Bear Surpass Review

Editors' review

Here is the odd one in Bear's 2024 value lineup: the Surpass is the most expensive of the bunch, yet it is the only one that ships with nothing bolted to it. Where the Whitetail Maxx, Paradigm, and Alaskan XT roll out the door as ready-to-hunt kits, the Surpass is sold bow-only - and the money that would have gone to a sight and rest went into the bow instead. The riser is machined a step finer, the grip comes with two profiles in the box, and the DHC hybrid cam is tuned to a genuine 335 fps IBO (the industry-standard speed rating measured at a fixed 30-inch, 70-pound, 350-grain setup). At 32 inches axle-to-axle (ATA, tip-to-tip cam distance) it is the most compact of the four, which makes it the one a mobile hunter reaches for. This is the value bow for the shooter who already owns a rest they trust and wants a fast, clean chassis to hang it on.

Finish

The Surpass comes in three finishes, each built as a two-tone layout with a black riser under dipped limbs. Mossy Oak Break-Up Country DNA is the all-season woodland pattern, TrueTimber Strata leans grey-brown for open and transitional terrain, and Stone is the solid gunmetal-grey option for the shooter who would rather skip camo entirely. It is a tighter palette than the broad finish menus Bear hangs on its ready-to-hunt packages, a reflection of the Surpass being a single bow-only SKU rather than a multi-package family. The dip coverage is clean on the limbs and the powder-coated riser holds up to the usual bumps of a hunting season. Stone in particular photographs well and hides handling marks better than a gloss black would.

Riser

The riser is a machined, heavily skeletonized aluminum cage, and in person it reads a grade above the rest of Bear's 2024 value bows - the cuts are cleaner and the finish work is more deliberate, which is exactly where the bow-only premium went. In-riser dampeners sit inside the cutouts to kill vibration at the source before it reaches your hand. Cable containment is handled by Bear's articulating slide - a flexible arm with a clamp that extends through the draw rather than a roller riding a guard rod - and it keeps cable torque quiet and the draw smooth. One thing to set expectations on: the rest and sight bolt on the conventional way, through standard Berger holes and a drilled sight bracket, not the integrated IMS dovetail and Picatinny rail (the firearm-style accessory rail) that Bear machines into the Paradigm and Alaskan XT. In my experience that is a non-event once the bow is set up - a quality drop-away rest sits just as solid on Berger holes - but it is the one place the Surpass trades features for its speed-first chassis. The geometry centers on that short 32-inch ATA, which is what makes the bow feel nimble in the hand.

Grip

Bear puts real thought into how the Surpass meets your hand. The grip surface is a tacky rubberized material that stays warm and holds its tack through cold, wet mornings when a bare aluminum grip turns slick and cold. A reference channel runs down the back so you can seat your hand in the same spot shot after shot, which quietly helps consistency. The detail that sets it apart in this tier: two back profiles ship in the box - a flat, straight-backed grip for a low-torque, repeatable hand position, and a filled palm-swell for shooters who want more meat to push against - and neither is a paid upgrade. When I first picked the bow up the flat back felt the most neutral, but having the swell on hand means a shooter can dial the fit to their palm instead of living with whatever the factory bolted on. It is a small thing that usually costs extra, included here as standard.

Limbs

The Surpass runs split limbs seated in machined pockets, a layout Bear has used reliably across its hunting line. Draw weight comes in two bracket options sold as separate configurations - 45 to 60 pounds and 55 to 70 pounds - so a shooter picks the band that centers their hunting weight rather than running a bolt to the extreme of a single wide range. KillerWave limb dampeners ride at the limb tips to break up the residual buzz the riser dampeners do not catch, and together they are the reason the shot settles quickly. Weight adjustment is the standard limb-bolt process with a hex wrench, no press required for the roughly ten-pound swing within a bracket. The 335 fps rating tells you these limbs store energy aggressively for the price, which is the whole point of the bow.

Eccentric System

The heart of the Surpass is Bear's DHC - Dynamic Hybrid Cam - a hybrid system that pairs a cam and a control module to blend the speed of a dual-cam with a more manageable draw. It is rated to 335 fps IBO, which puts it a touch quicker than most bows at this price and in the same conversation as bows costing a few hundred dollars more. Let-off (the percentage the holding weight drops to at full draw) is fixed at 80 percent, so at 70 pounds peak you are holding roughly 14 pounds while you settle the pin - enough relief to hold through a long treestand sit. The standout engineering is the draw-length system: the adjustment marks are inscribed on the cam in actual inches, 25 through 30, right next to the module screws, so you back out a couple of Allen bolts, rotate to the number you want, and re-tighten - no bow press, no swapping modules, and nothing extra to order. Everything the bow needs to span its full draw range is built into the cam, which makes it genuinely easy to re-fit or hand down to a kid or a hunting partner years later. No independent chronograph data for the Surpass has surfaced yet, so treat the 335 figure as the published IBO; real hunting arrows at real draw lengths will land below it as they do on every bow, and the honest way to close the gap is a lighter arrow rather than a bigger number on paper.

