GrizzlyStik Qarbon Nano QN2 Review

 62" AMO 47#@27"

One particular take down longbow I have had my eye on for some time is the GrizzlyStik Qarbon Nano.  Since the time I had first noticed this bow, Alaska Bowhunting Supply (ABS) has since revised the bow with some improvements and now we have the Qarbon QN2 model reviewed here.  In-depth reviews of the second generation Qarbon are somewhat scarce, so I hope this review would provide some help to anyone who happens to have an interest in the bow.  According to the ABS website, the Qarbon was a bow designed from the ground up to shoot a heavy arrow and shoot it fast.  I prefer heavier arrows in general so let's see how the Qarbon does.


*** 2/18/17 Update***
3Rivers Archery has indeed picked up the Qarbon QN2.  The folks at 3Rivers are very knowledgeable and pleasant to talk to and I am glad they are the ones who are the new distributors of the QN2.  Scroll to the bottom of this review to see more details about this update.



- Riser -

The 15" riser is a solid all-carbon construction and feels very strong and sturdy.  The sight window is cut 3/8" past center and the shelf is mildly radiused.  I would have liked to see a more pronounced curvature of the shelf to facilitate off-the-shelf shooting so as to reduce the amount of arrow contact, but this works as well.  If I was going to be picky, I could always stick a toothpick or other shim to make a small hump at the Berger hole.

Present are two Berger holes - one at the level of the shelf and one above for shooting off a rest.  I love having the two-hole feature on my risers as I like shooting with a plunger off the shelf, or I can go with an elevated flipper rest with said plunger.  Even if a plunger is not used, one can simply apply a bit of felt pad, leather, or soft-sided Velcro to the end of a 5/16" bolt and use it as an adjustable strike plate.  Regardless, having a Berger hole is always a welcome feature.  The 3/8" past center shelf is great because it gives sufficient clearance for pretty much any kind of rest/plunger set-up one would like to use.  Often times, traditional bows are cut to center or just barely past center and even though it may have a Berger hole, the archer is limited to only the thinnest rests or only using a 5/16" bolt.

All-carbon riser.  Fairly reflexed geometry puts the grip further towards the string, effectively lowering brace height.

The flat mating surfaces between the riser and limbs are lined by a rubber pad and keyed by way of two steel pins and a bolt.  The limbs fit on the riser snugly yet easily, and there is not even the slightest hint of play between the them.  This bow is a bolt-down type so no tiller or draw weight adjustments are available.  For the experienced archer who has settled on their draw weight and length, the simplicity of a fixed weight and tiller can be a blessing as ILF limb bolts can move during transport or whenever the limbs are removed and inserted.  With a bolt-down, just assemble and shoot.  The only thing one might need to adjust is brace height.

Aside from the Berger holes and limb bolt bushings, the riser is devoid of all other mounting points for sights, quivers, or stabilizers.  It would have been nice to see a set of AMO bushings for a quiver, being this is marketed as a hunting bow and all.  Additionally, a stabilizer bushing would have been nice as well since many bowhunters use a stabilizer of some sort.  Being that I almost never use a stabilizer on my recurves and longbows, the omission of that bushing doesn't bother me at all, but the lack of the AMO sight/quiver bushings does a little.  It just seems to me that a proper hunting bow should at least have some basic quiver mounting hardware.

The limb pad with its alignment pins and threaded bushing.  

The riser is completed in a matte non-glare finish that feels fairly durable and does not show smudges or fingerprints easily.  The majority of the bow appears to be painted flat black but there is visible carbon fiber weave at the sides of the limb pad supports struts.  The hint of carbon fiber is attractive, and not overpowering as if W&W was trying to show off the material.  Just enough is present to give you an idea of what the riser is made of without being gaudy.  Honestly, I would be fine with a matte carbon fiber weave on the entire riser since the limbs sport such a finish, but it looks good as it is.

Another view of the carbon fiber weave.  If you look closely, you can see the line where the black paint was masked off to expose the carbon weave.  

- Limbs -

The limbs are foam cored with six layers of W&W's proprietary carbon laminate, according to the ABS website.  I have long been a fan of W&W risers and limbs, having shot their products almost exclusively during my dozen+ years of shooting under the Olympic recurve discipline.  I just about always see some W&W product on the podium of a major international competition, so that makes me confident the folks running the company know a thing or two about how to make bows.

