By Shane Chuning

Getting the kids a bow is a great way to share the outdoor experience with them as well as get them hooked on shooting. Being able to shoot in the backyard even at 15-20 yards is a great way to improve their skills and grow them into future archers who can enjoy going to the field with you. All of these are things that are very tough to do with rifles unless you live in the country.

Getting a bow and all the accessories for these junior shooters can be a bit expensive and since they are constantly growing, you could be doing this multiple times throughout their time as a young archery. Quest is doing their part with helping to keep these costs down upfront as well as delivering a new youth bow in the Centec NXT which is going to allow the bow to grow with the kid.

We put this new bow to the test and here is what we can tell you after getting it out of the box and tuning it up. Quest has really done a great job with this bow. It’s 29” axle to axle and comes as an entire kit. It is going to have everything you need to start shooting except a release and a half dozen arrows. It comes with a whisker biscuit rest which is a very simple setup for young shooters and a 4-pin sight. It has adjustable draw length from 19” to 26” which means that this one bow should last for numerous years of growth. At 19” of draw, the peak weight of this bow is right at 43 pounds and can be adjusted down to 15 lbs. At the maximum draw length of 26”, it has a peak weight of 47 pounds and delivers plenty of kinetic energy with our 318 grain arrow, which was firing out at 239 feet per second. This is roughly an IBO equivalent of 321 feet per second. This adjustable draw length doesn’t require the use of a bow press to move throughout the different draws. We did notice that there are some minor timing issues with the cams when we went through this process, but it isn’t significant enough to make much difference for someone who is a casual shooter and just looking to enjoy the experience. A draw board to check this and a bow press to put a twist of two of the cables and this is easily fixed if your kid is a real serious shooter. A well-tuned bow is going to shoot broadheads in the same place as your field points and this would be a good reason to adjust the timing on the cams if you are actually going to hunt. Most kids aren’t shooting much past 20-30 yards in a hunting situation, so it isn’t essential.

We shot the bow right out of the box without touching anything just to see what we were working with and we shot a perfect bullet hole right out of the gate. Absolutely no tuning needed.

One special piece of equipment that needs a special mention is the EZ Grip Anti Torque Training device. We actually had to look at the Quest website to see what this additional piece of plastic was that was in the box. It attaches to the handle and teaches the appropriate grip for a bow. This is essential for accuracy for your entire archery career, but it is especially important when you are a kid and don’t have any experience. This not only forces your hand onto the grip appropriately each and every time, but this will also eliminate those nasty slaps on the forearm from the string that will cause many more bad habits if regularly repeated.

The overall perception of this bow in putting it through the paces is that it is one of the best youth bows we have ever been able to shoot. Quest has delivered a winner here and having a bow that will grow with your kids is truly going to save you a lot of money in the future.