Bear Charge Review

Editors' review

Bear built the Charge to answer one question: how much real hunting bow can you put in a shooter's hands for three hundred dollars? The answer, in 2010 and its 2011 carryover, was a 30-inch single-cam hunter that adjusts its own draw length in the field without a press - the feature that still defines it. This is the stripped, affordable half of Bear's 2010 lineup, sitting well below the flagship Attack: no string stop, no aggressively pre-loaded limbs, a plain grip, and a single perimeter-weighted cam doing all the work. What it keeps is the part that matters to a first bow - a smooth draw, an 80-percent let-off (the share of peak weight that disappears at full draw), and a full Trophy Ridge kit in the ready-to-hunt package. It is the predecessor to Bear's later Encounter, and for the archer buying their first serious rig or setting up a low-cost backup, it still reads as a lot of bow for the money. The catch is honest and small: it wants ten dollars of dampening and a forgiving eye toward its finish.

Finish

The Charge shipped in a single camo dress: Realtree APG HD, the all-purpose green pattern that reads well against early-season timber and field edges alike. There are no solid target colors and no premium finish tiers here - this was a one-look entry hunter, and the palette matches its job rather than a display shelf. The trade-off shows in the coating itself. Several owners, and the hands-on video coverage, note that the finish can run thin in spots and chip more readily than a flagship's dipped-and-cured camo. It is a cosmetic point, not a structural one - the anodized hardware and limb finish hold up fine - but a buyer who treats a bow as a tool rather than a showpiece will make peace with it quickly. On a rig priced to be hunted hard and leaned against truck beds, a scuff or two is part of the character.

Riser

The riser is a machined aluminum entry-class platform, cut for weight rather than for the deep bridged geometry of Bear's flagships of the era. It anchors the bow's 30-inch axle-to-axle length and 7.75-inch brace height - a generous brace for this class that buys back forgiveness on release, which is exactly what a newer shooter needs. Cable management is a straightforward Teflon slide riding Contra-Band strings and cables, the same durable string material Bear ran across its 2010 line. What the riser deliberately leaves off is as telling as what it includes: there is no string stop and none of the flagship's cable-driven bells, keeping cost and complexity down. The result is a clean, light chassis that hangs steady for its price and gives the shooter an honest, uncomplicated frame to build a first setup on.

Grip

The grip is a plain, direct-to-riser profile with no logo plate or premium overlay - Bear kept it simple. In the hand it sits low and narrow enough to keep torque manageable, and owners consistently describe the bow as comfortable and easy to hold, helped by its light overall mass. The ready-to-hunt package pairs it with the Trophy Ridge accessories that let a first-time buyer set the bow up without hunting down parts. If the bare polymer feels cool in late-season cold, a strip of grip tape or an aftermarket rubber grip drops on without fuss, since the profile is a conventional shape. It is not a sculpted flagship grip, but it does the one thing an entry grip has to do - get out of the way of a repeatable hand position.

Limbs

The Charge uses split, compression-molded quad limbs in Bear's beyond-parallel geometry - the limbs sit angled forward at rest and rotate toward parallel as you draw, so at the shot their recoil largely cancels fore-and-aft instead of jumping into your hand. That geometry is the main reason a bow this cheap shoots as settled as it does. Draw weight comes in three peak modules - 50, 60 and 70 pounds - and each backs off a full 10 pounds at the limb bolt, so a single Charge covers anything from a 40-pound youth-into-adult setup to a 70-pound whitetail rig. Adjustment is refreshingly simple: roughly two and a half pounds per full turn of the limb bolt, up to four turns, with a hex key and no press. The zero-tolerance limb pockets clamp the limb-to-cup-to-riser fit tight to keep vibration out of the connection regardless of where you set the weight. It is a proven, low-maintenance limb design that has aged well across Bear's budget line.

Eccentric System

At the heart of the Charge is a single cam Bear calls the perimeter-weighted inner cam system - one working cam on the bottom, an idler wheel up top, fewer moving parts to time or maintain. Its headline trick is draw-length adjustment: the cam lets you move through the 26-to-30-inch range in one-inch increments without modules and without a bow press, using only an allen key. In my experience that is the feature that actually sells this bow - being able to fine-tune a new shooter's draw on the tailgate in about two minutes, or hand the bow to a growing teenager and lengthen it a season later, is worth more to a first-time buyer than a few feet per second. The published IBO speed (the industry-standard chronograph rating at 30 inches, 70 pounds, 350 grains) is up to 305 fps, respectable for a sub-$300 single cam. Real-world numbers land well under that best case, as they do for every bow - at a typical 28-inch, 55-pound setup, expect something in the 260s rather than the 305 on the box. The 80-percent let-off is the other star: set to a 55-pound peak, you hold only around 11 pounds at full draw, which is what lets a hunter sit at anchor waiting for an animal to clear cover. For a shooter learning to hold and aim, that light hold and forgiving cam matter more than raw speed.

