Fixed Blade Broadheads Vs. Mechanical Broadheads Vs. Hybrid Broadheads. Which one is right for YOU

Hey, thanks for tuning in today. We're outside enjoying some fresh air, getting some target practice in, and we thought we'd just take a quick second and talk about some of the major differences between mechanical, fixed, and hybrid broadheads. I'm gonna go ahead and just start with mechanicals, some of the things that you're gonna wanna look at for pros and cons, and then we'll do the other two platforms after that. So when you're looking at mechanicals, one of the things that comes to the forefront for a lot of people is failure. Can it fail? Well, any mechanical device can fail, right? So there is a slight possibility. Now, with the advances in technology and machining, we have some tremendous choices for mechanical broadheads out there from lots of different companies. They're excellent. So the failure rates are actually low, but it's still something that you should probably consider or think about, especially if you're on a remote hunt, going to Alaska, Africa, or maybe a big vacation hunt, and you want something, if you're in a remote area, that you don't have to worry about failing or fixing or repairing, which you could run into on some mechanicals. One of the big benefits of mechanicals, of course, is their cut size and wound channels. So we know that the big benefit is we're going in, as we're opening on any mechanical, you get this giant cut, sometimes over two inches in these huge exit wounds. So that's a big pro for the mechanical side. But on the cons, on your entrance side of that, you can see with some mechanicals a really tiny entrance because it's not designed to open until after it's gotten into your animal. And then you see the effect on the blades, the blades opening up and doing their job. So if you're not too concerned about a big entrance wound at the same time, it's no big deal. Now, some mechanicals do a very good job on entrance wounds. You just have to make sure that you've done your research and see which ones are opening at what time. It's very important. Probably the biggest and most important factor for a lot of people with mechanicals is flight. I wanna be able to shoot a long way. I wanna be accurate. I wanna hit exactly what I'm aiming at. And so the development of all these mechanicals has been around flight and accuracy at long distances, especially for the guys out West who take advantage of 60 plus shots, 80 plus shots, and some guys that really take longer shots than that. So that's where the mechanical broadhead does shine. Their low profile, small diameter allows you to take a shot a long way and still be field tip accurate. So it's a good point to consider when you're looking at what broadheads you want is the distances you're gonna be shooting. Durability. When we talk about durability, we look at a lot of mechanicals and we're like, oh boy, that's one and done. So are you willing to sacrifice that a mechanical may not hold up for a second shot, but it did everything you asked it to do, so it's no big deal. A lot of broadheads are expensive. Are you okay having an extra pack on hand? Do you have enough broadheads on your hunt that if something does get destroyed, you have plenty of backup? Something to think about when you're choosing a mechanical. Now again, our advancements currently, we have a lot of really tough mechanical broadhead choices out there from a lot of great manufacturers. So you can find some that are pretty tough. But if you're starting to look at some online from places that you may not know, they look really good, you might wanna use some caution because you might run into some durability issues for sure. Weight options. Typically, mechanicals have fewer weight options than fixed blades. Actually, most of the time, you're looking at 85, 100, and 125 grain options. Now, we have a lot of broadheads in the mechanical realm we're seeing get pushed to 150 because of the big drive towards heavier weights and FOC. And a lot of the crossbow manufacturers actually recommend 150 grain broadheads. So there are a few mechanicals available there. But typically, you have less choice than you do with the fixed blade choices for weights. Even though you can add inserts, outserts, and do whatever you can to get your FOC up with mechanicals, out of the box, you're not gonna be able to see most of the time all those options. When we talk about fixed blade broadheads, we're talking about something that is totally fixed. Nothing can move. And so our failure rates are exceptionally low. In fact, besides a catastrophic event, the broadhead can't fail. And so, in other words, you can't blame a bad shot or something that you did wrong on your fixed blade broadhead. So, but having that reassurance, especially on a remote hunt, or you're hunting really big game somewhere where you've gotta really rely on heavy duty, heavy weight, thick blades, you're gonna have a lot more options when you're looking at fixed blade broadheads. And have that reassurance that there's really no failures that can go wrong. Except in flight, if you haven't tuned your bow, if you don't know what you're doing, you could run into some failure because of the broadhead going errant on long shots. But again, usually with proper practice and tuning, that's not an issue. So the broadhead itself is very low on failure. Cut size. Now, as far as fixed blade broadheads go, we know we have a lot less choices with fixed blade cut size than we do with mechanicals or hybrids. You know, we get over a certain size and they tend to become a rudder at the end of our arrow. So you kinda don't have a lot of great choices for fixed blade for having big cuts. Now, you can find a lot smaller. You can find four blades. You can get all kinds of combinations between main blades and bleeder blades and primary blades and secondary blades. So you can get plenty of total surface area cut out of a fixed blade, but you can't get those two giant blade cuts like you can with a hybrid or mechanical. So if you're really focused on that giant entrance and exit wound, that's something to take in consideration when you're thinking about a fixed blade broadhead. Now, wound channel is also something very