choosing which shape is so hard  

Quotei think i might go with four 4" shield on 340 carbon shafts. my experience with fletching is that if it has any points like shield or pope and young cut it is going to make some noise in flight  

It's the hiss of death  

I recently made the switch to 4-3" parobilc.
I really get great flight with bh and field points a like. The sound level has droped down to.

I was shooting yesterday and a big cross wind was blowing so I was able to see how the 3-5" 3-4" 4-3" all shot in the cross wind. It was gusty so not a great test but it was a good amount of wind! The 3-5" had bad flight starting at about 17 yards the 3-4" was about the same but @ 20yards as the 5" was at 17 yards. The 4-3" Shot like darts up to 25-27 yards (my max distance at the house). I shot both BH 2,4 and 3 blades and field tips to see if that made much difference with the wind it didnt seem to affect anything as much as the feather did. (my shooting is not up to some of your standards, I shoot 6" groups at my max range of 25yards so take from this what you want)

I think if you messed around with it you will find something that your happy with and you can always improve on things which is part of the fun! If we didn't love messing around with this stuff we would just shoot those strange looking contraptions with the wheels, strange cables, and bright neon lights hanging from them. Haha J/K

And like said before my main reason for shooting is hunting and I really like the lack of need to look down when nocking the arrow!

I like both, but use 3 big shields. Why? Because when they get wet and lay down, they seem to control better

John,

Have you compared the big shields to low cut  3" feathers like paroblic's? And how big of shields are you talking?

I found that my 5" shields layed down and although they flew ok still since once its tuned it doesnt seem make a huge differance when they are wet.

But my 3" paroblics are shorter in size (not sure extact)making them stiffer which seems to help shed water and they dont lay down as much if at all.

Stone Knife....Dont Feel like You are the  ONLY  Cheapskate     You Betcha'!!  

Iv been shooting 4 feather for about 6 years and i love um. spin fast and quiet correct quickly and are stable as a brick house. not only that but you can nock them without looking.  

The only thing id say is that after a season they take a lot of abuse so be sure u are able to replace them once they start to get ratty.
I figure its because they are rubbing against the shelf more regularly than 3 fletch arrows

I use the back of the feather to my nose as one of my anchor points ( Rick Welch method)  With 4 fletch it allows me to keep my head more upright because of the angle of the feather vs. cock feather straight out. 4- 4" parabolic because they are more quiet, all white with no wraps because im a cheap a#$ too!  :D