samick devastator

[buckskin2]

anybody know anything about the Samick Devastator?  needing a new recurve and don't have the $$ for a higher end bow at the moment any input would be a big help.

[Rob W.]

If it were me I would buy a bow off the classifieds on here instead.

[VictoryHunter]

x2 on the used bow. You will get more bow for your money.

[skunkhound]

X 3. The Devastator looks tempting, but you can gat a great US made used bow for that price.

[mahantango]

X3 on the used bow. Most bang for your buck, it's a buyers market right now. Also, the Samick will have no resale value, whereas a quality U.S. made bow, even a second or third hand one can be resold for nearly what you paid for it.

[McDave]

It's a nice looking bow, precision made as are other Samicks I've seen. I have two lower poundage Samicks that I use for my grandchildren and students that I've never had any problems with.

But the problem is, too many Samicks  seem to be delaminating or just breaking (which is a pretty significant problem, kind of like the guy who asked Mrs Lincoln, "Other than that, how did you like the play?").  For example, look up the thread in this forum called "3 Day Old Bow Broke as I went to Shoot."  I have a friend who had the same thing happen to him with a Samick bow last year.

Other bowyers will go years without any of their bows breaking.  For example, Bob Morrison once got some beautiful exotic wood that I found out about and asked him to make me a riser out of it.  He later called me and said he couldn't because an earlier one he made for a customer had cracked and he tested it and didn't feel like it was strong enough for his standards.  So not only wouldn't he make one for me, he recalled all the other ones he had made for other people out of that wood and either refunded their money or made risers for them out of a stronger wood.  Knowing Bob's customers, I doubt any of them asked for a refund.  And yet here we have a half dozen or so broken Samicks that I know about within a fairly short period of time, and how many are there that I don't know about?

Samicks are sold by reputable dealers, such as Lancaster, Three Rivers, and Cabelas, and I am sure they will replace any broken bows, just as my friend's bow was replaced.  However, that is a hassle and a break while shooting the bow could be dangerous.

On the positive side, I'm sure that the great majority of Samicks don't break, they don't cost very much, and they are a fun bow to shoot.  They are designed to be a good beginner bow.  They probably shoot better than some of the used bows you will find listed for comparable prices, and the used bows won't be backed up by a major company's warranty.

However, I will agree with others that it is certainly possible to find a used bow for a comparable price that is better made and shoots better.  It will also hold resale value better, because the biggest decline in value is from the new price to the used price; a quality bow doesn't drop much in value after that, unless it gets damaged.  But without experience, it would probably be difficult for you to know what's a really good deal on a used bow and what's not, so I can see where that could be a problem unless you have some help.

[BellaMorte]

Hey, I'm the person who had the samick break half way through my draw. This was my second samick bow that broke on me. I shot maybe 60 arrows through it and there was no sign of wear on the bow. Mine was a one piece, so u may be fine, but for that price I'd look at a bear bow, I believe u can get a new grizzly at that price, although it is a one piece. My eye and sight is more important than money, which is why Im going to upgrade to a custom reliable bow. Something left a bruise a half an inch below my eye, now I use eyewear, don't care how "goofy" I may look and I'm only 23

[rick7]

used bow on the classified would be my choice

[cbCrow]

I know of several people here that have Samick bows and love them, including a Devastator. The boy that owns it just got a new set of heavier limbs for it and loves the bow and has had no problem with it. If you look into deep enough all the negative stuff being written can be applied to every bow manufacturer. Ive seen good bows including "custom" delaminate, riser cracks,limb shear,etc and know it happens to all. Eight months ago I bought a used Bear bow,2years old, for my niece and it lasted about three months before the upper limb broke. The real key is how they honor their warranty and how your treated when something happens. Buy the bow and see what happens, probably a 1 in 20,000 chance something will. Just my 2 cents on this subject.

[paoliguy]

My son and his buddy have been shooting Samicks for quite some time now with no issues. They are holding up fine. For the same money, I have picked up a couple of used bows for myself and likewise no problems. For me, I would feel fairly confident either way ....

Used bow, your best bet.

[Ringneck]

I have owned 3 Samick Stingray's in 45,50, and 55 pounds and they were fine bows. The Devestator is an upper end Samick so you could more than likely find a used bow in your price range from a custom maker. I guess it comes down to new or used.

[TGbow]

When you produce a large volume of bows you will have a higher % of failure rate.
When you look at how many bows Samick produces, it stands to reason there will be more failures.

[McDave]

I don't know of any reason why the number of bows you produce should affect your % of failure rate, other than poor quality control.  Actual number of failures, yes, % of failures, no.  For example Black Widow produces a lot more bows than Bob Morrison, but my impression is that they both have good quality control.  So let's say that BW produces 5,000 bows a year and Morrison produces 500 (just making numbers up).  If there were problems with 50 BW bows and 5 Morrison bows, I would say that they each had about the same quality control and a failure rate of 1%.  But if BW had 50 bows fail and Morrison had 10 bows fail, then I would worry about Morrison's quality control (again, just making numbers up to illustrate a point).

While all evidence about Samick's failure rate is anecdotal and we don't know what their actual failure rate is (or anybody else's), it is probably significant that a number of people are writing in saying that their Samick bows are breaking, whereas very few people are writing in saying that the bows they are getting from custom bowyers are breaking.

[TGbow]

Originally posted by McDave:
I don't know of any reason why the number of bows you produce should affect your % of failure rate, other than poor quality control.  Actual number of failures, yes, % of failures, no.  For example Black Widow produces a lot more bows than Bob Morrison, but my impression is that they both have good quality control.  So let's say that BW produces 5,000 bows a year and Morrison produces 500 (just making numbers up).  If there were problems with 50 BW bows and 5 Morrison bows, I would say that they each had about the same quality control and a failure rate of 1%.  But if BW had 50 bows fail and Morrison had 10 bows fail, then I would worry about Morrison's quality control (again, just making numbers up to illustrate a point).

While all evidence about Samick's failure rate is anecdotal and we don't know what their actual failure rate is (or anybody else's), it is probably significant that a number of people are writing in saying that their Samick bows are breaking, whereas very few people are writing in saying that the bows they are getting from custom bowyers are breaking.

Yes, you're correct. What I meant was, the more of any product you produce, the more failures yo will have because you're producing more items.