Field Evaluation - LimbSaver® Fall-Away Arrow Rest By Keith Dunlap
Oct 1, 2007 - 6:28:31 AM
Sims Vibration Laboratory has many new LimbSaver products hitting the market this year, including their new Fall-Away Arrow Rest that boasts smooth and quiet performance. According to SVL, this rest has a balanced twin-bearing system that will allow you to draw and release the arrow smoothly and quietly.
SVL has also incorporated their NAVCOM™ material at specific points in the Fall-Away Arrow Rest to eliminate vibration and noise. This should make for a vibration-free arrow rest.
I received the Fall-Away rest from SVL and was anxious to get started on this evaluation. I am always looking for the next good fall-away rest to hit the market. I am a firm believer in using fall-away rests because it is my opinion that they increase the accuracy of your shots by eliminating arrow contact during the shot.
There are four attachment points on the Fall-Away rest for the tether cord.
Initial Inspection: Upon initial inspection out of the package, the LimbSaver Fall-Away Arrow Rest had a nice finish with no visible defects in the materials and workmanship. One thing I noticed right away is that this rest is solid and very well built. According to George Clark (George works for SVL in their R&D department), the main body of this rest is constructed of precision CNC machined 6063 aluminum, which makes it light, yet durable. He also indicated that there are two ball bearings inside this rest that will ensure smooth operation for many years to come. The final point George made about the Fall-Away rest was the tight tolerances that SVL follows in the production of the rest. This ensures proper fit and stronger construction. The fork that holds the arrow in place during the draw cycle contains a Teflon insert that prevents any noise while drawing.
The deep pocket in the arrow launcher arm keeps the arrow in place in various angle situations.
Mounting and setting up the Fall-Away Arrow Rest on my Darton Avalanche rig was simple and took less than twenty minutes, including paper tuning. If you are attaching the tether cord to your down bus cable, you will need a bow press to release the tension on the strings so you can split the down bus cable to insert and tie off the tether. There are four different attachment points for the tether cord to the Fall-Away Arrow Rest to drive the fall-away mechanism. One attachment point is located just beside the launcher arm; the other three are located on the lift-coupling arm. I like this feature because it provides ample adjustments for various setup situations. In addition, if you attach the tether cord to the lift coupling, which has three different attachment points, you can fine tune in the future if necessary. The lift-coupling arm is fully adjustable, so if your cable stretches, you can adjust the lift coupling to the driving rod of the rest, and rotate it to bring the rest back into "time". This is a very nice feature.
The Fall-Away Arrow Rest includes two self-adhesive pads, one for the arrow holder and one arrow-dampening pad to quiet the launch arm as it comes to rest on the riser shelf. These pads both mount on your riser shelf and are replaceable (see figures 3 and 4 below).
Arrow Holder that holds the arrow in place prior to and during the start of the draw cycle.
Arrow Pad that dissipates vibration and noise when the launcher arm contacts the riser shelf.
Tools required for installation include: 3/16" hex to mount the rest to your bow using the provided button cap screw; 5/32" hex to adjust center shot on the rest (both vertical and horizontal adjustments are slide adjustments once you loosen the screws); 3/32" hex to adjust the lift coupling; and 1/16" hex to adjust the elevation stop of the launcher arm. One note…this rest has simple slide adjustments, and it is not a micro-adjustable arrow rest. However, I found that if you are careful with your center shot adjustments and paper tuning, dialing in the Fall-Away rest is not difficult.
The instructions provided were sufficient, but if you don't have the proper equipment (bow press, center shot alignment tool, string serving, etc), I would recommend that you let your local pro-shop install and set the rest up for you. The next step was to test the rest for accuracy and function.
Testing: Accuracy/Function: The first test of the Fall-Away rest included shooting 60 arrows from twenty yards into a Block target. For comparative purposes, I shot the same 370-grain Carbon Express Maxima arrows through both the Darton, outfitted with the Fall-Away rest, and my BowTech Tribute outfitted with another competitive fall-away rest. I shot three arrows at a time from each bow during the test, and I alternated bows after each three-arrow group. I was confident with my Tribute, as this is my hunting rig, so if felt that if I could shoot the same groups with the LimbSaver Fall-Away rest on my Darton, I would consider this to be a successful test.
At twenty yards, I normally shoot less than 2-inch groups with my Tribute hunting rig, and the same held true during this part of my evaluation. I was consistently shooting similar 2-inch or less groups with the Fall-Away Arrow Rest on my Darton Avalanche. The results were positive and sufficient for me to claim that the LimbSaver Fall-Away rest performs very well from an accuracy standpoint, at least as well as another major competitor of fall-away rests. For kicks, I backed up to 30 and 40-yard distances, and saw no decline in performance from LimbSaver's Fall-Away rest.
As I shot using the LimbSaver Fall-Away rest, I noticed the smooth operation of the rest. There was no jerking of the launching arm during the draw cycle, and I noticed no significant noise upon release of the arrow. These are difficult items to evaluate, because the results are subjective to the evaluator, but I will say that I have used many different arrow rests over the years, and the Fall-Away Arrow Rest is as smooth and quiet as any that I have used.
The LimbSaver Fall-Away Arrow Rest is a solid performer.
Specifications as Tested:
Available in right handed or left handed applications
Weight: 3.09 oz.
Rest Material: 6063 aluminum
Finish: black anodized
Retail Price: $89.99
Conclusion: I really like the LimbSaver Fall-Away Arrow Rest. It performs as advertised…simple to install and set up, smooth, quiet, and accurate…all of the attributes you want in an arrow rest.
To see the full line of SVL LimbSaver products, including the Fall-Away Arrow Rest go to:
