Thread: Archery is overpriced?

This may be a bit of a controversial topic, but I feel like lot of things in this sport are a bit of a scam. I bought arrows from Hunting & Fishing for $20 a pop, which were very well made. I then bought a pack of 12 from Temu for about $50 ($4 per arrow) and they are equally well made. The Temu arrows have a lower variance in weight than the expensive arrows after testing it on a precision scale. I've shot both types of arrows a few hundred times and I cannot see any difference in performance or quality.

I bought a $85 (before shipping) wrist release from a NZ archery shop only to later find the exact same release made by the exact same company for $16 with free shipping on Aliexpress. A whisker biscuit at H&F was around $120 from what I recall. The same whisker biscuit is $13 on Temu. I later wanted to upgrade to a thumb release and watched THIS video on the official UV thumb release vs. the "knock off" one and my take away from their "test" and the comments in the video was that it's the exact same product. I ordered one for $130 or so on Aliexpress and can confirm it's an incredibly well made release. I don't have the "official" one to compare to as I'm not going to spend $500+ USD to test it, but there is absolutely nothing cheap or poorly made about the Aliexpress one.

Broadheads were the same. $150 for a 3 pack of broadheads at H&F. I ended up buying some Muzzy 3-blade broadheads for around $60 + shipping for a pack of 3. This week I've just received a 6 pack of the "knock off" broadheads for $15 from Aliexpress and honestly they are the exact same quality. They are just as sharp. They have just as much variance in the weight. They both feel just as "good.

I see people try to defend these prices by saying the material quality isn't as good or they are just not as reliable, but have never seen anyone properly test or prove this. Most YouTubers seem to be trying hard to lick the boots of the big companies in an effort to win sponsorship deals and stay on their good side. I've seen people "test" the knockoff broadheads by shooting them into concrete or metal and remark how easily they break apart... but not actually repeat the test with the "legit" broadheads at 10x the price, likely because they would break apart just as easily when shot into a concrete wall.

I'm all for spending a few grand to buy a legitimately good bow that is legitimately made in the US. When I was hunting Europe I had a Blazer rifle with Swarovski scopes. I'm not looking to buy a bunch of cheap crap and you can tour the factories where these rifles and scopes are made. A % of the price does come from the brand, but you are not going to get a knock-off scope that has the same quality as a Swarovski scope. But with archery, I feel like a 90% of the products are just garbage made in China where a company slaps their logo on it and sells it for 5-10x the price, and people delude themselves into thinking they are actually paying for quality.

Thoughts?

join a club, get discounts there not by going retail.
i buy heeps of stuff from ali and generally its ok but name brand stuff retail may be $30 and the same product at club rates $20 just thru bulk buying

buy a rifle end of problem

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

buy a rifle end of problem

oh barry, i have rifles and shotguns but there is pleasure in archery just in targets
as far as hunting goes it teaches you to stalk and get close without being noticed.
go and try it, you may come over to the dark side

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

buy a rifle end of problem

Yeah I will. I was just waiting for my FAL to come in so got into archery to pass the time. I’m enjoying it just felt like a lot of things are way too overpriced for what they are.

it was in jest however ya hunt enjoy it

Baz lives in a state of semi-darkness already

Sign of the times my man!
Welcome to the future of shopping, it can be hit and miss so keep it to the terminal gear but yea they are making a profit in nz!
Top end stuff I like hands on before I buy so local store.
Just bought a scope on line…

In general with most things you buy here in NZ be it Rifle shooting or Arcery accessories, or camping, outdoors gears. unless its a legit western brand, its propably rebranded mass produced stuff form china (can be found aliexpress and the likes). the guy who likes to go down the shop and have a look and a feel will likly pay the NZ price anyway, and the guy who prefer to buy online and is happy to wait a few days/week will get the same thing for less.

At my work it the same, we buy stainless steel trays for example. The ones at the local shop are $30 to $45 and the exact same ones on AliExpress or Temu are $3-4, but if i need it straight away ill happily pay for the convenience of having it available down the road, and if i dont need urgently ill buy the, straight from China. the Hiogher local price you pay is to pay for the convincience, the high wages we have in NZ, the high overhead costs businesses carry here etc etc

Originally Posted by NewbieZAR

In general with most things you buy here in NZ be it Rifle shooting or Arcery accessories, or camping, outdoors gears. unless its a legit western brand, its propably rebranded mass produced stuff form china (can be found aliexpress and the likes). the guy who likes to go down the shop and have a look and a feel will likly pay the NZ price anyway, and the guy who prefer to buy online and is happy to wait a few days/week will get the same thing for less.

At my work it the same, we buy stainless steel trays for example. The ones at the local shop are $30 to $45 and the exact same ones on AliExpress or Temu are $3-4, but if i need it straight away ill happily pay for the convenience of having it available down the road, and if i dont need urgently ill buy the, straight from China. the Hiogher local price you pay is to pay for the convincience, the high wages we have in NZ, the high overhead costs businesses carry here etc etc

I totally get the convenience angle and expect to pay a little more at a local shop. Often the local shop can provide you with some great advice or handle any kind of warranty issues which would justify me paying 10-20% more for example. However, when you realize that it's not 10-20% more, you are paying 5-10x the price for the product in many causes, it makes it hard to justify supporting the shops.

Here is the price in NZ: https://imgur.com/a/6i6bOLo
and here's the price for the EXCACT SAME ITEM on Temu: https://imgur.com/a/FmJBAeZ

The stupid thing is the one from Temu arrives just as quickly (with free shipping) compared to the one shipped from NZ where you end up paying $15-20 extra for the shipping.

Originally Posted by UndercoverPalmtree

I totally get the convenience angle and expect to pay a little more at a local shop. Often the local shop can provide you with some great advice or handle any kind of warranty issues which would justify me paying 10-20% more for example. However, when you realize that it's not 10-20% more, you are paying 5-10x the price for the product in many causes, it makes it hard to justify supporting the shops.

Here is the price in NZ: https://imgur.com/a/6i6bOLo
and here's the price for the EXCACT SAME ITEM on Temu: https://imgur.com/a/FmJBAeZ

The stupid thing is the one from Temu arrives just as quickly (with free shipping) compared to the one shipped from NZ where you end up paying $15-20 extra for the shipping.

“Exact same item” except made in a different country with a different brand name ��

Hamskea rests aren’t made in china so the cheap one will be a knockoff, and probably worth what you pay for it.

Yeah you’re right. These rests are made in the US and this Temu one is probably a cheap knockoff. My bad. New to all this and not sure what is actually legitimately made to be high quality vs just Chinese junk that’s sold at massive markups and marketed as quality.

Releases... get one you can trust. Don't want to cheap out and have to pay for a visit to the dentist when the release let's go at full draw. Carter, Scott. Stanislawsk... There are good Chinese knockoffs of all sorts of stuff, but the joy of owning and using a high quality product is often missing. My TopointT1 bow is great, but it isnt a Hoyt or PSE by any stretch!

The things you want to spend money on are the rest and release.