Logos are kept reasonably small and look good with the woven carbon fiber finish

The limbs I ordered makes for a 62" AMO longbow with 47# @ 27".  The limbs would likely be considered extra-long length in ILF terms if they combine with a 15" riser to make 62" AMO.  The limbs are actually marked 50#@28", but they ended up coming in at 47#.  That is a few pounds heavier than I would like with the low-mid 40s being my sweet spot for draw weight.  I have enough on the fingers to satisfy any DNR minimum regulation for what I hunt, but not so much that I am struggling and trembling at anchor.  With modern materials and limb design, there really is no need for me to shoot much more than that to deliver the necessary ballistics to take game or punch paper or foam.  However, I feel I have acclimated well to weights in the mid-high 40s, having spent considerable time shooting the Centaur Triple Carbon Elite, so the Qarbon likely would not pose a problem.

Here you can see the limb butt and way the limb is constructed.  The two white lines are the foam cores and the carbon laminations are on the back and belly sides.

The limbs are differentiated by the top limb tip being pointed and the bottom tip being squared off.  That helps make it super easy to tell at a glance which limb goes where.  Additionally, it helps spare the lower limb tip from damage if it contacts the ground in the case of a push-pull stringing method.  The limbs are rectangular in cross-section and have a fairly reflexed shape when unbraced.  Braced, they pull back into a more familiar longbow shape, but do not form a continuous D shape.  Compared to other takedown longbows, the Qarbon has a more reflexed shape with the limb pads well forward of the grip and having near-vertical limb pad angles.  Performance-wise, this is a benefit as it lowers the effective brace height by placing the grip closer to the string and giving a longer power stroke.  On the other hand, this can also be detrimental to overall forgiveness and accuracy since this means the arrow remains on the string longer and any faults in the archer's form will be more pronounced than one with a higher brace height.

Since the Qarbon is a production bow, the limbs came off-the-shelf with a 1/8" positive tiller on my bow.  This works out well for split-finger releases and even tiller being better suited to 3-under, which is how I shoot.  The tiller really doesn't make much of a difference to me since I let the bareshafts dictate my nock location and adjust things till they fly and impact right in with fletched arrows.  Positive tiller often gets me a slightly higher nock position, but it all works out in the end.

The logos on the belly side of the limbs is larger, and is identical on both limbs.

Another observation about the limbs is the amount of vertical stability they exhibit.  Some longbows brace up to give a rock solid limb that cannot be made to flop over so that the string touches the belly.  Others are floppy at brace and can wiggle a bit like a wet noodle.  The Qarbon's limbs are fairly stable vertically, but I can push the limb and force it to flop over into the reflexed shape.  I would say it is "soft" and has a moderate amount of vertical stability.  Generally, so long as the limbs don't flop over and stay that way, I've never really experienced any ill effects with a bow having more or less vertical stability.



- Tuning -

I ordered the Qarbon for the week-long test-drive that ABS offers.  I was very pleased they had such a program as I find the biggest issue with buying new bows is the inability to try before you buy.  Being a production bow, I think this is a great service to offer and would help get the product into the hands of more people who would have otherwise not considered buying one.  Basically, you buy the bow from ABS and when it arrives on your doorstep, that's when the countdown begins and you have a week to try it out before you notify them that either you will return it or will keep it.  If you return, ABS will refund you the entire purchase price (even including shipping) so long as it returns in a like-new condition.  Not a bad deal for being able to try out a bow for free.

The bow arrived neatly packaged in a big long rectangular box labelled with the ABS and GrizzlyStik logo.  Inside were a few smaller boxes containing the riser, limbs, and other accessories included with the bow.  It was all very neatly packaged and labelled.  Assembling the bow was simple with the limbs being easy to tell top from bottom and the included hex wrenches worked just fine for all the screws and bolts.  The flemish string did not have a nock locator installed and I noticed it was very twisted up to the point of almost wanting to coil up on itself.  Bracing up the bow, I found the brace height was at 6" - a tad lower than the recommended 6.5" minimum.  I wondered if the string was actually for a 64" bow and was used instead since it was sent as a test-drive bow.  I set aside the string and grabbed another one that I knew would fit a 62" longbow.  This one was made by Chad at Champion Custom Bowstrings out of BCY-X material and only required a few twists' adjustment to bring the bow into the proper brace height range.

Open the big box and you find two smaller boxes and the manual.  

I started at the 6.5" minimum and worked my way up to the 7.5" top end, eventually settling in at 6-3/4" as a good balance between quietness and maximum power stroke.  I generally prefer to set the lowest possible brace height in order to wring out the most performance out of a bow.  Being that I have a 27" draw length, I often only get 20" at most of usable draw length if you measure from my anchor to the brace height.  Longer draw archers have the benefit of a longer power stroke and can get away with higher brace heights, but also require longer overall bow lengths.