Draw Cycle/Shootability

This is where the Surpass earns its keep. For a bow pulling a 335 fps rating, the draw is remarkably civil - it builds weight gradually and rolls over the peak without the hard, grabby hump you expect from a speed cam, and drawing it back I kept waiting for a wall of resistance that never really came. The 80 percent let-off drops you into a holding weight light enough to float the pin, and the back end firms up into a defined stop rather than a vague slope, so you know where full draw is every time. At the shot the dampener package does its job: the bow stays quiet and settles fast, with the residual hand buzz pulled down to the point that it reads as a composed, non-jumpy release rather than the sharp slap a bare speed bow can give you. It is not a flagship-silent bow - nothing at this price is - but it is well-mannered enough that you are not fighting it. The compact 32-inch ATA keeps it lively and quick to point, though shooters with very long draws will want to confirm the string angle feels right to them before committing.

Usage Scenarios

The Surpass is built first for the whitetail hunter, and the short 32-inch frame is its calling card: it swings easily in a tight treestand, clears the window of a ground blind, and rides a pack or a bow hook without snagging, which also makes it a sensible pick for the mobile hunter hiking in and hanging sets. The 25-to-30-inch draw range covers standard-to-longer adult shooters, and the two draw-weight brackets reach a true 70-pound hunting setup for anything from whitetail to elk at ethical bow range. Its natural buyer is the shooter who already has a rest and sight they trust - the hunter rebuilding a setup, or the experienced archer who wants to spec their own accessories rather than inherit a factory kit. Picture a bowhunter who walks into the shop with a drop-away rest and a favorite sight already in the bag, hangs them on the Surpass, has it tuned by the weekend, and is in a stand before the rut - the bow-only format is a feature, not a gap, for that person. It is less the right call for a first-time buyer who wants everything bundled and sighted in out of one box; that shooter is better served by one of Bear's ready-to-hunt siblings.

Versions

The Surpass is sold as a single package: bow-only, at a $749.99 launch MSRP (with a $719.99 MAP, the lowest a dealer advertises it). That is the top of Bear's 2024 value-line ladder and, notably, more than the Alaskan XT or Paradigm cost even as ready-to-hunt kits - the premium buys the finer riser work and the speed chassis, not a box of accessories. It ships in right- and left-hand, in three finishes (Mossy Oak Break-Up Country DNA, TrueTimber Strata, Stone), and in the two draw-weight configurations (45-60 and 55-70 pounds). Bear carried the Surpass over on its website into 2025 without a spec change before it sold through, so a 2024 and a 2025 version are mechanically identical - the same bow, same cam, same numbers.

Bear Surpass vs Diamond Edge 320, PSE Stinger MAX

Bow	Bear Surpass	Diamond Edge 320	PSE Stinger MAX
Version	2025	2022	2021
Picture
Brace Height	6.25 "	7.25 "	7 "
AtA Length	32 "	32 "	30 "
Draw Length	25 " - 30 "	15 " - 31 "	21.5 " - 30 "
Draw Weight	45 lbs - 70 lbs	7 lbs - 70 lbs	45 lbs - 70 lbs
IBO Speed	335 fps	320 fps	304 fps - 312 fps
Weight	4.1 lbs	3.6 lbs	3.8 lbs
Let-Off	80%	85%	80%
Where to buy Best prices online	$549.99 to $900 Compare prices	$175 to $795 Compare prices	$199.95 to $650 Compare prices
	compare more bows

Cross-shopping the Surpass against the value field makes its positioning clear. The Diamond Edge 320 is the grow-with-you benchmark - around $449 at launch as a complete ready-to-hunt package, with a huge 7-to-70-pound draw-weight span and a 15-to-31-inch draw range that fits a child or a full-grown adult, a 7-inch brace height for forgiveness, and a 320 fps rating. The PSE Stinger MAX sits in the same sub-$500 ready-to-hunt bracket, also with a 7-inch brace and a broad adjustment range, rated in the low 300s. Both come sighted-in-ready with a sight, rest, quiver, and stabilizer in the box, which is the opposite of the Surpass's bow-only format. The Surpass answers back with the thing neither of them has: a genuine 335 fps speed rating, a tighter 6.25-inch brace height that trades a sliver of forgiveness for that pace, the most compact 32-inch frame, and a step-up riser finish - but you supply your own accessories and pay more up front. So the decision comes down to priorities: the Diamond Edge 320 and the PSE Stinger MAX for the new or budget-first buyer who wants a complete, forgiving, infinitely-adjustable kit in one purchase; the Surpass for the shooter who wants speed and a nicer chassis and already owns the accessories to finish it. Within Bear's own line, the longer-draw Paradigm and the integrate-mounted Alaskan XT are the natural alternatives if you would rather have a ready-to-hunt package from the same family.

Summary

The Bear Surpass is the enthusiast's pick in a value lineup built mostly for beginners. At a $749.99 launch MSRP it is bow-only and the priciest bow Bear sold in its 2024 affordable line, but the money is visible in the right places - a cleanly machined, better-finished riser, a DHC hybrid cam tuned to a real 335 fps, a draw cycle smooth enough to make you forget it is a speed bow, and a grip that ships with two profiles so you can fit it to your hand. It gives up the integrated IMS and Picatinny mounting of its Paradigm and Alaskan XT siblings and asks you to bring your own accessories, which is exactly why it suits an experienced archer over a first-timer. Drawing and shooting it, what stays with me is how little the 335 rating costs you in draw feel - this is a fast bow that does not punish you for it. It is an excellent choice for the whitetail or mobile hunter who wants a compact, quick, nicely-built chassis and prefers to spec their own rest and sight. Buyers who would rather have everything in one sighted-in box, or who want the widest possible adjustment range for a growing shooter, should look at the Diamond Edge 320 or PSE Stinger MAX instead.