Draw Cycle/Shootability

Drawing the Charge, the story is comfort rather than aggression. The single cam builds to peak weight smoothly and rolls over without the sharp shelf you feel on speed-tuned bows, and the deep 80-percent let-off drops you into a light, holdable draw - I found the hold genuinely easy at a mid-fifties peak, the kind of anchor a beginner can settle into instead of fight. The 7.75-inch brace height keeps the shot forgiving of small form errors, which is why owners keep calling it accurate out to hunting ranges. The honest caveat is the shot itself: bare, the Charge is not a quiet bow. There is a bit more post-shot vibration and audible thump than a treestand hunter wants, and the coverage and owner reports agree on it. The fix is cheap and universal - a set of limb dampeners and a couple of string leeches, ten dollars of parts, pull most of the noise and buzz out, and nearly every long-term owner runs them. Once quieted, it settles into a pleasant, mild-mannered bow that flatters a developing shooter far more than it punishes one.

Usage Scenarios

Picture a first-time bowhunter who walks into a shop in August with a strict budget: the Charge in the RTH package can be set to their exact draw that afternoon, sighted in by the weekend, and hanging in a treestand for opening day - no separate accessory shopping, no press appointment. It fits the whitetail hunter working out to 30 or 40 yards from a stand or a blind, where the 30-inch axle-to-axle length swings easily in tight quarters and the 40-to-70-pound range clears the legal-poundage bar in every state. It suits a household passing one bow between a parent and a growing teenager, since the draw length lengthens a season at a time with a hex key. It makes a sensible low-cost backup for an experienced hunter who wants a spare rig they will not cry over. Where it runs out of room is the long-range speed game - a bow in the 260s is not a flat-shooting 3D speed weapon, and elk hunters chasing energy at distance will want more. As a close-to-mid-range hunting and learning bow, though, it covers the ground its buyer actually stands on.

Versions

The Charge was sold under one model in two spec-identical model years, 2010 and 2011 - a straight carryover, with no change to speed, geometry, cam or finish between them. Within each year, Bear offered two package SKUs:- Bow Only - the bare Charge in Realtree APG HD, at a $299.99 launch MSRP, for the buyer supplying their own accessories.- Ready-to-Hunt (RTH) package - the same bow pre-fitted with a Trophy Ridge Whisker Biscuit rest, a Trophy Ridge 3-pin fiber-optic sight, a peep sight, a Trophy Ridge quiver, a stabilizer and sling, and a nock loop, so it ships shootable out of the box.Both packages came in right- and left-hand, in the 26/50, 28/60 and 29/70 draw-and-weight combinations. The 3-pin sight ships without a light, so a stand hunter planning first- and last-light sits will want to add one.

Bear Charge vs Diamond Razor Edge, PSE Stinger

Bow	Bear Charge	Diamond Razor Edge	PSE Stinger
Version	2011	2012	2013 3G
Picture
Brace Height	7.75 "	7 "	7.75 "
AtA Length	30 "	31 "	33 "
Draw Length	26 " - 30 "	19 " - 29 "	25.5 " - 30.5 "
Draw Weight	40 lbs - 70 lbs	15 lbs - 60 lbs	40 lbs - 70 lbs
IBO Speed	305 fps	308 fps	306 fps - 314 fps
Weight	3.7 lbs	3.8 lbs	4.7 lbs
Let-Off	80%	75%	75%
Where to buy Best prices online	$99.99 to $450 Compare prices	$71.99 to $400 Compare prices	$124.99 to $550 Compare prices
	compare more bows

In the sub-$400 entry class of its era, the Charge cross-shops naturally against two contemporaries. The Diamond Razor Edge (2009-2012) is the more aggressively adjustable of the three - its 19-to-29-inch draw range and 15-to-60-pound span reach far lower, making it the stronger pick for a young or brand-new shooter who needs the bow to start small and grow, though its 75-percent let-off holds a touch heavier than the Charge's 80 percent and its top end stops at 60 pounds where the Charge reaches 70. The PSE Stinger (2008-2013) is the closest match on paper - a single-cam hunter on a 30-to-33-inch chassis with a similar 7.5-inch brace and the same 40-to-70-pound range, its IBO running from the high-290s on the early cams up to around 316 on the later ones depending on the model year - and it trades on PSE's tune-friendly reputation and a longer-riser option for about the same money. The Charge's own edge over both is its truly press-free draw-length change and its deep 80-percent hold, which make it the friendliest of the trio for a first-timer setting up alone. The decision comes down to priorities: the Diamond Razor Edge for the widest grow-with-you adjustment, the PSE Stinger for PSE's tune-friendly platform across a wider chassis range, and the Charge for the easiest press-free field adjustment and the lightest hold.

Summary

At a $299.99 bow-only launch MSRP, the Bear Charge delivered about as much hunting bow as $300 could buy in 2010 and 2011 - a light, forgiving 30-inch single-cam hunter with a smooth draw, an 80-percent let-off, and the genuinely useful ability to adjust its own draw length from 26 to 30 inches in the field without a press. Its published speed of up to 305 fps IBO lands in the more realistic 260s at a typical setup, which is plenty for close-to-mid-range whitetail work where its 7.75-inch brace keeps shots forgiving. What I keep coming back to is how little it asks of a new shooter: set the draw with a hex key, add ten dollars of dampeners to quiet the shot, and you have a bow that flatters a beginner instead of punishing one. It is an excellent first or backup bow for the budget-minded hunter learning the craft, particularly strong for treestand and blind work inside 40 yards. Buyers who need the draw range to start smaller for a young shooter should also look at the Diamond Razor Edge, while those chasing a bit more speed with a full 70-pound top can weigh the PSE Stinger.