Bear Cruzer G4 Review
from $320
Pros
- Grows with the whole family: 10 to 70 pound draw weight and 14 to 30 inch draw length, both set without a bow press through the DrawDial, so one bow follows a child to adult hunting weight
- Complete Trophy Ridge Ready-to-Hunt kit in the box: a first-time buyer can set it up and be shooting the same weekend rather than sourcing a rest, sight and quiver separately
- Compact 29 inch axle-to-axle and a 3.2 pound mass make it easy to maneuver in a blind or treestand and easy for smaller-framed and youth shooters to hold on target
Cons
- The package sight and rest are entry-level parts to learn on rather than to keep; as skills grow, the pin sight and rest are inexpensive first upgrades that bolt onto the bow's standard mounts
- The containment whisker-biscuit-style rest can scuff feather fletching over time, so running plastic vanes rather than feathers, or upgrading the rest later, avoids the wear
Editors' review
For three generations the Cruzer held the same footprint, a 30 inch axle-to-axle chassis with a 6.5 inch brace height, and let its adjustability do all the talking. The G4 is the first time Bear reshaped the bow. It trims the axle-to-axle to 29 inches and pulls the brace height in to 6.25 inches, turning the family's do-everything trainer into a more compact package built for tight quarters. Everything that made the line a household fixture stays in place: a 10 to 70 pound draw-weight range, a 14 to 30 inch draw-length range set without a bow press through the DrawDial, a 315 fps IBO rating (the industry-standard chronograph number measured at a fixed 30 inch draw, 70 pounds and a 350 grain arrow), and a full Trophy Ridge Ready-to-Hunt kit. What changed is the handling; what stayed is the reason a household buys one Cruzer instead of three separate bows. Positioned in the entry tier with the complete RTH package, the G4 keeps the Cruzer's grow-with-the-family role while making the bow easier to carry into a blind or up into a stand.
Finish
The Cruzer G4 ships in eight finishes across solid colors, hunting camo and Fred Bear tribute editions, in both right and left hand. The hunting patterns are True Timber Strata and Mossy Oak Roots, and Shadow covers shooters who want a clean solid look. The Fred Bear signature finish anchors the heritage side of the range, joined by the Fred Bear Electric, Fire, Whiteout and Twilight tribute editions for buyers who value the brand's namesake styling. Bear applies the same dip-coating process used on higher-tier models, and it holds up to normal field handling, though contact with treestand steel and brush will eventually show wear at the edges. For a bow that a parent and a teenager often have to agree on before it comes home, the spread of solid, camo and tribute options is a practical part of the decision rather than an afterthought.Riser
The G4 uses an aluminum riser with weight-relief cutouts, and the headline is geometry rather than hardware: at 29 inches axle-to-axle it is an inch shorter than every Cruzer before it. Following this line across four generations, what strikes me about the G4 is that Bear finally spent its update on the shape of the bow instead of on cosmetic changes, and the shorter riser is what a blind or a tight stand actually rewards. Cable management uses Bear's standard cable slide on the cable arm, the expected choice at this price and a small factor in how smooth the draw reads. Stabilizer bushings sit under the grip for the Snubnose stabilizer that ships in the kit, and the rest-mount face carries the Trophy Ridge V-Biscuit that comes pre-fitted. The compact form factor is the whole point of the redesign: a longer target-style riser would be steadier on a level range but unwieldy where the G4 is meant to be carried, and Bear traded the extra inch of axle-to-axle for maneuverability on purpose.Grip
The grip is Bear's slim standard profile with rubberized side panels, narrower than the deeper contoured grips found higher in the lineup. The rubber matters most in cold weather, when bare aluminum pulls heat out of the palm on a November sit, and it stays neutral in summer humidity as well. The shape encourages a low-wrist hand position, which helps a newer archer keep torque out of the shot without thinking hard about hand placement, and that forgiveness suits the beginner-to-intermediate shooter the G4 is built for. It is sized for medium hands; a shooter with very small hands, often the youngest archer the bow is set light for, may take a few hundred shots to settle into it. Standard aftermarket grips fit the Bear interface for anyone who wants a different profile down the road.Limbs
The G4 uses a split-limb design consistent with Bear's broader lineup, and those limbs carry the full 10 to 70 pound adjustment span on a single set, from a light backyard setting for a child up to a 70 pound adult hunting weight. Draw weight changes through the limb bolts with an Allen wrench and no bow press inside the published range, which is what lets a household re-set the bow between shooters on a Saturday morning. As with any wide-range adjustable bow, the actual peak at a short draw length lands below the top number: a shooter set at the bottom of the 14 to 30 inch range will not reach a true 70 pounds, so buyers matching a specific weight to a specific draw should confirm the pairing rather than assume the ceiling. The split-limb architecture has a long, dependable track record across the Cruzer generations, so long-term reliability is not a real worry on this platform.Eccentric System
