Compound Bow Comparator

The BowTech Rascal is the rare mid-2000s BowTech that was never about speed - it is a featherweight, grow-with-me youth bow built to fit a child and keep fitting them, sold from 2002 through 2005 at a $279-to-$289 MSRP. Its strengths are the ones that matter for a first bow: about 2.2 pounds so a small archer can hold it, a tall forgiving brace, a high adjustable let-off that drops the holding weight to a few pounds, a 10-to-40-pound and 19-to-25-inch range that spans several years of growth, and the upgrade-limb retrofit that re-fits the bow instead of replacing it. The speed numbers are honest youth ratings, not adult IBO, and the grow-with-me parts are harder to find now that the bow is long discontinued, so a used buyer should plan the setup with a pro shop. What I keep coming back to is how well the basics are judged for the job - light, forgiving, and easy to hold at full draw, which is everything a kid learning to shoot actually needs. An excellent first bow for a family that wants one bow to carry a child from their first arrows into the pre-teen years. Parents starting a much younger or smaller child should look at the Diamond Atomic, while those who want a youth bow that grows toward a real hunting setup should look at the Bear Apprentice. Read full review...

The Diamond Atomic is the bow to reach for when the archer is genuinely small, and it solves that job better than anything near its $269 price. Its 12-to-24-inch draw and 6-to-29-pound range adjust at home without a press, so one 1.9-pound bow follows a child from a preschooler's first backyard arrows toward the day they move up to a full-size bow, and Diamond has kept the formula in the catalog continuously since 2012 for good reason. The all-aluminum riser, cams and limb pockets are the heart of it - on a bow that will be dropped, shared between siblings and left out in the yard, building it out of metal instead of plastic is the choice that keeps it shooting for years. The 191 fps rating marks it plainly as a learning and backyard bow rather than a hunting rig, which is exactly what a first bow should be, and the deep 70 percent let-off keeps a small child steady at full draw. What I keep coming back to is how low it starts: a 6-pound, 12-inch setting puts a real compound in the hands of a four or five year old, and very few bows at any price genuinely do that. It is an excellent choice for the parent putting a durable, real first bow in a small child's hands with room to grow, particularly strong for households sharing one bow between siblings. Families who need the range to reach a full hunting weight should also look at the Bear Limitless, and those who want one bow to carry a child from youth archery all the way into adult hunting might prefer the Mission Menace. Read full review...

The Bear Apprentice earned its long run by being honest about what it is: a light, durable, fully-equipped youth bow that adjusts across a 15-to-27-inch draw and a 20-to-50-pound weight range at home, no bow press required, and reaches a legal 50-pound hunting weight when the shooter is ready. It shoots gentlest in the lower two-thirds of its range where kids actually use it, ships Ready-to-Hunt in Realtree APG HD or Pink Camo at an entry-level package price, and, per repeated owner reports, holds up for years of hard backyard use. What I keep coming back to is the service life: families describe six seasons on one bow before a kid finally outgrows it, which is the whole promise of a grow-with-me design delivered. The one thing to understand going in is the coupled draw weight and draw length, so you set it up correctly for your shooter's size. An excellent first compound for the household where a young archer will grow from backyard targets to a first whitetail on the same bow, and it is particularly strong as a complete, tool-free-adjustable hunting setup on a budget. Buyers who want a single bow that stretches all the way to a full 70-pound adult draw should also look at the Diamond Infinite Edge, and those wanting a slightly larger frame or a bow-only option should look at the Bear Young Gun. Read full review...

• Built to grow with the child - BowTech sold upgrade limbs, cam, and strings, with a low-cost factory retrofit that re-limbs the bow as the kid gets bigger instead of making you buy a new one
• Featherweight at about 2.2 pounds, so a small child can actually hold it up, aim it, and hold steady long enough to learn good form
• Wide span for a youth bow - roughly 10 to 40 pounds of draw weight and a 19-to-25-inch draw reach from a first-timer up to a pre-teen
• Candy-colored finishes like SourApple, BubbleGum, and RazzelBerry are chosen for the young shooter, not the parent - a bow a kid wants to pick up

• Reaches the youngest shooter of any bow in its class - a 6-pound, 12-inch-draw floor lets a four or five year old shoot a real compound, then grows to 29 pounds and 24 inches on the modules as they do
• Adult-grade all-aluminum build - aluminum riser, cams and limb pockets where most youth bows use plastic, so it shrugs off being dropped, leaned over and left out in the yard
• Feather-light at 1.9 pounds - light enough that a small child can actually hold it up and keep their form through a full backyard session
• Complete ready-to-shoot package including arrows - out of the box to the first shot the same afternoon, with nothing else to buy to get started

• Draw length adjusts across 15-27 inches at home with no bow press, so one bow keeps fitting a growing kid
• Genuinely light at 2.9 pounds, easy for a small shooter to hold steady and aim
• Ships as a complete Ready-to-Hunt package that shoots straight out of the box
• Tops out at a legal 50-pound hunting weight, so it grows from the backyard to a first deer season
• Owners report years of use with the bow still tight and shooting well, strong value for the money

• The 246-to-262 fps speed is rated at a youth 40-pound, 25-inch, 200-grain setup, not the adult IBO standard, so judge it as a learning bow rather than cross-shopping it on fps against grown-up compounds
• Long discontinued, so the grow-with-me upgrade limbs and modules are now hard to source - a used buyer should confirm the right parts are available or plan on a custom string and a pro-shop setup

• It is a backyard and learning bow, not a hunting rig - 191 fps at a 29-pound ceiling is built for form and fun, and a child ready to hunt has outgrown it and should step up to a bigger bow like the Diamond Radian

• Draw weight and draw length are linked: the 20-pound floor exists only at the shortest 15-inch draw and climbs as you lengthen it (around 27 pounds at a 20-inch setting), so plan the setup around your shooter's size
• Not every owner loves the factory Whisker Biscuit rest, though any standard aftermarket rest drops in if you prefer a different feel