rule out to my personal limit which is 60 yards. My friend (previous owner) has shot groups out to 80 yds. The bow just shoots smooth, fast, and quiet.

I have been shooting a bow for more years than I care to remember. Each year I am amazed with the technological advancement and refinements that manufacturers make. There seems to be an insatiable craving for more speed with every new model. However in the quest for speed, many bows have harsh draw cycles, short valleys and reduced brace heights. A high performance bow, in many respects is similar to a high performance engine. When everything is tuned perfectly performance is optimal. If everything isn't perfect, performance drops off.

In my opinion the Bowtech Sentinel, offers speed, accuracy and stability. The longer riser design reduces bow torque and permits a generous brace height. The patented FLX guard allows the cables to move inward during the draw cycle to further reduce torque and noise, thus improving accuracy and reducing recoil at the same time. I cannot detect any hand shock what so ever.

It used to be easy to pick out a good bow because there was a great disparity in quality and performance between manufacturers. Not so these days! It seems that every major manufacturer offers selection, performance, color options and a full line of accessories! Of course all of this comes at a price. It's not uncommon these days for target bows to be priced at close to $1,000 dollars for the bare bow without accessories. In our culture many archers purchase a new bow each year featuring the latest and greatest innovations, which is great news for those of us who are searching for a bargain.

My Bowtech Sentinel FLX was priced at nearly $800 when it was new. Fortunately my friend needed the next year's model and parted with the Sentinel FLX for $375! Although I am an avid supporter of Botwech, I've noticed the availabilty of parts such as cams, limbs, decals, etc declines rapidly within a couple of years. However if you bring your Bowtech bow to the factory pro shop they will make every effort to repair it, often at little or no cost to the original owner.

Now a word on fit and finish. While my bow performs well, the finish is another matter. Originally my Sentinel was a black ops model. The finish on the riser wore easily, especially on the edges. Touching up these areas is problematic. I finally resolved this issue by having the riser powder coated. The limbs, where they are mounted to the riser are simply, UGLY! Although functional it detracts from the rest of the bow. An attractive cap would greatly enhance the appearance on the target models. The only color options on the cams are black or possibly red if the bow tech can find a pair in the warehouse. There are no factory replacement decals available in the event yours are worn off due to the bow resting in a kick stand.

On the Bowtech bows manufactured in the past three years the finish on the limbs is atrocious. This is due to the laminated finish, which is brittle. The limbs get small chips on the edges at the slightest provocation and a two year old bow can appear to have been dragged through the woods for an entire season. Bowtech recognized this and modified the lamination process with only modest improvement. About the only fix I have found is to apply a thin piece of automotive pinstripe tape on both edges of the limbs. It looks sharp and can be easily replaced if it is marred. Luckily these chips are only cosmetic and do not affect the performance of the bow.

Well that about sums it up. Shoot well and live, laugh and love. Life is too short.

great shooter. set up a friend with this bow and just a really nice bow. dead in the hand bow. like the cams for tune/drawlength. nice bow. set up for target and just a solid shooter and holds nice. when pressing make sure press is designed for these type of bows special attention needs to be made to press on limbs correctly with some presses.

Very smooth draw, no vibe and holds great! I use the 2010 Sentinel FLX for my indoor league bow. I like the smooth draw and how dead in hand it feels at the shot... I was reading another reviewers comment and I think it has a pretty good valley. I shoot all kinds of bows and the only bow I can really think of that wants to rip your arm off is the Omen Pro from PSE, letting that bow down that will rip "you" through it; the Sentinel no way. If your looking at getting a Sentinel FLX, you won't be sorry...

I have owned quite a few high end bows over the years. I have owned this bow for about 5 months now and it is the best bow I have ever shot. My last few have been short axle bows so I thought I would give the long axle bow try again, I'm glad I did.
This bow shoots great and truly has no hand shock. It has a great grip and feels good in the hand during the draw and through the shot. As far as tuning goes, I put a QAD ultra rest on it and was shooting bullet holes in 5 minutes.

What a great bow. Made a great 3D/Hunting cross use bow. I got it in the Gore Optifade Forest camo. The only adjustment that I made was a sims limbsaver insulator strip on the outside of the FLX guard. It tames the vibrations (very slight) at the end of the shot. If the bow had any vibrations in it's shot, you would not feel this slight vibration in the FLX. Overall a 9.25.