The G4 runs Bear's performance dual-cam system in the MV1 family, the same cam lineage introduced on the G3, paired with the DrawDial for draw-length changes. Bear rates the cams at 315 fps IBO, an average number for the adjustable category and unchanged across every Cruzer generation. No independent chronograph test of the G4 has appeared yet, so a real-world speed at a hunting arrow weight is not yet on record; on the closely related G3 and G2 chassis, real speeds with mid-weight hunting arrows land well below the IBO figure, as they do for every bow in this class, and the G4 should read the same. The draw-length system is the genuinely useful part: the DrawDial covers 14 to 30 inches without a bow press, so a parent can move the bow from a teenager's draw to an adult's in minutes rather than booking a shop visit. Let-off is fixed at 75 percent, which is the central trade-off of the cam: more of the peak weight stays in the shooter's hand at full draw than on an 80 or 85 percent bow, in exchange for the energy that holds the modest IBO number. That let-off carries straight over from the G3 and is consistent with the bow's entry positioning.Draw Cycle/Shootability
On the shared MV1 cam platform the G4 draws smoothly on the front end and settles onto a firm back wall, with two characteristics defining how it shoots. The 6.25 inch brace height is a quarter inch shorter than the G2 and G3, which nudges the bow a touch livelier and marginally less tolerant of a sloppy release, though at this brace it is still a forgiving, beginner-friendly number rather than a speed-bow's tight window. The 75 percent let-off is the bigger factor: the bow holds more weight at full draw and does not dump into a deep valley the way a high-let-off cam does, so the shooter has to stay engaged against the back wall. What I keep coming back to on this platform is how manageable the full 70 pound top end feels for a genuine beginner; the forgiving geometry and the honest, self-correcting back wall are why a second-session archer can pull the bow at its maximum weight and still group. No independent shot-noise reading exists for the G4 specifically, and I will not put a decibel number on it without a measurement, but the compact chassis and standard cable slide place it where the class sits rather than at flagship-quiet levels.Usage Scenarios
The G4 fits a handful of buyers cleanly. A first-time bowhunter can start at a light, confidence-building weight and turn the same bow up to a full whitetail setup over a couple of seasons, one purchase instead of three across those years. A household with several archers can pass the bow around by adjusting between range sessions: a younger sibling at 20 inches and 30 pounds, a teenager at 26 inches and 50 pounds, then a parent at 29 inches and 65 pounds, none of it needing a press. The compact 29 inch length is genuinely easier than a longer bow to swing in a ground blind or work around a treestand's rails. Whitetail and similarly sized game sit well within the bow's capability at typical bowhunting ranges under 40 yards with appropriate broadheads, and backyard practice, casual 3D and indoor lanes all suit it. Picture a parent buying the G4 on a Saturday, setting draw and weight for a 12-year-old that afternoon, and re-dialing it for their own draw before deer season, all from the same bow. It is not a competition target rig and would be underpowered for elk at long range or for a shooter who wants an 85 to 90 percent let-off for long stand holds, but it covers the recreational and entry hunting ground it is built for.Versions
The Cruzer G4 sells as a single Ready-to-Hunt configuration rather than as separate bow-only and package tiers. The RTH kit includes a Trophy Ridge Fatal 4 four-pin sight, a V-Biscuit containment rest, a 5-Spot five-arrow quiver, a Snubnose stabilizer and wrist sling, a Radial peep sight and a pre-installed D-loop, so the buyer adds only arrows and a release. It launched at a $449.99 MSRP for the 2025 model year and currently lists at $479.99 on Bear's site for 2026. The bow is offered in eight finishes and in both right and left hand; the choice between versions is really a choice of finish and hand, since every configuration shares the same chassis, cam and package contents.Bear Cruzer G4 vs Diamond Edge 320, Diamond Infinite Edge Pro
| Bow | Bear Cruzer G4 | Diamond Edge 320 | Diamond Infinite Edge Pro |
| Version | 2026 | 2022 | 2026 Legacy |
| Picture |  |  |  |
| Brace Height | 6.25 " | 7.25 " | 7 " |
| AtA Length | 29 " | 32 " | 31 " |
| Draw Length | 14 " - 30 " | 15 " - 31 " | 13 " - 31 " |
| Draw Weight | 10 lbs - 70 lbs | 7 lbs - 70 lbs | 5 lbs - 65 lbs |
| IBO Speed | 315 fps | 320 fps | 300 fps |
| Weight | 3.2 lbs | 3.6 lbs | 3.3 lbs |
| Let-Off | 75% | 85% | 80% |
| Where to buy Best prices online | |||
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The adjustable, ready-to-hunt bow under $500 is a crowded corner of the market, and the choice comes down to how a buyer weighs compactness against forgiveness. The Diamond Edge 320 is the longest and most forgiving of the three at a 32 inch axle-to-axle and a 7.25 inch brace height, with a 320 fps IBO, an 85 percent let-off that holds far less weight at full draw than the Cruzer's 75 percent, and a 7 to 70 pound range; at a $499 package MSRP it asks a little more and gives up the G4's maneuverability, but the extra length and high let-off make it the steadier hold for a shooter who values a long anchor over a short bow. The Diamond Infinite Edge Pro splits the difference at a 31 inch axle-to-axle and a 7 inch brace, and it opens the draw-length range wider than either at 7 to 31 inches with a 5 to 70 pound span, so it reaches the very youngest archers the Cruzer's 14 inch floor does not; a decade on the market has left it with deep dealer and parts support, and its lower current price makes it the value pick for a single archer who will grow into it slowly. Against both, the Cruzer G4 is the compact one: a 29 inch axle-to-axle and 3.2 pound mass that handle better in tight quarters, at the lowest launch price of the three, in exchange for the shorter, more aggressive 6.25 inch brace and the higher-holding 75 percent let-off. The decision comes down to priorities: the Cruzer G4 for the buyer who wants the most compact, blind-and-stand-friendly bow of the three; the Diamond Edge 320 for the shooter who wants the longest, highest-let-off, steadiest hold; and the Diamond Infinite Edge Pro for the widest single-archer growth path and the deepest support behind it.