Bear Species EV Review

Editors' review

The EV in Species EV stands for Evolution, and that is the honest way to read this bow: Bear took the long-running single-cam Species, redesigned the cam, and raised the holding comfort rather than chasing headline speed. The result is a compact 30-inch hunter that leans on the things budget shooters actually feel on stand - a quiet shot, a light bow in the hand, and a let-off (the percentage of peak draw weight the bow sheds at full draw) bumped to a class-leading 80%. It was built in Gainesville, Florida, and sold as a complete ready-to-hunt rig, so a first-time adult bowhunter could walk out of a shop with everything but a release and arrows. Across its run from 2022 through 2025 the specs never wavered: 320 fps IBO (the industry-standard chronograph rating at a fixed 30-inch, 70-lb, 350-grain setup), a forgiving 6.75-inch brace height, and two draw-weight limb options that reach a full 70 lb. Bear has since retired the EV and replaced it with the Species XT for 2026, which makes this a bow you will now find on the used and closeout market rather than a dealer shelf. For the value-minded hunter who prizes a hushed, simple single cam over raw velocity, that makes it worth understanding exactly who it fits.

Finish

Bear offered the Species EV in a broad spread of patterns rather than a token one or two, which is characteristic of the brand at this price. The lineup ran across Fred Bear Camo, Veil Whitetail, TrueTimber Strata, Mossy Oak Country DNA, and the old-school Mossy Oak Bottomland, with a straight Shadow black for shooters who want to match the rest of their kit or add their own wraps. Bear kept its signature orange-and-tan string color across the finishes, a small touch that makes the bow easy to pick out on a rack. The coatings are the same dip-and-cure camo Bear uses throughout its hunting line and hold up to normal treestand abuse. Every finish was offered in both right and left hand with no left-hand penalty - a point worth noting, because budget models frequently limit southpaws to a single pattern. For a package bow under $450, the finish range is one of the genuinely generous parts of the spec.

Riser

The riser is machined aluminum on a deliberately short 30-inch axle-to-axle footprint (the distance between the two cam axles), which keeps the bow maneuverable in a blind or tight treestand lane. Bear pairs that compact geometry with a tall 6.75-inch brace height - the gap from the string at rest to the grip - to buy back forgiveness that a short bow would otherwise give up, so small form errors punish the shot less. A single string stop mounted low in the riser arrests the string at the shot to pull jump and shock out of the release. The limb pockets are aluminum, not the composite or polymer you often see when a bow drops to this price, and that is the kind of detail that separates a value bow that lasts from one that loosens up. Cable management runs through a slide that keeps the cables clear of the arrow's path. It is a conventional, no-surprises riser built for durability rather than weight-shaving, and the made-in-USA machining is a real selling point in the segment.

Grip

The grip is Bear's slim one-piece profile, and in the hand it does exactly what a hunting grip should: it sits flush against the palm and lines the bow up naturally, so the shooter is not fighting torque at full draw. The narrow shape encourages a repeatable hand position, which matters more on a short-axle bow where small steering errors show up fast downrange. There is no rubber overmold or heat-retaining side plate here - it is a pared-back grip in keeping with the price - but shooters who want a warmer or fatter feel can add aftermarket side plates or grip tape, a cheap and common swap. For most hunters the stock grip is comfortable and low-torque as delivered. It is a quietly competent part of the bow that does not call attention to itself, which is what you want from a grip.

Limbs

The Species EV's limbs seat in those aluminum pockets, offered in two draw-weight brackets so a buyer matches the bow to the shooter rather than the other way around. The 45-to-60-lb option and the 55-to-70-lb option each carry Bear's familiar 15-lb adjustment spread, which is the quietly useful part: a 70-lb bow backs down to 55, and a 60-lb bow backs down to 45, all with a turn of the limb bolts and no press. That spread is what lets a shooter recovering from an injury, or a younger archer still building draw-weight, drop down now and climb back up over a season or two on the same bow. The KillerWave dampening system lives in the limbs - a rubber insert that soaks up shock and vibration at the shot and takes some noise down with it. Across Bear's lineup this limb-and-pocket design has a solid reliability record, and nothing about the EV's execution departs from it.

Eccentric System

The heart of the EV is a redesigned single cam (one cam on the bottom with an idler wheel up top, inherently simpler to tune and keep in time than a twin-cam setup), and it is where the Evolution name earns its keep. Bear raised the let-off to 80%, up from the 75% its single-cam Species carried in prior years, so at full draw you are holding meaningfully less weight - on a 70-lb bow that is the difference between leaning on roughly 14 lb versus 17.5 lb while you wait out a deer. The trade for a single cam at this price is honest: the published 320 fps IBO is a best-case number, and real-world speed lands lower. On a chronograph a 400-grain arrow at 29 inches and 70 lb clocked a consistent 264 to 265 fps, and a heavy 460-grain hunting arrow at 28 inches and 65 lb dropped into the low 230s - plenty of kinetic energy for whitetails at sensible ranges, but not flagship velocity. Draw length is set across the 23.5 to 30.5-inch range through the cam, giving one bow a genuinely wide fit window. For a hunter who values a single cam's simplicity and a comfortable hold over chasing the last 40 fps, the math works out in the EV's favor.

