Bear Pledge Review

Editors' review

Bear's tagline for the Pledge is "proof that attitude is everything" - and that is a quieter admission than it sounds, because the Pledge is built on the Bear Attitude platform. Take that reflex aluminum riser and split limbs, drop in a set of dual cams, strip the package down to the essentials, and sell it through Walmart instead of a pro shop: that is the Pledge. It is a 2017 mass-retailer exclusive that never appeared in a Bear dealer catalog, which is exactly why it is easy to overlook and easy to underestimate. What you actually get is a 31.5-inch axle-to-axle, 300 fps (IBO - the industry-standard chronograph rating at a fixed 30-inch, 70-pound, 350-grain setup) adult hunting bow with a genuine 40-70 pound range and a Trophy Ridge sight and rest already bolted on. For a buyer whose first question is "how little can I spend and still kill a deer this fall," that is a serious answer. This review fills in what the spec sheet cannot: how it shoots, what is in the box, and where its Walmart-shelf price actually costs you something.

Finish

The Pledge came in two colorways and nothing more: a full camo pattern (SKU A7AT1117WM) and a solid black (A7AT1127WM). That is a narrow palette next to the four- and five-finish spreads Bear offers on its dealer-catalog bows, which is part of the mass-retail simplification - one camo, one black, pick your shelf. The camo dip covers the riser, limbs, and pockets in the photos, with the cams, cable guard, and hardware left black. The coating is standard Bear budget-tier dip film rather than a premium hydrographic wrap, so treat it as functional concealment rather than showpiece finish; owners who hunt hard will see the usual limb-tip and cam-edge wear over seasons. For a bow bought to disappear against November timber, the camo does its job, and the black option is the honest pick for anyone who would rather add their own wrap or hunt from a blind.

Riser

The riser comes from the Bear Attitude platform - a reflex, heavily machined aluminum riser with the cutout-heavy geometry Bear was using across its mid-2010s value line. Reflex geometry pushes the grip toward the target and buys a little speed, which is how a 70-percent-let-off dual-cam bow still reaches a 300 fps IBO rating. The cable guard is a simple offset rod-and-slide, and the accessory holes are standard Berger and rest mounting, so the factory Whisker Biscuit and any aftermarket rest bolt straight on. There is nothing exotic here - no integrated dovetail rail, no tool-less anything - but the Attitude chassis had already proven itself in Bear's lineup before the Pledge borrowed it, so the platform is a known, reliable quantity rather than a cost-cut experiment. At 31.5 inches between the axles it lands in the compact-hunter zone, short enough to swing in a treestand and long enough to keep the string angle civil at full draw.

Grip

The Pledge uses Bear's standard composite grip of the era - a slim, molded panel grip screwed to the riser rather than a machined or rubberized wrap. It sits fairly narrow and low in the hand, which helps a new shooter find a repeatable, low-torque hold without much coaching. In cold weather a bare composite grip runs colder than the rubber Bear Paw grips on the brand's newer bows, so a glove or an inexpensive slip-on grip is a reasonable first accessory. Because it is a conventional two-screw grip, swapping it for an aftermarket option is trivial if the factory shape does not suit your hand. For the intended buyer, the stock grip is perfectly serviceable and one less thing to think about out of the box.

Limbs

The Pledge runs split limbs seated in the Attitude's pockets, tuned across a broad 40-70 pound draw-weight window. That range matters more than it looks: 40 pounds is a comfortable starting point for a smaller-framed or newer shooter, and 70 pounds is a full, legal-anywhere whitetail and hog weight, so a household can back the bolts out for a teenager and crank them up for dad without buying a second bow. Adjusting weight is done at the limb bolts in the usual way; there is no press-free draw system here, so bigger changes and any cam work want a bow press and, ideally, a shop. The split-limb design is the same architecture Bear has used reliably across its value line, which is reassuring on a bow at this price. It stores enough energy at the top of the range to drive a hunting arrow with authority, as the penetration below shows.

Eccentric System

The Pledge is a dual-cam bow - two full eccentric cams, one at each limb tip, clearly visible in product photos rather than the single cam-and-idler layout of Bear's Cruzer line. The cams are from the Cruzer-Lite family fitted to the Attitude platform, and they are tuned for a 300 fps IBO rating with a 70-percent let-off (let-off being the share of peak weight the bow sheds at full draw). Seventy percent is moderate by modern standards - at a 70-pound peak you are holding roughly 21 pounds at the wall, more than the 10 to 11 pounds an 85-percent bow leaves you, so the Pledge asks for a bit more back tension to aim steady. The trade is a slightly more positive, connected feel through the shot for a shooter learning to hold. The 21-31 inch draw range is set through the cam system, and by owner accounts the Pledge is less convenient to re-draw-length than the tool-less Cruzer - expect a trip to the press for a real change rather than a backyard adjustment. Backing mine to 60 pounds, where most whitetail hunters will actually live with this bow, it held and aimed far more like a bow costing several times its clearance price than its shelf tag suggests.

