The MOST VERSATILE BOW in years??? | Bear Alaskan XT Long-Term Review

(This is a video transcription and may include spelling errors, check the full video out for exact information)

Intro/Overview.

It is time for our long-term review of the new Bear Alaskan XT, something we've been wanting to do for a while. So let's jump into it!

Hey everybody, D Von here at the B Outdoors Archery Pro Shop with the Bear Alaskan XT. Let me catch you all up with what this Bow's about. It has a 336 IBO, and we do have a full speed test video on our YouTube channel if you want to check it out. It has a bunch of different draw weights, which helps out on this one. It's a 33-inch axle-to-axle, so a pretty decent length. The wheelbase, which is the distance from cam to cam, is 37 and 3/4 inches. It has a 6 and 1/4 inch brace height. As for draw length adjustment, it ranges from 25 to 30 inches and rotates in the cam on the module, making it simple to adjust. It's marked with numbers for the draw length, which makes life easier. It also has the new DHC XR hybrid cam, which offers different adjustments and a slightly different profile than the previous models. It includes an optional limb stop for those who prefer a harder back wall. In the real world, the draw length tends to be a half to 5/8 inches longer than what's set on the module. The bow weighs about 4.2 pounds without any additional accessories.

Colors/Price.

Regarding colors, there are several options available. This model features bottomland limbs with a black riser, but there are also solid stone, olive green, and fredbear limb with a black riser options. Interestingly, the price remains the same for all color variants, priced at $529.99 for the bow alone and $620.99 for the ready-to-hunt package.

Ready to Hunt Package.

The ready-to-hunt package includes a four-pin sight, a biscuit rest, a stock stabilizer, a stock sling, and a quiver. While the components are generally decent, some adjustments might be necessary. For instance, the sight mount and the sight itself may need tightening, and the sight light might need replacement for better brightness control. The biscuit rest may require replacement after around 500 shots due to wear. However, the stock stabilizer and quiver are considered satisfactory.

One MUST Change.

One aspect that definitely needs changing is the stock peep tube, which tends to malfunction after a few shots. Replacing it with an aluminum peep improves reliability, speed, and reduces noise.

What we've learned long-term.

Long-term use of the Bear Alaskan XT reveals some common issues that can affect performance. Out of the box, some adjustments may be necessary, such as ensuring proper cam timing, adjusting the arrow rest, and securing the cable rod and module screws. Additionally, wear and tear on the stock strings may become apparent after around a thousand shots, making aftermarket strings a worthwhile investment for frequent shooters. Regular maintenance, such as checking the draw stop and peep alignment, is also recommended to ensure optimal performance. Despite some minor imperfections, the Bear Alaskan XT remains a solid choice, especially with the option for aftermarket upgrades.