Draw Cycle/Shootability

Drawing the EV, what I notice first is that it is honest about what it is: the cycle is smooth and easy to pull but not glass-smooth, and at $400-ish you would not expect a thousand-dollar draw. It builds to peak weight without a harsh hump, rolls over into the valley, and then the 80% let-off does its work - the holding weight drops away and the bow is comfortable to sit at full draw for a long time. The back wall is the one spot that asks something of the shooter: it carries a little compliance and wants to creep forward, so you stand on it and follow through rather than relaxing into it. Where the bow genuinely shines is the shot itself. It is dead in the hand - it does not jump or buzz - and it is quiet, measuring 93 to 94 dB on a meter, which puts it among the quietest bows I have handled in the segment. That combination of a settled shot and a hushed signature is exactly what a treestand hunter trades speed for, and it is the EV's strongest card. Loaded with its ready-to-hunt accessories the bow still feels light and balanced, and it does not want to leap out of your hand at release.

Usage Scenarios

Picture the first cold Saturday of the season: a whitetail hunter buys the EV ready-to-hunt, has a shop set the draw and sight it in by Sunday afternoon, and is climbing into a treestand before the next weekend - the package is built for exactly that timeline. The short 30-inch axle-to-axle and light carry weight make it a natural for a mobile, run-and-gun hunter slipping between stands, or for anyone shooting out of a cramped ground blind where a long target bow would be clumsy. The wide draw range and 15-lb weight spread open it up well beyond one body type: a short-draw woman, a teenager still growing into a hunting setup, or an adult returning to the bow after an injury can all find a fit here, and the lighter draw-weight bracket keeps it reachable. It is a capable whitetail, hog, and black-bear bow at ordinary hunting distances, and it makes a sensible quiet backup to a pricier flagship. What it is not is a long-range speed rig or a dedicated target bow - the real-world velocity and short valley put it squarely in the practical-hunting lane, which is exactly where it was aimed.

Versions

The Species EV was sold as a complete ready-to-hunt bow rather than bare, in two package tiers. The standard Species EV RTH carried a $449.99 launch MSRP and shipped with a Trophy Ridge four-pin lighted sight, a Whisker Biscuit V arrow rest, a five-arrow quick-detach quiver, a six-inch stabilizer and wrist sling, and a pre-installed peep and D-loop - everything needed to hunt except a release and arrows. The Species EV RTH EXTRA stepped up to a $559.99 MSRP (street price around $529.99) and added a Trophy Ridge ArchX release, five Trophy Ridge Wrath arrows with 100-grain field points, and three Rocket Siphon broadheads, making it a true buy-it-and-go kit. Both tiers were offered in the 45-to-60-lb and 55-to-70-lb draw-weight options and in full right- and left-hand availability across every finish. Buyers shopping new today should note the EV has been discontinued and replaced in Bear's 2026 lineup by the Species XT, so the choice in 2026 is between closeout or used EV stock and the current XT.

Bear Species EV vs Diamond Edge 320, PSE Stinger MAX

Bow	Bear Species EV	Diamond Edge 320	PSE Stinger MAX
Version	2025	2022	2021
Picture
Brace Height	6.75 "	7.25 "	7 "
AtA Length	30 "	32 "	30 "
Draw Length	23.5 " - 30.5 "	15 " - 31 "	21.5 " - 30 "
Draw Weight	45 lbs - 70 lbs	7 lbs - 70 lbs	45 lbs - 70 lbs
IBO Speed	320 fps	320 fps	304 fps - 312 fps
Weight	3.8 lbs	3.6 lbs	3.8 lbs
Let-Off	80%	85%	80%
Where to buy Best prices online	$210 to $700 Compare prices	$175 to $795 Compare prices	$199.95 to $650 Compare prices
	compare more bows

All three of these land in the same roughly $449 ready-to-hunt, single-cam tier at launch, which makes them genuine cross-shops, but each solves a slightly different problem. The Diamond Edge 320 matches the EV's 320 IBO and its price, but it is built around maximum adjustability: a 15 to 31-inch draw and a 7 to 70-lb weight range let it start as a child's or beginner's bow and grow all the way to a full adult hunting setup, where the EV's 45-lb floor and 23.5-inch minimum assume an adult or near-adult shooter from the start. The PSE Stinger MAX is the other value benchmark, a compact single cam with a 21.5 to 30-inch draw and a 28 to 70-lb range that leans toward taller or smaller-framed shooters depending on configuration, trading a touch of the EV's quietness for PSE's slightly more aggressive feel. The EV's own case is its compact 30-inch frame, its light carry weight, its 80% let-off, and above all its hushed, dead-in-hand shot. The decision comes down to priorities: the Diamond Edge 320 for a family or grow-with-you buyer who needs the widest possible fit range, the PSE Stinger MAX for the shooter chasing PSE's platform at the price, and the Bear Species EV for the hunter who wants the quietest, simplest, most compact of the three.

Summary

The Bear Species EV was the quiet, simple, made-in-USA single cam in the budget ready-to-hunt field, launched at $449.99 and aimed at the hunter who would rather have a hushed, dead-in-hand shot and a comfortable 80% hold than the last few feet per second. Its 320 fps IBO translates to a real-world mid-260s with a 400-grain arrow and low 230s with a heavy hunting shaft - enough for whitetails at sensible ranges, not flagship velocity - but the numbers were never the point. What I keep coming back to is how little noise it makes and how still it sits at the shot, backed by KillerWave dampeners, a tall forgiving brace, and durable aluminum limb pockets that undercut the usual budget-bow compromises. The wide 23.5 to 30.5-inch draw and 15-lb weight spread make it one bow that fits a short-draw woman, a growing teenager, and an adult hunter alike. It has now been discontinued in favor of the 2026 Species XT, so it is a closeout-and-used proposition rather than a new-shelf buy. An excellent bow for the value-minded, mobile whitetail hunter who prizes a quiet, compact, easy-to-tune single cam, and particularly strong on a long, still treestand sit. Buyers who instead want the widest grow-with-you adjustment range should also look at the Diamond Edge 320.