Gear Wise: Pyramyd Air Complete Bow Setup

Let’s face it; convenience is king for today’s consumers. From Amazon to Grubhub to mobile car repair services, today’s retail environment is dominated by companies that can deliver what people want, when they want it, directly to their doorsteps.

In the archery world, that can be a little tricky. Unless you own specialized equipment such as a bow press and bow vice and have some experience using them, buying a new bow and getting it ready to shoot typically involves a trip to the local pro shop. But one company — Pyramyd Air — is using patented technology to make the bow-buying process easier than ever. Its new Complete Bow Setup service lets you pick out a bow, customize it with the accessories of your choice and have it delivered, ready to shoot right out of the box.

Ron Duecker, Pyramyd’s archery manager, said the company isn’t trying to replace pro shops. Rather, Pyramyd is trying to make archery even more accessible to 21st-century consumers — particularly those who have a strong preference for online shopping or live many miles from the nearest pro shop. “If we want to grow the industry and get more people enjoying what we do, we have to find ways to take the barriers down,” Duecker said.

Ohio-based Pyramyd offers a wide selection of bows and archery accessories via its online store. Rather than just selling gear, however, Duecker and his crew wanted to go a step further by developing a service to help both new and experienced archers get the most out of their purchases. The newly launched Complete Bow Setup service is the culmination of that effort.

The linchpin of the Complete Bow Setup is patented technology that lets Pyramyd’s Archery Trade Association-certified bow technicians determine a customer’s proper peep sight location without a face-to-face meeting. Instead, customers simply measure the distance between their eye and mouth. With that, along with some additional measurements from your chosen bow and some trigonometry calculations, Pyramyd can custom build your bow and even have your top sight pin dialed in at 20 yards out of the box.

The Complete Bow Setup process also includes installation of all accessories, including a nocking loop, arrow rest tuning and even paper tuning to ensure perfect arrow flight before the bow is boxed for shipping. Pyramyd helps customers determine their proper draw length, select their desired draw weight, choose compatible accessories and will even custom build and spin test arrows. Perhaps best of all, the Complete Bow Setup Service is free with bow purchase. The end result is a field-ready rig, built just for you.

To demonstrate the effectiveness of the Complete Bow Setup, Pyramyd Air invited me to build a bow of my own and put it to the test. Using the online store, I selected a Bear Archery Whitetail MAXX bow set at a 29-inch draw length and 65-pound draw weight. I then outfitted it with a Trophy Ridge Whisker Biscuit V MAX rest, Redline RL-3 sight, Trophy Ridge Hitman 8-inch stabilizer, G5 Head-Loc 6-arrow quiver, Easton 5mm Full Metal Jacket 340 arrows and an Easton Workhorse Bow Case.

Four days later, the UPS guy pulled into my driveway and placed the package on my front porch. Eagerly opening it, I found the bow case with the fully built bow and arrows inside. All I had to do was screw some fieldpoints onto the arrows and hit the range!

I’m a bit of a skeptic. So, I was pleasantly surprised when my first arrow hit the target not far from the bull’s-eye. And after a few minor sight tweaks, I was pounding groups into the vitals area of my Rinehart target. Honestly, the entire process, from removing the bow from the case to being fully sighted in at 20 yards, took only a few minutes, and I could tell from the straight-on impact of the arrows and the tight groups that the bow and arrows had been set up and tuned properly.

Duecker noted that while the Complete Bow Setup process is designed to get your bow very close to perfect, it is not unusual for customers to make minor adjustments “because we don’t have a shooter who has the same exact ergonomics as you.”

That said, tinkering with your setup is one of the things that makes archery fun. The Complete Bow Setup just makes getting started a lot faster and easier. You still have to fine-tune things on the range, get your lower pins dialed in and practice regularly to instill confidence. And, if you run into any problems along the way, Duecker said the same folks who set your bow up are available to answer questions and offer advice through Pyramyd Customer Support, available via telephone, email or online chat. Pyramyd is also building a library of instructional videos designed to complement the Complete Bow Setup by helping people with tasks such as sight adjustments and proper shooting form.

Based on my experience, Pyramyd Air’s Complete Bow Setup is a worthwhile service, making it easier than ever for more people in more places to try archery for the first time or upgrade from an old hunting rig to something new that offers the speed and precision that comes with the latest bow technologies.