What does Octane and the BowTech archery family have coming for 2013? President Mark Pezzoni won’t say. He will say that deciding on their product line-up gets to be a real wrestling match since, “We’re not a ‘me-too’ company. We design everything in-house.” Judging by company growth over the past couple of years, whatever they offer will be dynamic.
Octane’s newest division, Backbone hand-crafted custom strings and cables, uses BCY 452 GX with Gore Performance Fibers to maximize smooth shooting and effective string life. Backbone strings and cables fit all leading bow manufacturers’ previous-year models and, says Sam Coalson, director of marketing, “We can make them in any color.”
Octane is justifiably proud of its modern string and cable processes. “Our proprietary twisting method in string lay-up puts the same amount of twist across the entire length of string,” Coalson says. “This prevents strand separation, magnifies tensile strength, and helps prevent peep rotation.”
The string and cable building process combines the work of skilled craftsmen and machines. End loop servings are applied by hand to minimize serving separation, but the center serving is applied under 400 pounds of tension, then relaxed for a superior construction that prevents serving separation and ensures a consistent diameter, loop to loop. To eliminate creep and help increase accuracy, strings and cables are pre-stretched to 450 pounds—three times longer than required. The results of such stretching are a consistent anchor point, draw length, and bow timing. Finally, each individual string is precisely wound and digitally verified to within .010 inches in length, allowing bow strings and cables to work as a balanced system.
The new and very cool looking Balance X Stabilizer ($70)—yes, innovative and stabilizer can be said in the same breath, says Octane President Mark Pezzoni—is built to both help neutralize vibration and to provide an “on-the-fly” adjustable weight-forward balance.
A truly innovative concept, the Balance X is fully customizable in length from 7 to 11 inches. Pezzoni says just “twist, extend, and lock” to change length and weight positioning. The total mass weight is 6.4 ounces, but tip weights can be added—or subtracted—for additional customization. Balance X stabilizers are available with camo accents in Mossy Oak Treestand and Break-Up Infinity, Realtree APG, and Black Ops.
Octane’s older, 7-inch piston-based Hunter Stabilizer is designed and built with a structural shell and inner piston to direct shot vibration directly away from the shooter. (At 6.4 ounces, the black 5-inch Ultra-Lite comes with vibration dampening and a quiet non-reflective over-mold that is soft to the touch.)
Octane has a pair of black, carbon/polymer one-piece 5-arrow DeadLock quivers that weigh only 6.4 ounces despite their design differences. Both new quivers have a hood equipped with pre-cut foam to accept most fixed and mechanical broadheads.
The Pro ($100) is adjustable in and out, so archers can get the quiver as close to the riser as possible. Its Extended Gripper holds all arrows with maximum gripping surface. “It’s lightweight and quiet,” Pezzoni says, “but doesn’t sacrifice strength or durability.” The unique Quick Detach Arm releases from a bow quietly in one easy motion and the single gripper is distinctive, effective and lightweight.
The Lite is also a quick detach quiver that releases easily, this one with a twist of the structural rods. Engineered with vertical adjustment capabilities and a double gripper for excellent balance and custom fit, the DeadLock Lite ($50) is compatible with all compound bows. The Lite is available in Mossy Oak Treestand and Black Ops.
Four full-capture, lightweight arrow rests from Octane allow a diversity of styles and a mix of CNC machined aluminum and polymer parts. These rests are black with red accents and look as good as they shoot. The Hostage XL uses three sets of soft, V-shaped brushes to capture the arrow at center shot. Thus, three-fletched arrows pass around rather than through bristles. The results are total arrow containment; an arrow that does not lose speed or generate noise from friction against bristles; and no fletch damage. Brushes last for thousands of shots, Octane says, and accommodate any arrow. With the Hostage Pro, noise-dampening pads hug the open circuit design (the rest cup-bracket) for silent arrow loading.
President Pezzoni, who describes himself as “an avid hunter,” says he has used every type of rest imaginable, but his favorite is the Hijack ($50). This rest is similar in operation to the Hostage Pro but uses an adjustable felt-covered post and two plungers set at about 10 and 2 o’clock instead of bristles. (The $130 Vanish is Octane’s cable-operated drop-away hunting rest with thumb cocking lever.)
“We’re an outreach company,” Mike Pezzoni says. “My sales reps are factory employees, but first, they’re guys who live archery and bowhunting. They are in-house reps who specialize in staying in personal touch with our dealers—and we have more than a thousand dealers—but first they study and use all our gear in the field. They know what they’re talking about.”
Octane is a corporate partner in the BowTech group with Diamond Archery, Stryker Crossbows and Waterdog Surface Technologies.
Contact Octane at (541) 284-4711 or www.fuelthehunt.com.
