Hello Gang,
The bow arrived already 4 weeks ago. But I wanted the euphoria phase to become less before I wrote this review about the Timberghost Apparition.
A few introducing remarks: I was since a long time on a quest in finding a one piece Longbow which had the same characteristics as a three piece design.
I have found already THE THREE PIECE LONGBOW: that is my Timberghost three piece hybrid Longbow. Till the today this bows combines all characteristics which are important for me.
Forgiving, accurate and easy to reproduce groups, a sweet draw, quiet at release, fast and a flat trajectory.
I had already contact with Kent for months, and we talked about a one piece Longbow, with a forwarded riser and which characteristics it should have.
The result was the “Apparition"!
Specifications of the bow:
Hybrid longbow, 60” 50#@30”. Riser section from fade-out to fade-out is about 20”long. The bow has, when strung, a strong reflex/deflex shape. The limbs have a relatively short working range ,due to the built-in tip wedges and a long riser section
Used materials:
Black Phenolic in riser, with Ziricote in the grip. Osage overlay on the belly and back of the riser. The limbs have a carbon back and black glass belly, with bamboo core material.
Osage/phenolic tips and Osage as limb saver overlays. Thumb rest: Osage/black phenolic.
The bow puts 1.5 lbs on the scale.
Craftsmanship:
Glue lines, choice of material, finish, all is done in a perfect way. It is not difficult to notice Kents’ love for detail here! The craftsmanship is impeccable, as with all bows from Kent I was blessed with to shoot till now!
Riser/ Limbs:
The grip with thumb rest fits my hand perfectly, like a glove. Kent has a good eye for the geometrics of a riser. All bows I test-drove form Kent till now, and who weren’t even built for me, had a grip which worked very well for me. But that is of course strictly a personnel matter…..
The limbs are very lean and filigree. At the fade-out the limbs have a width of 1”and at the tips about 0.5”. The tips are the smallest and most filigree I have ever seen on a bow.
As expected, the limbs show a lot of reflex/deflex when strung and the limbs work in a relatively short range. Vertical stability is good.
My ideal brace height is at 8”. But I am sure that under that, the bow will perform very well too. But under the 8“ the string touches the limbs!
The riser is cut -1/18” past center, when using a strike plate just about center cut.
Performance / Handling:
The bow has an astonishing “butter” sweet draw. And that without any problems till 31”. No stacking and/or fingerpinch at my 30”draw.
I don’t own a chrono, but I feel that this bow is smoking fast, I would even say it is a tad faster than my three piece Timberghost with triple carbon limbs, and is on par with my Centauer and ACS CX bows.
The trajectory is remarkable flat. My shots were in the first two weeks at longer ranges (30-50 yards) all too high. That says it all.
The bow is, just like my 3-pce design, very forgiving, due to the forwarded riser and it shoots, despite of its low mass, very accurate and precisely for me.
As handling; it shoots like a 66” longbow.
I use a 8 strands SBD string with cat whiskers for this bow. BTW: the SBd string is a perfect string for that bow! The bow is deadly silent.. I am really amazed… I shot it also without cat whiskers and even then the bow is very quiet, the only thing you hear is a “thiinngg” from the string which vibrates a little bit after the release. I can imagine one could hunt with this set-up without any silnecers at all…
Together with my Javaman Falcon is this the most quiet bow I ever shot.
What impresses me the most, is that the Apparation, despite of its low mass, has no noticeable handshock or vibrations…. You really can’t notice anything. Kent must have tillered that bow to perfection.
My three pce Timberghost is also that quiet and handshock free, but the one piece has 30% less mass!!!!
An important part: arrow tuning. Also here only fat plusses… The bow is incredibly spine tolerant, so very easy to tune.
From GT Traditional 3555, 5575, till Powerflight 500 and 400; it worked all out! After 10 minutes tuning I found already the perfect set-up for my tournaments! The bow just loves stiff arrows. I shoot Powerflight 400 with a 20 grains insert and a 125 grains fieldpoint and a length of 31”. A GT Traditional 5575, 31.5”long, with a 12 grains insert and 105 grains fieldpoint performs equally well. The bow transfers a whole lot of energy to the arrow!
In the past I owned several one piece Bows LOL But I always had the problem that they ware very fast, but unfortunate very sensible too. It was hard for me to shoot a tight group with those bows. And to reproduce it. Or they were forgiving and accurate, but did not perform well. And so on….
With the Apparation it is a whole other story. I found a one piece bow I can shoot constantly well at my 3D tournaments .
It combines the characteristics which are important for me in a bow. Perfect easy handling, together with lots of speed and extreme quietness in the shot. Really easy shooting.
For me it is an outstanding bow for tournaments in spite it was designed for hunting.
Ken designed a terrific one piece concept.
I have a new favorite, I can recommend The “Apparition” without any doubt!
Wanna thank my Brother Ad for helping me with the translation. And hope he will add the pictures
Topic: TimberGhost "Apparition" (Read 896 times)
