Hoyt excell vs Hoyt buffalo?

[Nathan Bowen]

Hoyt excell riser with trad tech carbon wood limbs vs Hoyt buffalo. What would you chose and why ?

[gvdocholiday]

Buffalo.  Phenomenal point and shoot bow.  Great geometry, incredible speed and forgiveness.  Buffalo is a bow built to hunt.

[PastorSteveHill]

Agreed, 100% on the comments about the Buffalo... It shoots great!  Almost to easy to shoot..

[Kentucky Jeff]

I have never owned an Excel so I can't comment from experience in that regard.  I did own a Buffalo for the better part of a year and liked many things about it.  

Once I got it properly set up and tillered it was an awesome bow.  Unfortunately, that took way longer than it should have and Hoyt provides almost no literature in that regard and the DVD that comes with the bow is too basic and doesn't get into the finer points of how to properly adjust tiller on a new bow.

My other criticism of the Buffalo is the grip is a hybrid grip that has characteristics of a longbow low grip and a traditional recurve grip.  I didn't like it--I worked around it and ordered a different style from Hoyt but it took months to get in and by then I had given up on the bow.  

Unlike the Excel, the Buffalo is a strictly off the shelf bow and the rest is radiused in both planes.  The Excel is drilled for an elevated rest or of course you can shoot it off the shelf which is flat in both planes.

A couple of small criticisms.  I hated the string that came with the bow.  I found it never stopped stretching and the brace height kept changing for months after I set it up (I kept it strung).    I also felt the factory supplied string was noisy.  I replaced it with a SBD skinny string with yarn wraps on the ends and it made all the difference and made the bow very quiet at the right brace height.   I didn't like the self adhesive string silencers Hoyt provided to help reduce string slap on the limbs.  I found it moved around all the time.  As I mentioned, when I replaced the string I installed yarn wraps on the string and took off the factory string silencers and all was well.  

That' my .02 YMMV

[reddogge]

The Buffalo has a more compact riser at 19" vs 21" on the Excel and it's designed to be shot off the shelf which I believe is a great advantage in a rough and tumble hunting bow. No rests to go out of adjustment or break. I just beat the bushes on a rabbit hunt and it performed as expected where I would have been worried about my raised rest banging through the stickers.

The tuning was a snap for me, a non issue and my string doesn't stretch.

[Turkeys Fear Me]

Personally, I'd pick the Excel for a number of reasons.

1.  The Excel with the carbon wood limbs is about a third less expensive.

2.  With the Excel, you are not married to one brand of limbs.

3.  Performance will be about the same.

4.  More options with the Excel, ie. rests, cushion plunger.

[cuboodle]

I agree on the fact it shoots we're your looking. I wouldn't trade my buffalo.

[cuboodle]

To add to my previous post I wish I had gotten it sooner

[Workaholic1]

i'll be watching this one...      

[limbow]

I do not have any experience with the Excell but the Buffalo has quickly become my go to bow for all occasions. I find myself stump shooting more than ever since the hunting season has come to a close. It's that enjoyable to shoot!
I picked up a 60"50# Buff a year ago and have since added a 45# and 55# Buffalo. As other members have pointed out, it's almost too easy to shoot. Very quick with great cast at longer distances, once tuned--silent. Each thread that starts about this bow, I have always chimed in because I cannot say enough positive things about it.

I have sold 2 of my Silvertips in the past 6 months do to the lack of time I have given them to shoot. Something I have never considered with all the bows I have owned before     If you are on the fence about trying one, you owe it to yourself to give it a shot, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

[stevewills]

i have shot both and owned the excel,i loved the buffalo point and shoot,the excel is a good bow as well little bit of time setting it too shoot of the shelf,all that being said i dont want a metal riser bow that i am stuck with only one kind of limbs,i love the excel for the ability to swap other ilf limbs out....if the buffalo was an ilf id get rid of several bows and own that riser....

[Nathan Bowen]

Thanks for the comments. I have a 30-1/2" draw does that fit one bow better then the other?

[Stone Knife]

I shot with a guy that had a Buffalo bow and it was the loudest bow I have ever heard. The guy said that they had messed around with the brace and many other things to try to get it quiet but nothing worked. Not condemning them just an observation.

[Mac11700]

Originally posted by Nathan Bowen:
Hoyt excell riser with trad tech carbon wood limbs vs Hoyt buffalo. What would you chose and why ?

Well...let me see...

This was my Buffalo..


This was my Excel


Here they are together


I sold the Buffalo...for a number of reasons..It wasn't because it was a bad shooter...It wasn't because it didn't draw smooth...It wasn't because it didn't feel good...I sold it because I didn't like the fact I had to spend as much for a regular pair of limbs for it..as what I had to spend on a set of Border Hex 6 limbs...and I couldn't use the Border Hex 6 limbs on it if I wanted too...Had regular ILF limbs worked on it...I would have never bought the Excel..also...had it been drilled and tapped to be able to use any quiver with it..and any rest on it...I would have kept it..

but...alas...they didn't...and so..it was sold to fund something else..

Mac

[ckanous]

To each there own but I loved my Buffalo over my Excel. Now I might not have had the right limbs on the Excel yet but there was no comparison for me. I like the shorter 60" bow also. Now the pic in Mac's post above means alot to me. I like the Dorado grip on the Buffalo not the low wrist that comes with it.  The higher wrist grip fits and places my hand perfect everytime. Like said before, if you wanna change up limb combos, plungers and rests the Excel is the one, Now the Buffalo,its a hunting machine!

[graybark uk]

t havn`t shot an excel but have a friend who has one ,he seems happy with it ,but he hasn`t shot my buffalo yet    i have a 50# 62" & i love it it just shoots so well ,took no time to set up & fits me like we`ve been together for ever