Hoyt Buffalo or 3Rivers Dalaa

[Maze]

My son broke my lower limb on my Dream Catcher. Now I'm in the market for a new bow. I have it narrowed down to the Hoyt Buffalo or the 3Rivers Dalla.

Help me decide!

[JamesKerr]

I have not shot either bows, but if I had to choose between the two of them I would go with the Buffalo. The Dalaa seems like a great bow, I just don't like the idea of a plunger. It seems to me that while hunting it could get bumped and cause your tuning to go all out of wack. The Dalaa is available in an ILF setup though which would allow you to use other ILF limbs if you wanted. Both bows seem like they would be great bows. Sorry for your loss of the Dream Catcher.

[excelpoint]

If you have bumped your bow that hard to move a plunger I would be more worried about other damage to the bow.

I have shot both and both are good shooters. I think you would like either. Personally I would lean towards the Daala just because of the availability of different limbs at good prices.

[AMB]

Dalaa, without question, for me.  The adjustability far outweighs the Buffalo.  The Dalaa can be shot off of the shelf, as well as a rest.  I don't use a plunger, but a springy rest is a bombproof hunting rest and can be made completely silent with some Dr. Scholl's moleskin.  I would rather have the option of a plunger hole than not.

[ckanous]

I have never shot a Dalaa so I can't compare them but I do have a Buffalo and it truly is a great bow so I gotta give the Hoyt a thumbs up. If you feel like you would like to switch out limbs then the Dalaa is for you. I did the ILF thing but once I found the setup I liked I never changed or could afford to. Basically you need to ask yourself if you want more options with the Dalaa which I believe costs more than the Hoyt also. Good luck

[wingnut]

I would go for the Dalaa riser and upgraded limbs.  The nice thing about the Dalaa is that you have a world full of limbs to choose from.  So far Hoyt is the only one building limbs for the Buffalo.

Mike

[reddogge]

I do own a Buffalo and have been shooting it since last April and it is a wonderful shooting and tough bow.

I also just purchased an ILF Morrison and a pair of wingnut's fine Epic limbs and that is a great shooting combo.

So it's hard to chose and I feel I have two great combos to play with now. The Buffalo has more mass weight in the riser so if you like that it is a plus. If you don't it's a minus. There are so many great limbs out there for ILF it's mind boggling.

[koger]

What wingnut said, Dalaa is one of the best bows out there. I have use a plunger on wheelie bows and recurves for 30 years, have yet to damage one while hunting or shooting. Plunger buttons make bows super easy to tune, by dialing pressure up or down, you can shoot a wide variety of shafts/spines with the same bow. I fixed up an ILF for a guy the other day, tinkered around 20 minutes changing springs and adjustments  and his bow was shooting 6 differnt arrows, huge difference in weights and spines, all shot like darts to 25 yds, as far as we shot.

[owlbait]

I haven't shot the Dalaa. I did shoot the Buffalo. Not impressed. The Dalaa has a longer history behind it, with more flexibility. I'd vote Dalaa.

[Bill Carlsen]

I am partial to the Dalaa. You have many more options for limbs and adjustments. With the Buffalo you are stuck with Hoyt limbs (there are much better limbs on the market you could put on a Dalaa riser). I tried to convince Fred Eichler to get Hoyt to do an ILF version of the Buffalo for that reason but they want  you to have to use Hoyt limbs. What Wingnut said makes the most sense. On the other hand, the best limbs that come with the Dalaa are very high performance limbs to begin with. I have a DAS riser and have shot Hoyt limbs on it and they do not have the speed and stability of the other limb options I have tried. They are good but too many other limbs just outshoot them and with the Dalaa riser you can pick any ILF limb you want and you can shoot off the shelf or use an elevated rest. Tuning options on the Dalaa are unlimited....not the case with the Buffalo....IMO.

[Turkeys Fear Me]

If it is only between the two mentioned I would go with the Dalaa.  If I had my choice though, I would choose one of the ILF risers available today.  If you like the Dalaa, check out the Titan, it's close in geometry.

