I was in that part of town this afternoon and stopped by the shop and shot a few bows. Forget what I said about that rough draw talk I'd heard because the Iceman is the smoothest drawing compound I've shot in a long time. I has a very linear feel to it and not much of a valley at the end of the draw. If you like recurves, this is probably as close as a compound can come to that feel. The down side of that is that if you let your form collaps, it want's to creep forward on you a little, but it's easy to stop bcause the weight builds so smoothly. I really like the grip and it balanced very well in the hand, not wanting to tilt or roll off with a very loose grip, just kinda stays put. I shot the 70 lb and it was as easy to draw as some of the 60 lb bows I shot. Very quiet. Only downside I can think of is it didn't seem all that fast for a 70lb bow.
Also shot a Bowtech Admiral and Captain and something called a Rytera Alien. Both the Bowtechs seemed a little top heavy and didn't handle as nice as the Iceman to me. The Alien was very light and balanced almost as well as the Iceman.
The Admiral was just completely dead in my hand on the shot, kinda like a Hoyt AM 32 that I shot last week but the draw wasn't as nice as the Iceman and it seemed about the same quietness. The Captain felt about the same as the Iceman on the shot but again didn't draw as nicely.
The Alien was kind of a booger to draw for me but I've got old shoulder injuries. I shot a 60 lb Alien and it seemed harder to draw than the 70 lb Iceman. Once you get it drawn back though it's got a very solid wall and is easy to aim because it feels like it's not going anywhere. It's very quiet on the shot and jumps forward just a little but no bad shock or vibration. But...HOLY CATS is that thing fast! Also even though I didn't have sights on any of the bows, I was trying to hit the same spot every time and the Alien gave the smallest groups for whatever that's worth.
If I was going to buy a new compound tomorrow, it would probably be the Iceman just because of my shoulders and being 48 and liking a nice smooth/easy draw but still reasonably fast, quiet, well balanced, etc. If I was young and strong and healthy and could deal better with a tougher draw, I'd probably get that Alien thing. The Alphamax is very nice too but dang it's expensive.
My current compound is a 2005 Whisper Creek Innovator but I shoot recurves a whole lot more than compounds.