Since the Qarbon was designed to shoot heavy arrows, I figured I'd use the 540gr. Easton Legacy arrows I used with the Centaur Triple Carbon Elite.  That way, I would have a benchmark of sorts to compare the Qarbon to.  With 47# at my 27" draw, the 540gr. arrows should give a load of about 11.5GPP.  That should allow for some quiet shooting and be heavy enough to give the limbs a good workout.  I have other heavier arrows I can test the bow with as well, with one set coming in at 720gr. (15.2GPP).

Since the Qarbon's shelf is cut past center, it includes a shorty plunger to adjust centershot and to fine-tune tension to dial in the perfect arrow flight.  I like having plungers as I feel they provide a valuable amount of lateral adjustment of centershot and provide a level forgiveness to shots that don't quite get off the fingers as cleanly as I'd like.  That and I can really fine-tune plunger tension to truly match the arrows to the bow for perfect bareshaft flight.  Whenever I have a Berger hole available, I will use a plunger.  In the Qarbon's case, I set centershot so the arrow point sits about halfway past the midline of the bow when viewed from behind, and spring tension set to medium.  With those settings, the bareshafts flew straight and true and impacted right in with the fletched groups.  Without any silencing accessories, the bow wasn't very loud with the 540gr. arrows.  There was a noticeable twang from the string and limbs, but it was gone in a second.

An archers' point of view.  Note the generous past-center cut of the shelf.

With arrows tuned, I added my usual dyneema string silencers and that hushed the bow significantly by taking out any twang out of the string.  As an experiment, I added a couple of the smaller Limbsaver Recurve limb dampers to the limb bellies at the limb fades and was amazed at how quiet the Qarbon finally became.  I've tuned many of my bows to be quiet over the years, but this one easily is the quietest bow I have shot to date.  I highly value quiet bows, so for me to say that about the Qarbon is a sincere compliment.

Overall, the completed bow weighs 31 ounces according to my digital bow scale.  That isn't exactly feather weight, but compared to metal riser bows, it is.  By comparison, my Sky ILF longbow with TDX13 metal riser and long limbs comes in at 41 ounces.  Alternatively, my 62" ILF longbow consisting of an actionwood 15" Dryad Epic riser with XL Centaur limbs comes in at 30 ounces.  On the truly lightweight end of the spectrum, my 58" Centaur one-piece longbow weighs 18 ounces and the takedown version weighs 28 ounces.

That the Qarbon isn't so light that it floats off the table doesn't surprise me in the least.  Contrary to popular belief, carbon fiber is really not all that lightweight.  What makes carbon fiber light is that it is significantly stronger and stiffer than fiberglass, allowing less material to be used and thus, making a given object lighter.  Talking to some bowyers who make extensive use of carbon, I understand that intelligent and strategic use of carbon results in a lighter, faster, stronger, and more stable limb, but having carbon in a limb for the sake of having carbon can actually be detrimental to overall performance if it isn't used correctly.



- Shooting -

Fully tuned to the Easton Legacy arrows, I set about doing some actual target shooting with the bow.  First thing I did was to try and get a benchmark in regards to speed.  With the Legacy arrows, I was averaging about 163.9 FPS with a 5 shot average shooting about 11.5GPP.  The claims of the Qarbon being designed around shooting heavy arrows may be true, but my findings do not necessarily indicate they shoot heavier arrows faster than other longbows in a similar price point and draw weight.  When I changed to a heavier arrow weighing 720gr. (15.2GPP), speeds dropped to 140.2 FPS.  I did not have anyone to spot me for my draw when I performed the speed tests, so I would expect arrow velocities to be a FPS or two higher at a true 27" draw without any collapsing on the loose.

The Qarbon fully braced up and ready for action.

Speed is often the quantitative measure used to judge bows, especially in the compound bow market.  In my opinion, more important is how the bow shoots than how fast it is.  I'd much rather have a confident 160 FPS than a harsh 200 FPS.  If the bow shoots well and you feel comfortable and confident about your shots, you will enjoy shooting it and will want to practice more than if the bow is noisy, uncomfortable, etc.  That said, the Qarbon is comfortable to shoot.  I found the draw to be smooth and linear in building weight.  The ABS rep seemed to think the Qarbon's draw would be the smoothest I will ever feel, but unfortunately (or fortunately), I have been spoiled by the Border Covert Hunter's Hex7 limbs, so no longbow will ever be that smooth.  Sorry.  At first, it seemed to have a little more "hand shock" than other longbows, but that feeling dissipated after a few ends and I got used to the grip.

