Hamskea Rest Comparison

[Ferrulewax]

Looking to replace my cheap QAD rest, and think I’ve settled on Hamskea. I have no delusions that a rest will shink my groups to the size of a quarter, but want to buy something solid and move it to my next bow if I upgrade down the road. For you guys with experience, is the Epsilon worth the upgrade, or will one of their older models do everything I need? I would much rather buy the best now than want to upgrade later.

Details:
-Shooting regularly for one year
-Bow: Mission MXR, may upgrade down the road
-Primarily whitetail, but may end up being used for western game
-I target shoot for practice, but no plans to shoot competitively

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

I just picked up an epsilon and been shooting it for 3 months. I still prefer my QAD as of now.

 

[TheBootBowhunting]

I have 2 bows with Hybrid Hunter Pros and 1 with the Epsilon. The epsilon is a lower profile, more refined overall rest but performance wise I dont notice a difference - Ive never had an issue with either of them, and have had them since each were released. The HHP's/Trinity are IMO a bit less finicky on where you run the rest cord on the limb.

Performance to me is a wash. If you are going to run a low profile quiver, or just want the latest and greatest, grab the epsilon.

 

[Samdemarais]

Looking to replace my cheap QAD rest, and think I’ve settled on Hamskea. I have no delusions that a rest will shink my groups to the size of a quarter, but want to buy something solid and move it to my next bow if I upgrade down the road. For you guys with experience, is the Epsilon worth the upgrade, or will one of their older models do everything I need? I would much rather buy the best now than want to upgrade later.

Details:
-Shooting regularly for one year
-Bow: Mission MXR, may upgrade down the road
-Primarily whitetail, but may end up being used for western game
-I target shoot for practice, but no plans to shoot competitively

I would look at the primer. The benefits of the hamskea are the ability to fix or time without a press and the long term reliability and durability. There are less likely to break or malfunction than a QAD.

 

[WBrim]

The HHP has been good to me for 2 years now. I would gladly recommend it to anyone.
My understanding in the main difference between models is the quality of the bearings- the primer has a smaller bearing that would be more likely to wear out over time. Can’t say I’ve proven that, but I use the HHP on my main bow and a primer on the backup bow that doesn’t get much use.

 

[roosiebull]

Looking to replace my cheap QAD rest, and think I’ve settled on Hamskea. I have no delusions that a rest will shink my groups to the size of a quarter, but want to buy something solid and move it to my next bow if I upgrade down the road. For you guys with experience, is the Epsilon worth the upgrade, or will one of their older models do everything I need? I would much rather buy the best now than want to upgrade later.

Details:
-Shooting regularly for one year
-Bow: Mission MXR, may upgrade down the road
-Primarily whitetail, but may end up being used for western game
-I target shoot for practice, but no plans to shoot competitively

I don’t think it will do anything the trinity won’t, Or hybrid hunter, but it’s a more sleek streamlined rest.

I consider the QAD one of my least favorite rests, I think it’s the moisture/fern pollen combo on the coast, but my last 2 hdx’s got sticky pretty quickly, and I have zero trust in them, I know most have pretty good luck with them, but I will stick with limb driven.

I currently have a vapor trail on my nexus 4, and like it, but I should have just got another hamskea, I have shot a trinity the past few years and it’s been flawless with zero maintenance.

I have considered going back to a whisker biscuit, as uncool as they are, I shot them for years and have nothing bad to say about them, most of their stated shortcomings are fabricated… never had any issues with forgiveness or anything else… if I ever have any issues with limb driven, I’ll go straight back to the taboo WB

My wife has a hybrid hunter on her bow, and the only thing I see that’s better on the trinity is the factory launcher is bare plastic, but that’s very easy to resolve, a little felt and it’s golden

The epsilon will likely be my next rest, I like the profile, and it’s easy to justify knowing how long I’ll have it

 

[TX_hunter]

I've owned the hybrid hunter, trinity and epsilon.

I still have a trinity and epsilon.

The function is the same, but the the epsilon sits a lot tighter to the rise. I got it to replace the trinity on my Omen, it let me run the quiver significantly closer to the riser. Quiver runs into the trinity before anything else on the bow.

 

[doc holiday13]

first and only drop away is a hamskea epsilon. no complaints so far

 

[justin davis]

Big fan of Hamskea rests. I’ve used the Trinity, Versa rest, and the new Epsilon. Can’t go wrong with any of them.

