Saturday, October 28, 2017

Hoyt Satori

The Hoyt Satori review on my YouTube channel

Hoyt's latest hunting recurve bow...

When Hoyt archery announced their 2017 line-up, a couple of takedown recurve bows were dropped. 
Among them were the Hoyt Buffalo, Tiburon, Game Master II and Dorado. These were the bows using Hoyt's Formula limbs.
With some input from Fred Eichler, Hoyt's collaborator in recurve hunting bow designs, the new riser that came out for this year was the Hoyt Satori.
Instead of having multiple models, the Satori is sold as a system bow. You don't get the complete kit, but rather a choice of having a 17", 19" or 21" riser.
This year, the changes are apparent. No more Formula series limbs for the Satori. 
Hoyt uses the Grand Prix series limbs for the Satori which is available in short, medium and long configurations.
So, if you are a tall person with a long draw, a 21" riser will increase the bow's AMO length to 66". 
The standard wooden limbs for the Satori is sold separately so, that said, you will have to source for the riser and limbs together. One thing that was kept was the rolldown bow bag which is pretty cool.

Performance

I opted for a 21" riser and got a pair of standard limbs. This was back in March when the bow arrived in Malaysia through my dealer Excella Archery. 
What I don't get with the Satori, is a string. For this, I opted for the Flex Archery 18-strand flemish twist string (64").
Once I had the bow set up, I shot it off the shelf. It was dead accurate straight out of the box and I must say that I am very impressed with the Satori.
To take it to a higher notch, I trained with this bow and took it to the Thailand Princess Cup archery tournament. It took me as far as the 1/16 elimination rounds.
For a traditional bow, the performance is unquestionable.

Shooting the Satori at the range

The ILF limbs set up in seconds

can briser in blackout finish

The Satori can be rigged to hunt and there are a couple of good accessories that you can add onto the bow's riser.
The ILF limbs are really versatile with a 5-pound increment from 35-60lbs. If you want to shoot off the shelf at 3D tournaments, the 35-lb limb is perfect. To get the best out of it, Hoyt had also introduced the Carbon X-tour traditional limbs for the Satori. This takes the shooting experience to another level. The carbon laminated limbs with a bamboo core are out of this world in terms of smoothness and speed. I paired the Satori with the proven Easton Axis Traditional carbon shafts and use a spine higher to shoot 3D targets as well as paper target faces.
So far, I have nothing bad to say about the bow. This is the bow that I will bring for trad meets around the country and hopefully, for IBO shoots in the US someday...