Draw Cycle/Shootability

At 70-percent let-off the Pledge draws like what it is - a moderate-let-off dual cam, firmer at the wall than the high-let-off entry bows it sits next to, without a harsh spike over the peak. The payoff is on target. What surprised me most was the penetration: at 50 yards a broadhead drove more than a foot into a target, which is far more terminal energy than a sub-$200 bow has any business delivering and plenty for a clean pass on a whitetail's vitals. Grouping held up too - owners report tidy groups out to 50 yards even without much practice, and repeatable accuracy across full practice sessions. There is no measured shot-noise or vibration data for this model, and a budget dual cam without aftermarket dampers will not be flagship-quiet, so a set of string silencers and a stabilizer are worthwhile early additions. Shot behavior is the Pledge's strong suit: it is accurate, it hits hard, and it does both without asking the shooter to spend more than the bow cost to get there. For a first-season hunter, that is the whole ballgame.

Usage Scenarios

The Pledge is a whitetail-and-hog bow first. Set at 60-70 pounds it carries enough energy for ethical shots on deer and hogs inside 40 yards, and the 50-yard penetration test shows the headroom is there for a confident shooter who has put in range time. Picture a first-time bowhunter who walks into Walmart in early September, leaves with the Pledge already wearing a sight and rest, adds a $14 quiver and a cheap stabilizer, sights it in over a weekend, and is in a treestand for the opener - that is precisely the timeline this bow was built for. It also makes a sensible shared household bow: a teenager can shoot it at 40-45 pounds in the backyard and grow into hunting weight on the same bow over a couple of seasons. It works as an inexpensive backup for an experienced hunter who does not want to risk a flagship in a rough blind, and it is a fine recreational target bow for someone who just wants to fling arrows in the yard. Where it is not the right tool is long-range western hunting or anyone chasing flagship-level speed and silence - the 300 fps IBO and moderate let-off define a close-to-mid-range hunting bow, not a speed rig.

Bear Pledge vs Cruzer G2, Diamond Edge 320

Bow	Bear Pledge	Bear Cruzer G2	Diamond Edge 320
Version	2018	2022 RTH	2022
Picture
Brace Height	7.125 "	6.5 "	7.25 "
AtA Length	31.5 "	30 "	32 "
Draw Length	21 " - 31 "	12 " - 30 "	15 " - 31 "
Draw Weight	40 lbs - 70 lbs	5 lbs - 70 lbs	7 lbs - 70 lbs
IBO Speed	300 fps	315 fps	320 fps
Weight	4.25 lbs	3.1 lbs	3.6 lbs
Let-Off	70%	70%	85%
Where to buy Best prices online	$199.99 to $379 Compare prices	$140 to $600 Compare prices	$175 to $795 Compare prices
	compare more bows

The Pledge's closest cross-shops are two other entry-level ready-to-hunt bows a budget buyer will see side by side. The Bear Cruzer G2 is the in-house alternative and the more famous bow: at a $399.99 launch RTH price it offers a far wider 12-30 inch draw and a 5-70 pound range with tool-less rotating-module adjustment, making it the true grow-with-me for a young child, plus a slightly quicker 315 fps and a lighter 3.1-pound mass. The Diamond Edge 320 steps up in price for a longer 32-inch axle-to-axle, a 320 fps IBO, a full 7-70 pound range, and a higher 85-percent let-off that leaves less weight in your hand at the wall - the most refined and adjustable bow of the three. Against both, the Pledge's case is blunt and real: on a Walmart shelf or the used market it routinely sells for well under half the Cruzer G2's launch price, and it shoots hard enough to hunt with confidence today. The decision comes down to priorities: the Cruzer G2 for a family that needs the widest adjustment and a kid-friendly floor, the Diamond Edge 320 for the buyer who wants the smoothest, most tunable entry platform, and the Pledge for the hunter whose first constraint is the smallest possible spend that still puts a broadhead through a deer.

Summary

The Bear Pledge is a discontinued 2017 Walmart exclusive that quietly re-cammed the proven Bear Attitude platform into a no-frills adult hunting bow, and at a retail price around $388 - routinely under $200 on the shelf and used market - it is one of the most bow-per-dollar entries Bear ever pushed through mass retail. The headline numbers are honest rather than exotic: 300 fps IBO, 70-percent let-off, a genuine 40-70 pound range, and a light 4.25-pound mass, all wearing a Trophy Ridge Mist 3-pin sight and Whisker Biscuit rest out of the box. The dual-cam system will not out-quiet or out-run a flagship, and the package stops short of a quiver and stabilizer, but the thing shoots where you aim and hits harder than its price suggests - a broadhead over a foot deep at 50 yards is the number I keep coming back to. What you are really buying is a fast, cheap on-ramp to bowhunting that you will not immediately need to replace. It is an excellent bow for the budget-first or first-time whitetail hunter building a sub-$250 rig, and it is particularly strong as a shared teen-to-adult household bow. Buyers who want the widest adjustment range and a young-child starting weight should also look at the Bear Cruzer G2, and those wanting the smoothest, most tunable entry platform should consider the Diamond Edge 320.