Browning Micro Midas 2 Compound Bow

The Browning Micro Midas 2 is a reminder that the grow-with-me youth bow is an old, well-solved idea: at its 2001-02 launch price of $195 for the bow and $255 for the full combo, it gave a parent a light 2.5-pound machined-aluminum frame, a MicroMax two-cam with a genuine 6 inches of draw-length growth, and a 15-to-45-pound weight window, enough for one bow to follow a child from the backyard at seven years old into the teenage years. The switch from the original Micro Midas's die-cast magnesium riser to machined aluminum is the real story of this generation, and it is what makes the bow feel like a scaled-down adult hunter rather than a toy. The press-free 3-inch draw adjustment is the feature a parent actually uses, re-sizing the bow at home as the child grows. Its honest limit is the ceiling, 45 pounds and a 27-inch draw, and the fact that it has been discontinued since 2002, so it is a used-market proposition that rewards a fresh string and a quick tune. In my experience a bow like this succeeds precisely because it asks so little of a small shooter: low holding weight, light mass, and forgiving proportions let a kid build real form instead of fighting the equipment. It is an excellent choice for the household that will pass one bow across several childhood seasons, or for a short-draw, lighter-poundage shooter who wants a genuinely light grow-with-me rig. Buyers who want the widest possible range all the way into a full adult draw weight should also look at the Bear Cruzer, and buyers who want a current youth grow-with-me bow with active brand support should also look at the Bowtech Rascal... read full review