I just got done testing four new compound bows that retail for under $550 each for an article that will run in the August issue. Two were purdy darn good. A third was very good. And my favorite, the PSE X-Force Drive ($500), was dazzlingly good—truly outstanding for the price, which comes in at about $400 less that your typically flagship model.

With an IBO of 326 fps, the Drive is somewhat slower than PSE’s top models, but it’s plenty fast enough, is wonderfully smooth shooting, exceptionally quiet, and it’s a shooter—or at least it is for me. The fit and finish is right there with any of the higher-priced X-Force models. Bottom line: It’s a killer deal.

If you just have to have something faster, take a close looks at the new Bear Method ($649). The company’s new flagship Motive 6 is getting a lot of press, as it should being Bear’s first dual-cam, pure speed bow with a gaudy 350 fps IBO rating. But the Method is very similar bow, sporting the same limbs and cams, just a little more brace height at 6-7/8, and a tad more axle-to-axle length at 33 inches. Compared with Motive, you save $250 and give up a roller-style cable slide and only 10 fps IBO—and at 340, it’s still faster than many flagship models. It isn’t exactly cheap at $650, but it’s a lot of bow for the money.