important to consider with a fixed blade head. So you know with this broadhead here, which happens to be an inch and an eighth, I know when I shoot this into a whitetail, my entrance wound's gonna be at least an inch and an eighth and my exit wound's gonna be at least an inch and an eighth. But with the mechanical that may have delayed opening or doesn't open until it gets a certain distance inside your animal, you don't always know what your entrance wound is gonna be. It might be quite tiny, in fact, even though you have this giant exit wound. So if you wanna know every time what you're gonna get, you may wanna consider the fixed blade broadhead. Penetration. Fixed blades, we know, penetrate great, especially depending on design. If you have a cut-on-contact fixed blade, you're not gonna have any issue with penetration. They really do an amazing job blowing through everything, especially if you have the right kinetic energy and the right momentum in your arrow setup and in your bow setup, you know that you're gonna get great penetration from your fixed blade broadheads. And they're durable. You can shoot this and many times just wash it off and go shoot it again. So a lot of choices for fixed blades out there, and most of them hold up to any rigorous thing you wanna put out to them. You have a lot of options for thicker blades and machined fixed blade broadheads as well, which add even more heavy durability. Some of them are just virtually indestructible. So durability definitely gets a high mark for the fixed blade broadheads. Lastly, the weight options. On fixed blade broadheads, there's a myriad of weights. You can get over 200 grains easily on some fixed blade broadheads with the broadhead alone. So if you're looking for weight options and to be able to even add more FOC, then fixed blade broadheads are good to look at for that. Hybrid broadheads. So this is the best of both worlds, right? We have fixed and hybrid all in one. Now there's several classifications of hybrids. So first you have a hybrid broadhead where you have some sort of fixed blade and you have your mechanical blades as well. And then you have other hybrids which are closed in flight, but at entrance turned into a locked fixed blade broadhead like our afflictor hybrids. So you have to consider when you're looking at a hybrid, what are you looking for in that realm? Because any hybrid, again, can have a failure point. Some more, some less than others. And again, we've reduced that a lot. Currently all the manufacturers across the board have done such a great job of different offerings and different advancements where we have very few failure rates, but it still is a possibility if you're comparing it to a fixed blade broadhead. Cut size. When you're talking about a hybrid cut, again, you're usually talking about getting the best of both worlds. You have some fixed blade portion and then you have some hybrid portion. So you have a certain diameter cut with your fixed and then you have your hybrid blades would typically open up into a cut of inch and a half or better. So you want to kind of consider, is my hybrid going to be open at entrance? Am I gonna get a big entrance wound? Am I happy just with the secondary blade on entrance even though I'm getting a massive exit wound? For hybrids like the afflictor hybrids, when they are activated, they are a locked fixed blade at entrance. So you do get that big cut at entrance every time. But again, something that you have to take into consideration. Flight. Hybrids fly great. You do add a little bit more chance of some errant flight because of secondary blades on certain hybrids. So be careful what the length of your secondary blades is and that you're properly tuned to that broadhead so you don't run into risk of having some wind planning issues down range. Penetration. Just like the mechanicals and the fixed blades, hybrids penetrate great. The only time you can see reduced penetration is if your secondary, if your primary blades rather, require some type of energy to deploy. So you have to think about, is there an O-ring that needs cut? A band that needs broken? Is there something over my blades? Is there a pin in the ferrule that needs to be cut? You have to think about that energy loss there. Some of those things work absolutely phenomenal and are great choices, but you have to, again, look at your setup. Do I have the right momentum in my arrow? Am I properly tuned? Is everything gonna work good for me? And then you can look at a hybrid and say, okay, that's gonna work, especially at the ranges that I'm shooting. They're not gonna be running into any risk. And some of the hybrids, of course, they just fly great way out there. You don't have any issues at all. Durability. Hybrids run into the same category as the mechanicals. Some of them are just one and done. They're a little fragile, especially if you're hitting solid bone and passing through and hitting rock on the other side. You do run some risk of banging them up. Many of them have replacement blades. They're easy to fix, so it's usually not a problem. But on some models, you could run into them not working properly at all, ever again, and you can retire them. If that's not a big deal for you and it's doing the job you want up front, then great. Other than that, it's a consideration for you to think about. Weight options. Just like their mechanical cousins, kind of limited in weight options. You're looking at, again, 125 grains and under. There are some 150-grain options that you can find out there, but most of the time, you don't have that wide assortment of out-of-the-box weight options as you do on the Fix. Now, again, you can add FOC easily with different mechanisms and inserts and outserts, but typically, just in general, you're gonna have less options than you are with the Fix on the Hybrid. So I hope that helped you out today. Again, there's lots of tremendous broadhead choices out there from a lot of great manufacturers. Get behind them, support them. Remember to support each other whether you're shooting a compound, a crossbow, or a trad. We're all in this together. If you have any questions about this video, please comment below. Get ahold of us on social media or email us at any time. Thanks.