So, you've just gotten into archery, have been shooting with club kit for a bit, and are looking into buying your own setup. Here's a small guide to choosing the best kit for you!
1. Choosing your bowstyle
During your beginner's course, you will have learned to shoot using a recurve bow. You may have noticed, however, that people have been shooting other types of bows, with different techniques. The main other styles our members practice are barebow, compound, longbow, and horse-bow. The best way to choose the style that suits you is by trying as many as possible. We can help with this by providing bowstyle taster sessions. Keep an eye out on our social media for more information and dates.
Compound bow (far left), Recurve bow (left), Barebow (center), Horsebow (right), Longbow (far right)
2. Setting your budget
As you may have gathered from other members of your club, archery equipment isn't cheap. For an entry-level compound bow, you're looking at up to £1000 for a brand new setup. For a recurve bow or barebow, a basic setup could take you up to £200. Longbow and horse-bow setups tend to start at about £150. Websites like Sell My Bow and Facebook have countless listings for used bows, which cost a fraction of the price but come at a risk of being damaged, or having been badly taken care of. This is especially the case when it comes to arrows and limbs.
3. Choosing a Shop
If you decide to go down the safe route and buy new kit, we'd suggest buying your kit from a combination of both Merlin Archery and Quicks Archery.
Quicks have dealt with many of our club members and is our go-to shop for kit for the club too. They also have a store nearby in Honiton, and talking to a person and trying out kit before buying it is sooo much easier than trying to find stuff online!
Good luck with choosing your bow, it's a very exciting time that all archers remember!
As always, the committee and coaches are here to help and always happy to answer questions. Especially seeing there's always a risk of buying something that isn't quite right for you, whether it's your 1st of 50th time buying archery kit!