Speaking of the grip, it felt good to me.  The grip is a low-medium height and is secured to the riser by two hex head screws on either side.  It is supportive and has a comfortable palm swell and small thumb rest.  The thumb side of the grip has an inlaid GrizzlyStik medallion at the bottom and the entire grip is covered in a soft touch coating that offers good traction.  I used to have a mobile phone that was covered in this type of coating and my experience with it is it tends to wear off fairly quickly.  It didn't take long for the more squared edges of the grip to show signs of wear and lose the soft touch coating.  I would most certainly appreciate a higher wrist grip, but being the bow is somewhat of a rarity, I don't expect to find readily available grips for it.  I might have to buy a spare from ABS and build it up using epoxy putty, should I decide to keep it.

Unbraced, you can see the amount of reflex built into the bow.

Once I had acclimated myself to the bow and its quirks, I started pulling less fliers and my groups shrunk.  I found the front edge of the riser where the grip does not cover to be a tad on the square and sharp side, being bothersome to my fingers if I got a little too tight with my grip.  The nice thing about that is it forced me to relax my fingers and not take on a death-grip, which caused me to torque the bow and pull a flier.  By the end of my first evening shooting the Qarbon, I was nailing soda can sized groups at home in my 12 yard mancave range.

Draw Force Curve of the QN2.  Fairly linear increase in draw weight typical in longbows.

With only a couple more days to go in the test drive week, I headed out to the local indoor range that goes out to 40 yards to try the Qarbon at longer distances.  As usual, I was the only single-stringed archer there and got a few looks the moment I assembled the bow and hung it on the peg.  One gentlemen took an interest in it and recognized the GrizzlyStik name, having hunted with their arrows in the past out of his Bowtech compound.  He remarked he never knew they made a longbow, but was impressed at the nice looking bow.  We chatted for a few minutes and went about to shooting arrows.

I started at 10 yards just to get my bearings and right away was shooting the soda can groups, but a few inches higher above the bull.  I then switched to the 20 yard bale and was quickly grouping arrows within the 3-ring of a blue face NFAA target.  I few more ends and I nailed down my gap for 20 yards and kept mostly everything in the 4-ring with at least 2 out of 5 shots consistently being in the 5 ring or the X.  Not bad!  I had just one end with 4 in the white and the 5th being a low flier just a millimeter away from touching the line that would have made it a 5.  I took that as a sign that I was now allowed to move onto 30 yards.

Again, I had to adjust my gap for 30 yards, but it was clear I was getting close to my point-on distance with the tip of the arrow in the 2-3 ring.  That sight mark really helped my groups and I maintained a similar group size at 30 yards with everything staying in the 3-ring or better.  I estimated my point-on distance was around 32 yards being that once I moved to the 40 yard bale, I was dropping arrows below the edge of the target when I had the point on the bull for aiming.  Groups naturally opened up more, but were in a recognizable group.  I was centering the arrows around the white once I moved the point up so it was at the top of the blue.

Overall, the Qarbon performed very well at longer distances.  I liked how quiet the bow was - almost silent compared to the compounds to my left and right.  The grip remained comfortable over the 2-1/2 hours I spent at the range working my way from 10 to 40 yards.  I could tell I was still not yet fully comfortable with the draw weight being 47# as I could feel fatigue begin to set in once I neared the 2 hour mark.  At that point, my groups dramatically opened up and I even had one group look like I was shooting a 5-spot target.  I decided it was time to call it a day and started packing up my stuff.  As I was leaving, one guy came up to me and asked me about the bow.  I told him all the details I knew about it as he seemed rather interested in it.  I didn't notice it, but he was watching me shoot and was impressed with my accuracy and how quiet the bow was.  He was interested in trying traditional archery since he was feeling bored with compounds and was getting fed up with the constant tinkering with sights, rests, cams, etc.  He did really like how the bow broke down into 3 pieces and it all fit in the bow pocket of my Maverick back quiver.  Perhaps I'll see him at the range later on shooting a Qarbon!



