Best Bows for 2013: The 2012 Bowtech Insanity CPXL is a Contender

I must drive marketing guys nuts. Their job is to get the hottest, newest, brand-spankinest stuff into my hands so I can be instantaneously bowled over by how wonderful it is and tell you folks all about it just before the product hits the shelves. Alas, I’m often a little slow. It sometimes takes me a while to fully grasp how I feel about this or that.

Take Bowtech’s 2012 Insanity CPXL. Last spring, I set one up, shot it a bunch, and told you all, right here, that I liked it just fine. And why not? There’s nothing not to like. Then I put the bow on the wall, where it has hung, doing exactly nothing, for about a year.

This year, starting at the ATA show in January, I have shot pretty much every new flagship bow for 2013, many of them extensively. During the past month or so, I’ve put thousands of arrows through the best new models. And then last week, just for the hell of it, I took the CPXL off the wall and started shooting it again.

Holy crap this is a nice bow.

I can’t say that the 2012 Insanity CPXL is the best bow available for 2013 (which it still is) because our tests of this year’s new models are ongoing. What I can tell you is that in the midst of testing the latter, I am a little thunderstruck by the former.

For a 340-fps-IBO bow, it is wonderfully easy to draw. Several years back, I blew out my right should testing bows and until last week hadn’t pulled more than 65 pounds since. I didn’t notice at first that the CPXL was set at 70, but I didn’t have any trouble drawing it, and so I’ve left it that way.

At 35 inches axle-to-axle and 4.4 pounds, it is built for stability and forgiveness more than maneuverability and quick handling. That may not suit your style of hunting. But for the accuracy-obsessed hunter who doesn’t mind carrying a little extra weight, it’s just the thing. Because it is a shooter, at least it is for me.

My average 60-yard, 3-shot group this spring, based on hundreds of groups, has been between 4.5 and 5.5 inches. Yesterday, 10 groups from the CPXL (set up with a Hostage rest, Trophy Ridge Cypher 5 sight, and 10-3/8-inch Doinker EFDF stabilizer) averaged 2.97 inches. I figured that had to be a fluke, so I shot 10 more groups at 60 this morning. They averaged 3.21 inches.

There are a lot of very good new bows for 2013, and we’ll be talking more about them soon. But if it were me shopping for my next compound, last year’s Insanity CPXL would be on the short list for sure.