 

[TheTone]

Been using a hybrid hunter for 5 or 6 years now and on two different bows. Very happy with it

 

[htlt_surfboards]

Trinity Hunter user hear. Got mine two years ago as an upgrade from a trophy taker smackdown pro. The micro adjust for tuning was a game changer for me and am really happy I upgraded.

 

[N2TRKYS]

I had been using a QAD HDX, but went to a Hamskea Trinity for my new bow. It’s an ok rest, but I prefer the QAD. I’ll be using QAD rests from here on out.

 

[homebru.trout]

One thing that is a factor for me with the Epsilon is that it is a huge pain in the butt to adjust/move on some bows. It's smaller, lighter than earlier Hamskea models but if the Epsilon "magic" of aligning to centershot + berger out of the box doesn't work, you are in for a nightmare of a time if you shoot a bowtech or a prime...the way the cable guard is configured on some bows causes issues with vertical adjustment. I had to make some compromises routing the rest cable to the limb on an Elite as well to avoid hitting the quiver. Yes there are ways around it, but the HHP and Trinity with their wider platforms just make it a lot easier on the fingers to get things set just right. Whatever you decide, the micro adjust is worth the extra coin in my opinion.

 

[Matt G.]

I just swapped my QAD HDX for the epsilon. My QAD started breaking down again. I think I been averaging 2 or 3 years before I need Warranty repair. I went epsilon due mostly to overall profile and the components like metal and bearings. I think it would be less likely to break down over time. I also like the launcher and feel I don't need the felt. The felt with qad sometimes squeeked as the arrow was drawn.

The one thing I don't like is the vertical adjustment can be a PITA with two lock screws. Also wish there was direction indicator on the adjustment screw. Because each click is so small, I needed a few clicks to determine which direction the rest was moving.

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

 

[doncarpenter]

Hamskea makes the best rests in my opinion. I very much prefer limb driven rests vs cable driven. The set up is more straightforward and easy to adjust.

I have owned all the Hamskea rests and I still keep coming back to the hybrid hunter pro microtune. Don't get me wrong, the Epsilon is a top of the line rest. I just don't need the slim profile of the Epsilon, because I rarely have anything on that side of the bow because I use a quivalizer.

You can pick up a used Hybrid Hunter Pro microtune for around 90 bucks used pretty regularly. I believe there is one in the classifieds right now.

The two downsides, in my opinion, are the rest activation cord snagging while moving through the brush and not holding the arrow very securely when stalking. The first one can be avoided, but I have bent the spring on the arm a couple of times while moving through thick stuff. The second downside can be overcome by adding an arrow holder on the rest shelf.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

 

[kowboy]

Never really liked the Hamskeas for hunting (especially elk) as the arrow can 'flop' around quite a bit when loaded up and moving. The QAD MXT is the best one I've shot and keep going back to it. Now, for 'sitting' shots like antelope in a blind, the Hamskea works (but the one issue is with 4mm arrows as the arrow can actually lodge between the rest and the cage. I've had a couple do this without paying attention and ....down the range they went either in pieces or into a tree....pretty scary). The QAD keeps the arrow in a tighter cage and less flop. Shot the Vapor trail 7 and really liked it but the same for flopping around. Love the limb driven rests though for tuning etc. Hamskea makes great products and use several of their products.

 

[Meshnasty]

I have Trinitys on both of my bows.

Back when I was cheap I had a rip cord that froze up and failed to drop when I shot. Since then I refuse to use any rest that locks/clicks into place. In the rip cords defense it was well below 0. I’ve hunted with a Trinity down into the single digits, snow, sleet, rain, mud, dust, etc. without any issues so far.

I don’t have much for issues with the arrow rattling around as I can hold it with a finger if needed while stalking or it’s more likely still in my quiver. I also have my arrow shelf and riser covered with moleskin to prevent any accidental noises.

 

[Buzzkill]

You really can’t go wrong if you go with the Epsilon or something like the Trinity, so it really depends on whether the smaller size is worth the additional investment. I’m currently running Trinitys on both of my bows and had thought about upgrading one of them at least, but I really couldn’t justify spending additional money as my existing Trinity’s have worked great.

 

[Kyle Wheeler]

I like the Trinity and Epsilon. I will say the trinity is blockier and seems more like a tank. The Epsilon adjustments are a little harder to get to as it’s so compact. If you aren’t trying to get everything right on the riser you can probably find the Trinity much cheaper. Even the primer from Hamskea is a solid rest.

 

[JStol5]

Planning on getting a primer for my backup bow.