- Final thoughts -

I must admit, I had some reservations at first when I first learned of the Qarbon Nano and later the QN2 revision.  There was very little about the bow online by way of reviews or videos.  The general consensus of the bow was seemingly negative from what I read on the archery forums.  Particularly, the price of the 1st generation Qarbon was off-putting to most as one could have a full custom bow made for that price or less.  The QN2 revision dropped the price by 1/3 and brought it down to the realm of other high-end takedown longbows - a move I felt was wise by ABS.  Offering a free week-long test drive and transferrable warranty helps improve the reception and value as well.

While the Qarbon QN2 doesn't really break any ground with its design and performance, it does offer a superbly built takedown longbow for a more reasonable price.  When I spoke with the rep regarding the bow during my inquiry in fall of 2015, I learned ABS was planning to discontinue carrying the Qarbon in 2016.  I surmise below-target sales numbers may be the reason for ABS pulling the plug.  Supposedly, 3Rivers Archery had plans to pick up the Qarbon and continue selling it.  The news was alarming and yet also unsurprising.  As a potential buyer, I want to know my warranty will be honored should I need to use it.  What good is a lifetime warranty if there is nobody around to honor it?  However, I was assured by the rep that ABS would honor the warranty as written.

One comment I often read about the Qarbon is people saying it is a "niche" bow.  Many often use that as a derogatory term for anything that isn't ILF.  The way I see it, any bow that uses proprietary limb connections is a niche bow.  Be it a Black Widow, Bob Lee, Great Northern, or whatever.  The same could be said of one-piece and two-piece bows since you can't even swap limbs on those.  I usually don't see people deride those bows as being "niche".  Personally, I don't mind bows with proprietary fitting systems.  To me, "niche" means a specific use and a bow that has been designed from the ground up to take either longbow limbs or recurve limbs.  ILF is great for the interchangeability, but what you gain in that aspect, you often lose in specific performance.  The steep limb pad angles of the Qarbon are well-suited to longbow limbs, but not so for recurves.  This was designed to be a longbow 100% of the time and not ever a recurve.  Works for me.  Even with my ILF bows, I don't really ever mess around too much once I have an "ideal" set up ironed out for a specific use.

In the end, I decided to keep the bow after the test drive period.  I sat down and gave it a long hard though before notifying ABS about my decision.  My decision to keep it was driven by the fact that the Qarbon is unique and possesses features that put it into a similar level as top-shelf offerings from other bowyers.  The bow was comfortable to shoot, quiet, and was backed by an amazing warranty.  The reps at ABS were very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about archery and their products.  I truly had a good time talking with them about the Qarbon before placing the order for the test drive.  While I am unsure of the future of the Qarbon, I still think the bow is highly underrated for the design and good performance it delivers.  I think it is a unique bow that is fun to shoot and offers a bit of uniqueness to anyone's bow rack.



*** 2/18/17 Update***
As I stated at the top of this entry, 3Rivers did acquire the rights to distribute the Qarbon QN2 and they offer the complete bow, along with the riser, limbs, and all accessories separately.  I have ordered from 3Rivers numerous times over the years and have called and talked to the bow experts even more.  I am pleased that they are the ones who will be handling the future of this bow from now on.  The folks at 3Rivers are great people and know what they re talking about and will set up a customer right.

Since the publishing of this entry, I have since picked up a set of 45# limbs that come in at a much more comfortable 43.3# @ 27".  It is amazing how much of a difference 4# makes, but I shoot so much better with the lighter weight and my groups have shrunk significantly.  I plan on keeping the heavier limbs for later use, but lately, family and work have been keeping me away from the range.  Lack of range time has had a detrimental effect on my muscles and I just cannot shoot as well with heavier draw weights.  Oh well.  Work is necessary to pay for the archery obsession and family is the true love of my life.  I'm looking forward to more range time with my two boys once they get old enough to shoot with me!

With the new lighter limbs, I also switched to shooting Gold Tip Warrior 500 arrows.  These are the same arrows I use with my Centaur Triple Carbon Elite and are 29-1/4" in length with my usual 5" long shield cut feather two-fletch set up.  They sport 50gr. inserts at the front and have 175gr. screw-in points to create an arrow about 460gr. total weight.  This results in a load of 10.7GPP and an average through the chronograph gave me 167.6 FPS, slightly faster than with the heavier aluminum arrows.

Looking back a year later since acquiring the QN2, I still think the bow is a novel takedown longbow.  However, my opinion of it has not changed much.  It does not offer any ground-breaking advances in archery with respect to the competition, but it combines numerous good features in bow design and materials into a modern takedown longbow that is highly tunable and pleasant to shoot.  I do not regret acquiring my QN2 at all.