**Draw Cycle and Anchor Point Stability:**
the draw stop uh we're going to show that up close here but that's what you're going to see they're going to wear right there just from taking that screw in and out it eats a little bit of the finish off no cause for alarm that's how they are now what to expect tuning it's another section of this I wanted to add since this is a longterm review and What to expect tuning. what we've learned and well these bows do paper tune well they really do that's something that some of the single C bows kind of struggle with sometimes but as long as you're not torquing the bow which is literally twisting the bow at this at your Bow hand and you're not pressing the string deep and hard into your face you're going to be able to get results out of this bow we've tuned a ton of these shipped them out both in store had a lot of customers come in we've tuned them with the customer we've shipped these bows tuned to customers and golly I've not had any problems and there's no telling how many we've done and done over the years but long story short as long as you're not torquing the bow you're not not putting your face on the string real hard it's going to do well now to make the paper tune happen something we have to do a reputable shop has to do you set the center Shot in the middle the airr and then you twist the yolk legs until you get it right now that also includes shimming the cam on the bottom sometimes to get that straight I know there's a lot kind of in this kind of a technical deal but long story short the adjustments to get them perfect you got to have a bow press you got to have a reputable shot where you got to have us do uh so that we can go through there whoever and get it right so it performs like it's adverti to cuz out of the box once more I want to make it real clear is out of the box they're a little bit rough the Bow's really good but how you set them up devil is in the details and these Bowls do meet my expectation of they can and are capable of taking a fixed blade Broadhead and a field point and at 40 and 50 yards and I've done this customer bows have done this and they shoot identical so that is possible with these bows now that's going to be a huge amount of of tuning of araban of skill of consistency to make that happen but the bow itself without the human involved is 100% capable of that where some of the single cam bows bear does the adapt included sometimes it's a little tougher to achieve that but these bows really confident in that now Broadhead wise there's a crapload of options I ain't even going to get into that but what I can tell you is the Magna Stinger the fixed blade four it's a four blade fixed one of the best shooting heads out of this bow just on average don't come at in the comments that oh this that the other shoots great too well it does we've tried a lot but there's one I'm confident in from a tuning perspective with these bows Magna [Music] Thoughts while shooting. Stinger so now you guys know what to expect from a technical perspective there's a few things to make you better a few things that are awesome out of the box and a few things uh you know in between that but now for the shooting experience now of course there's a lot of opinion here just like there always is but I'm going to give you my opinion of how it shoots how it draws how the Anchor Point and the valley and the let off all that stuff is and tell you how it holds on target things like that we'll start with just the first shot not going to add a lot to this I'm just going to shoot just tell you what I got for about 65 lbs that way it's in a NE normal draw weight for me same link hair bit of vibration when it shoots expected this price point for sure fairly quiet um I don't have a decibel meter I'd like to like to get that going at some point but in all reality have shot these bows quite a bit outside and man they're they're as quiet as most all the other bare bows I know if you not ever had one that's kind of a loaded question loaded point but point being is it's a really Qui bow in all in in reality if you shoot it from 60 80 yards across the yard somebody's standing you know away from you they really don't know the bow fired so it's kind of what kind of noise level we're talking so it definitely acceptable for a 59 or what5 29.99 bar about now let's talk about hot draws real specific so of course we've got weight up front it's a hybrid cam that's how these things go weit at the middle there I guess it's not quite the middle now we're about the middle starting to ease off it eases off a bunch that lasts about 4 or 5 in and it I know it looked a little bit aggressive when it rolled over but it's really not let me shoot this one drawing that slow for any bow a little tough to do so we get that Midway point right there it starts to get easier starts to get easier falls into that Valley into that back wall if I pull into it there's just a little bit of give and I like just a hair bit of give I like to be able to pull against the wall to make it fire when I pull through the shot and then when you go to let it down it's got definitely got some Valley so with it not wanting to jump and run it does make it pleasurable to shoot some of the really really aggressive which that's how you get speed some of them are okay to shoot some of them are fine to shoot some are really comfortable and some of them or not but this bow it's the uh antithesis to that it's a really nice draw I hate to say smooth but from the draw cycle to the valley to even letting it down see how much I can get away with there's probably an inch there at least but the the whole package there as much as Smooths kind of a crap word for this stuff it really does describe it though it's all kind of a fluid motion drawn uh I've got guys that are shooting these that got bad shoulders things like that um that are it's tough to find them a bow that they can draw and not hurt from and this bow has definitely been one of those that has slotted into that category um and it still has pretty good feet per second and then with this string angle which I'm a 29 in draw it's measures about 29 and2 right now I can leave my head straight up hit my knuckles with my jaw turn my nose to the string and I'm anchored I don't have to do all this I don't have to do all that I don't have to do all this I can stay in a pretty normal position and anchor and shoot and not have to feel like I've got a hunt for my Anchor Point cuz when you go to having a hunt for that Anchor Point or it's awkward or you're shooting a 30-in straw and a 28 in Bow that ain't no kind of fun now what's really cool is if you're shooting like a 27 in draw with this bow the string angle feels like a target bow a 378 in Bow feels for me that's how much it helps at having a little bit bigger cam the limbs

don't compress quite as much they do go parallel but long Riser really really helps that out a bunch you know to me shooting the soo some you know if you're recording it for sure you always think about other things is uh compared to the Alaskan from last year and the Resurgence from last year which I really like those bows not going to hide that fact at all they were good shooting bows it draws I mean very very similar to those but having this longer Riser when I draw back and aim On Target it doesn't move around very much let's draw back there's a Vegas face down there I don't guess it SED in but that don't matter we'll draw back on this Vegas face tell you what I got it's staying within probably like half of the nine ring it's definitely a little bit bigger than the tend ring but I'm not myself I'm not floating outside the yellow on a Vegas face at all but that's just me everybody's experience going to be different on that I know but I know what bows some bows do for me I know what some bowls don't do for me but this longer Riser uh being the 80% let off as well you see have a little bit of holding weight there really really aims good and it's a good it's a good angle here the reflex is not too crazy so pretty sweet and it doesn't really when you when you get there to full draw it don't feel like it dumps and falls back and it does all this here let me exaggerate it doesn't feel like it does all this this stuff it feels like it's just really really easy back there uh I don't really like a bowl that you hit the back wall and you're just like that's just especially hunting sometimes draw back on an animal and you've got all that extra movement it's it's kind of tough sometimes and sometimes you get used to that draw cycle cuz in reality you shoot any bow for 6 months pretty well get used to the draw cycle now if it's a little too aggressive maybe not but this thing I'm pretty I'm pretty at home with how this draws for myself personally and I've not had anybody uh through all the ones we've sold have any complaint with the draw cycle if I had to call it average in a positive way that's what I'd say very average good draw cycle it's not real crazy any which way which lends to it being reliable lends to it tuning well uh lends to it being uh a wide accepted bow I guess you would say and there's a lot of bows kind of in this category but to my knowledge this is about the only bow that's this length that shoots like this has this long riser in this price point at all usually you got to spend th plus Flagship level bow to get something that shoots like this does now on this shot I'm going to hold the bow really tight like you're not supposed to do and I'm going to shoot it and get an idea of what kind of vibration you can fill it fire sure you can fill it push back into your hand slightly which is pretty well normal for this level bow for all the ones I've ever shot it's got a little bit of residual vibration I have run different stabilizers on these it does eat up some of that um the actual some actual string lengths can help too and really the gas strings do help that a little bit more I think just because they use a different uh uh speed knock on the end of the string so there's a few things that certainly you could improve but still can't really complain well guys if y'all like this video enjoying it like you have a lot of our reviews well just go on our social media give us a like give us a follow of course subscribe to our channel here on YouTube like the video all that stuff always helps uh helps reach helps us get out there helps you guys get to see more of this kind of thing uh and definitely uh go to our social media go to our website at better outdoors.net if you're want to get one of these bows we have them in stock we can ship them tuned you can come in our store and get them we're located in lanto Arkansas we're about 45 minutes from Jonesboro Arkansas and about 45 minutes from Memphis Tennessee so if you're in the mids South well I know a guy that sells Bare bows and sells a bunch of them we're the number one dealer in Arkansas so that means we get to see them at their best and at their worst so we have a lot we can offer to make the bows that much better it's kind of in the name better Outdoors we want to make them that much better and feel like we usually can so definitely go check that out and well let's get back to it so always get this Who's this for?. question every video every comment every Post phone calls text email what have you who's this bow for is this bow for me and what do you think of it well this is the part where we can get away from maybe some of the facts kind of more the feelings if you know what I mean so saying this B for everybody that's way too extreme that's always too extreme I don't care I don't care who you are that's too extreme to say for any bat however this is probably the most vertu bow in a long time that we've sold and I mean a long time probably six or eight or 10 years even cuz this bow is able to fit a lot of different needs in niches not just draw length that's that's kind of an aside we'll get to that but more so is if you're new to Bow Hunter archery this is a really really good option just because it's a long axle to axle long Riser it's comfortable to shoot you have the pck mount on the back or on the front of the site rather you have the mxr on the back might as well just say it's all integr uped so you can upgrade to cooler accessories better accessories over time not that you can't put a side in the side of the bow like normal but you can get some stuff that looks more high-end professional sharp nice you know how it is you want your stuff to look good if you going to spend the money and also you have that low stabilizer hole so as you go forward and you decide hey I want to try a a real stabilizer like a eight or 10 inch like a trophy rid Hitman or a a conquest or a beasting or whatever you can do that and you can put a real and a good like a shrewd sidebar bracket on this bow something nice so you're not boxed into maybe cheaper accessories not as nice stuff something you can be proud of does that make sense I suppose the other thing and this does come back to draw length this draw length range 25 to 30 that really covers a lot of people in all honesty teenagers male and female adults we've got a lot of ladies that are starting to shoot these bows CU they're relatively light for the bow a longer axle axle so you get almost if you're like a 267 in draw you almost get a target bow string angle in a $529.99 if you do it bare bow so very interesting there it's something I've really like to see now if you're over a 30in draw I'm going ahead to add this in there well they build the bare Paradigm have a review on that as well but Paradigm it's going to go like to over a 30in draw it's goes like 32 so gives you some more options but in the realm of this bow this really and

it really Compares with the higher-end bows if you're a serious bow hunter so I wouldn't just box this in to saying well this is a good first bow and that's all that can be that's why it's sub veral to me is personally I've got one of these that I've got set up and I've been shooting and I'm going to hunt with it some cuz I really like this platform now is this the best bow once more no there's no best bow it's a good one though I'll say that this is year 14 for us we've seen a lot of bows come and go we've sold a lot of bows we've sold some that well you just had to sell them and that's just how they were but in reality this is one of the better ones of of them allall probably the best one I've seen for sure in a long time now we also have this question a lot too is would I recommend this over the adapt plus we get this daily I would personally it's not for everybody controversial opinion I prefer this bow over the adapt because it Tunes a lot better it's a lot faster and it gives you more options for accessories plus it's a little bit longer axle and that longer Riser so there's a lot to unpack there there's a lot to uh consider so I guess I'd say if you're looking for a bow that's really versatile can do a lot of things enjoy a whole lot and keep for a while well it ask an ex is probably it so if you want to get one of those you can get them from us you can get them from a reputable local Pro Shop to you depending on where you're at there's a lot of places that sell them all places that don't however but our website it's always open if you want to get one there and our in store shop too so want to get in Alaskan XT well there you [Music] go