Black Hunter Takedown Recurve Bow Review

Target practice with a bow and arrow is a great hobby that is only growing in popularity, but choosing your first bow can be quite confusing with a sea of options available. 

 If you’re looking for your first bow, this is an excellent piece of kit to stumble upon. SinoArt provides high-quality beginner bows, and the black hunter takedown recurve bow is no exception. This product is a lightweight and portable recurve bow that is accurate and easy to use. However, even the best products have some drawbacks, so today, we’ll be taking an honest, in-depth look at this bow and exploring some customer opinions from Amazon reviews to see what other customers think of this product, too. 

What we like 

The bow arrived in four parts and was well-packaged for security. The bow was quickly assembled with the help of the instruction manual, though stringing the bow took a little longer than usual; it wasn’t a significant problem. 

The black hunter recurve bow comprises laminate bamboo core limbs, which  enhance the overall power behind your shots while also keeping your bow lightweight and easy to maneuver.

In addition to this, lamination can also protect your bow from natural wear and tear and degradation caused by dust. 

One of the first things I noticed is how comfortable the bow felt to hold and use; it is incredibly lightweight but still feels overall sturdy. The rounded design makes it easy to grip and simple to aim with. 

 This bow is suitable for beginners and teenagers with a starting draw weight of around 30lbs (increasing in increments to 60lbs). With a bow length of 60 inches, this bow is perfect for those with a standard/typical draw length. 

This is a takedown bow, which offers significant benefits in terms of portability. It is fast and straightforward to break down and take on the go if you want to practice outdoors. Its lightweight design means it’s not arduous to carry around in a backpack either. On the whole, this is a sturdy archery bow, but there is a question of longevity. 

While I didn’t have to contact customer services, other customers reported excellent experiences with this, making up for any issues. 

While I would prefer other bows for hunting, this is an excellent bow for a first hunt or target shooting. It is very loud, which isn’t a problem if you’re only after target practice; however, if you intend to hunt with it, you’ll want to invest in a string silencer. 

We named the Black Hunter Takedown Bow as the best for practice sessions in our roundup of the best recurve bows.

What we wish was different

This is a strictly traditional bow with no real options for upgrades or additions, which is usually considered one of the better points of having a recurve bow versus a longbow. If you want to use this as anything other than a traditional bow, then it’s unlikely to be for you.

 It’s disappointing that I couldn’t even add an arrow rest, new sight, etc. It’s a basic bow and isn’t a good base for the necessary upgrades and adaptions that would make this a good hunting bow. 

This product is also only available as a right-hand bow, leaving out left-handed shooters. 

There is a question about the durability of the bow limbs and the function of the string, though.  Several customers report that the bow limbs become weak or, worse, totally erode/break after just a few weeks of usage. While we didn’t experience this issue, it’s certainly worth noting. 

There also seems to be an issue with the string twisting incorrectly and damaging the bow. To combat this, we recommend always using a stringer tool and checking it between sessions. However, this isn’t a common problem and isn’t something I’ve commonly experienced using other bows. This is one of the other reasons I wouldn’t suggest this product be used as a hunting bow.

What other customers say 

To understand what others think about this bow, we’re going to take a look at some of the reviews on Amazon. 

“Chose this recurve bow after reading reviews and seeing many reviews on YT. I purchased the 55# bow just to see if I would really like and get into traditional archery. The bow is nice, looks good, the riser is really nice looking, and the limbs are good. I have not checked the weight on the bow at full draw, suspect it might be a little light but I don’t really care at this point.
 The bow is good enough, IMO. I can learn from and aim with no problems. I would not hesitate to buy the longbow and probably will.
I would suggest that, if you buy this bow, you use the bow stringer every time you string the bow to avoid inducing any limb twist. Set your brace height at ~81/2″ from the back of the shelf. I played with BH and found this to be the sweet spot and it also quietened the bow down significantly. Relax the bow after each shooting session to save the string stretch and the limbs.” – William J 

“I have been shooting compound bows ever since I could pull one back. This year I decided to challenge myself with a traditional bow. I have been practicing with my Black Hunter all week and  cannot get enough of it! I purchased the 60 pound version and my wife enjoys shooting it so much that we are considering getting one for her, but 40 pounds. Beautiful bow, shoots very well. I am excited to take it out for the Michigan opener.” – Trevor. 

“This is the first bow I had bought in years and at first was quite happy with it. It had a great feel in my hand, however. After less than 300 arrows the string started flying off after a shot and it was next to impossible to restring. I finally figured out that the lower limb had turned to jelly and twisted easily from side to side.” – Captain L. 

“When I first got the bow it was beautiful and worked great, after shooting 3 arrows the string snapped which broke both upper and lower arms, the reason I’m giving a 5-star review is because I contacted the seller and without any questioning they hand made me 2 brand new arms and sent me a new string and just as a sign of respect they sent 5 carbon arrows, the bow works amazing and I love it! So despite the troubles I had at first the customer service and understanding of obert was amazing and I was very pleased at how they rectified the problem without dispute.Very happy it’s a great bow for the price!” Aaron C

Summing up 

In this recurve bow review, I hope I’ve helped you make your purchasing decision. 

Overall, this is an easy-to-use, accurate, and lightweight bow that is good for beginners of all capabilities and most sizes. Versatile draw weights are offered to make it suitable for almost all strengths. While the higher draw weights offered do theoretically make it possible to hunt with this bow, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it due to the lack of possible upgrades available and the questionable longevity. This is an excellent first bow if you intend to upgrade after a few months of practice, though.