Bowtech Independence Compound Bow

The BowTech Independence VFT is the target and field bow of the 2005 FreedomCam family, and two decades on it has aged into a genuinely appealing used and backup rig: a long 40-inch chassis, a quiet VFT limb shot, a smooth FreedomCam draw, let-off adjustable from 65 to 80 percent, the family's widest 27-to-32-inch draw range, and a solid Target Colors option, sold only in 2005 at a $799 MSRP that put it at the top of the FreedomCam group. It is a twin-cam bow, so it asks for the occasional timing check a modern binary-cam shooter has to relearn, and its low-290s speed and long riser make it a specialist rather than an all-rounder - but speed was never the point of a 40-inch field bow. What I keep coming back to is how still it holds and how calmly it shoots, the two things a target and 3D shooter actually chases, and the two things that still make a clean used example worth putting on the line. An excellent long-axle choice for the target, field, or 3D shooter - and for the BowTech owner who wants a smooth, forgiving second bow for the range. Buyers who want a faster binary-cam long bow should look at the Bowtech Constitution, while those who want the classic single-cam smoothness of the era should look at the Mathews Conquest 4... read full review