10 Days of ATA #7—The Difference Between Bowtech’s Realm and Realm X Bows

Bowtech Realm Bow—2018 Archery Trade Association Show

This was one of the most impressive bows we shot at the 2018 ATA Show in Indianapolis, Indiana. Bowtech’s new Realm features the Overdrive Binary Cam System, which allows the bow to be easily tuned. It also has a silky-smooth shot. The Realm features a 30.75-inch axle-to-axle length, a 7.125-inch brace height, an IBO rating of 340 feet per second, and it weighs 4.3 pounds.

Due to its size and accuracy, this bow is perfect for any hunter wanting to up their game. One question we asked is, What is difference between the Realm and the Realm X? Simply put, the Realm X features a longer axle-to-axle length, a shorter brace height, and increased speed (345 feet per second). The price of the Bowtech Realm is $1,099. The Realm X retails for $1,199 These bows come laser-tuned from the Bowtech factory.

Hey everybody, welcome to the 2018 ATA show. My name's Todd with BowTech, I'm the brand manager. We're going to talk about the Realm, the new Realm and the Realm X.

Coming off the 2017 year, we had the Reign. It's one of our most successful bows ever. We actually won two of the biggest industry awards with that bow. But with that, we wanted to make the bow even better, so based on consumer feedback and dealer feedback, we added a lot more stability in the bow.

So this year, we incorporated an all new riser. So it's something you haven't really seen from BowTech in a long time, since we came out with the original Guardian. That's when we came out with the first center-pivot style bow. So this year, we still have the center pivot, but it has a lot more of a deflect style riser, so visually the bow looks a lot different.

We also have incorporated a new, wider limb, so it's a solid core, really wide limb, so both the limb individually is wider and overall is wider. That gives you much greater stability on the draw. When you draw back, it locks in, it doesn't get the wobble when you're at full draw. So you draw, you lock in on target.

Based on the limbs as well, we also have the CP dual-lock pocket. What that does is it's about precision. We want to make sure that there's a precision link between the limbs and the riser, so it really has no movement at all. That really helps as far as your accuracy. You don't get the shot to shot deviation. So what it is, is double locking, so the pocket, basically you can lock the limbs into the pocket, then the pocket as well, into the riser. A real tight tolerance, it has the lockdown on the sides for the limbs, a lockdown on the pocket. You can adjust your weight, you unlock it, adjust your weight, lock it back down where you want it. It's not going to move. Again, all new riser, really skeleton-ized, keeps it really, really lightweight. And like always, we have our overdrive binary cam system on it. And that's really the heart of our smart bow. You'll hear smart bow from BowTech as we move forward in the year.

What smart bow really is, it does three things for you. One, it's two perfect cams, they're in the exact same shape, same size, and same weight, so you don't have one that's heavier, one that's bigger, causing rotation problems, timing issues.

Two, they're tied together. It has the split harness, but the actual bus cables are hooked to a rotating axle, so it's actually part of the cam system, so that's two.

But you also need the ability to fine-tune the strain left and right. So you square up your riser to the bow, and then when you go to paper tuning or however your preference in tuning is, you can walk that string for perfect alignment. So basically it's aligning your car. You don't put your riser on, or your rest on the riser. And if you're going on a car, if you're going left down the road, you don't just crank your steering wheel to the right and live with it. You get an alignment. So that's what we're doing in the back. You square up that riser, now you square up the rest of the riser, then you square up the string, so you get that perfect alignment of the string through the bow, both vertically and horizontally. So you get it on both planes. And really what that does is make you a better archer. And you can tune it individually to each person, so I might torque it a little differently, then you may torque it a little differently. You adjust to that, so again, it's individualized.

One more great thing about the individualization is the flip disc. We have two settings, we have the comfort and we have the performance. You may be in the winter hunting, you have a heavy coat on, you're not worried about that super, super screaming speed, tree stand-style hunting, you could shoot at a comfort setting. If you're a Western hunter, you want that flat shooting, a little more speed to get out to the distance, you put it in the performance setting, so you get a little more punch, a little more energy downrange.

I definitely recommend you get out to your local dealer and shoot the Realm. That's the best thing you can do, is get it in your hands.