[JParanee]

I have a buffalo and I like it

But I would go wih a riser that excepted ILF limbs

Look at

Dahla

Morrison

Dryad

Border

[Kentucky Jeff]

I have owned both and liked the Buffalo more than the Dalaa.

But I will tell you that 3 Rivers has an excellent guarantee with the Dalaa.  You can buy it and shoot it and if you don't like it after I think--30 days--you can send it back and they will refund your money.  That's what I did.

I really wouldn't sweat the availability of limbs thing.  True, the Buffalo only can use Hoyt limbs.  They are pretty good limbs!   I personally didn't see much difference between either bow in terms of limbs.  

True, the Dalaa has more adjustment and you can use an elevated rest which you really can't with the Buffalo.

But for me, this was a hunting bow not a target bow and I wanted to shoot off the shelf.  

Once I got my Buffalo dialed in it was a very good, quiet bow.  The string that comes with it (like the string that comes with the Dalaa FWIW) is not worth a nickle.  Spend $20 on a skinny string from SBD or Oliver Stacey. (Josh).

The Buffalo is a well thought out bow and shoots well off the shelf.  I didn't care much for the factory grip on either bow...but the Dalaa has several options while the Buffalo only has two.  But the standard Buffalo grip is kinda weird to me.

Try a Dalaa and if you aren't happy with it send it back and you won't be out anything.

[bmfer]

I have owned a Buffalo and loved it. Killed my first deer with a recurve last year. Then traded it even up for a Dalaa. They were exactly the same specs, 60"  55# @ 28". I shoot more consistently off an elevated rest. That was the only reason I got rid of the Buffalo.  If the Hoyt had a plunger hole I'd still be shooting it. As far as adjustability, they are virtually the same bow. Major differences are grip and plunger hole. The DAS probably has a grip that would be closer to your Dream Catcher.

[kenn1320]

I really like the buffalo, but havent owned either. The only reason I would lean towards the dalaa, is cause it can use Sky limbs and the pair I have are awesome! As others have mentioned though, once you find a set of limbs you like, your not going to be changing limbs. The buffalo comes with F2 limbs I believe and hoyt is already up to F7. If you want faster/smoother limbs, you do have options, just have to stick with hoyt(which is a good thing).

[reddogge]

One note about the Buffalo and ILF limbs. The F2 limbs are a maple core limb with a layer of carbon. It performs extremely well compared to a comperable ILf limb. The higher F3,4,7 limbs are carbon/foam technology competition limbs which are comperable to most premium ILF carbon/foam limbs and you pay for this technology and performance with either limb system.

I have found the Buffalo limbs to be very tough having dropped mine, knocked them over in 3-D shoots and whacked them full strength on overhanging limbs many times, and whacked them on climbing stand side rails. Everything short of throwing them out of a tree or dropping on a road from the roof of a car. In short I've abused them and not a mark on them.

[gvdocholiday]

I have a Buffalo....and I have the new DX5.  I'm loving the DX5...but they are two different animals.  

The Buffalo is scary with how easy it is too shoot, but the DX5 is much lighter in mass weight and the set of Medium sky limbs I have on it right now are very smooth for 53 lbs.

[dino]

I've shot both the Dalaa and the Buffalo back to back on muliple occassions and feel there is no comparison of the two.  For me the Dalaa is way better shooting, comfortable and adjustable.  Plus the limb options are emense.  Really partial to the new DX5 right now too.  With extra long foam core limbs it may replace my Dalaa in the field this fall. dino

[T-D]

I own a Buffalo and I like it. It is smooth and quiet "after some tinkering" I don't know anything about the other. For the price the Buffalo is well worth it. JMO

[Ulysseys]

Buffalo - made to shoot instinctively off the shelf - I'm not looking for thousands of options in a trad bow - just a simple solid performer.  The Buff fits this bill and is scary accurate.