Eighty five dollars. That’s the price tag on AF Archery’s one piece hybrid longbow, and as far as we can tell, that makes it the cheapest one piece hybrid longbow you can buy on Amazon right now. A price that low usually comes with a catch, so we bought one, strung it up, and put it through a full round of testing at 35lb draw weight to find out exactly what that catch is and if it’s as good as the popular Black Hunter longbow.

Specs and Build Quality

The AF Archery longbow is a 62 inch one piece hybrid, meaning there are no takedown limbs and no riser bolts. It’s just one solid piece from tip to tip. That kind of construction usually pushes a bow into the $150 to $200 range, so seeing it here at $85 was the first thing that caught our attention.

It’s built from fiberglass, bamboo, and black walnut, and the three materials actually work well together. The dark walnut grain running alongside the lighter bamboo gives it more visual character than you’d expect at this price, and there’s a gold medallion set into the riser that adds a nice, slightly more expensive looking detail. The limbs themselves are clean, no visible delamination and no rough spots at the glue lines. This isn’t going to compete with a custom five hundred dollar longbow on craftsmanship, but it doesn’t feel cheap either.

AF Archery also includes a solid little accessory kit with the bow: an arm guard, a finger tab, an arrow rest pad, a stringer tool, and a nock point already set on the string. That’s everything a new shooter needs to get started without buying extras separately, which is a nice touch at this price point.

Before testing, we swapped the stock string for a Flemish twist string from Shatterproof Archery that we had on hand, mostly so we could shoot the bow on a string we trust for consistent numbers.

The Grip

The first thing that stands out picking this bow up is how light it is, noticeably lighter than most of the hybrid longbows we’ve tested. A lot of that comes down to the handle. It’s a small grip, narrower than what you’ll find on the Black Hunter, and pretty close in size to the grip on the Deerseeker Vendetta 60″ we reviewed recently. It’s a grip we genuinely like. It wraps naturally in the hand, there’s no bulk to fight through, and it disappears the way a good longbow handle should.

Shooting Performance

We set the bow up at 35lb draw weight and ran it through both 500 and 600 spine arrows to see where it performed best. Both spines shot fine off this bow. The 500s felt a touch stiff at this draw weight, which tracks, but they still grouped well. The 600 spine arrows were the sweet spot, with cleaner flight and more consistent groups at distance.

Accuracy wise, there’s nothing to complain about here. It points naturally and it’s forgiving through the shot, which makes it a solid option for a beginner or intermediate shooter working on instinctive form.

One thing did surprise us: shooting this bow side by side against a 35lb Black Hunter longbow, a takedown hybrid, the AF Archery bow came out a little slower. That caught us off guard, since a one piece design typically has a speed advantage over a takedown, with less energy lost at the limb pockets and riser connection. We expected this bow to have the edge on speed, not give some up.

Hand Shock: The Real Catch

Here’s the honest part of this review. This bow has more hand shock than any other hybrid longbow we’ve tested. On release, you feel a noticeable buzz run through the riser and into your bow hand on every shot. It’s not sharp enough to hurt, but it’s there on every single arrow.

We tried to reduce it before writing this off. Adding a set of string silencers took the edge off the vibration coming off the string. Strapping on a bow quiver added a bit of mass out toward the limb tip, which helped dampen the shock further. Together, those two changes took the shock from a sharp buzz down to more of a dull thump. But even stacked together, they didn’t eliminate it completely.

A heavier arrow will also help absorb some of that shock, since more of the limb’s stored energy goes into the arrow instead of back into your hand. But that comes with its own tradeoff. This bow is already a bit slower than expected for a one piece design, and going heavier on arrow weight will slow it down even further. You’re choosing between a smoother shot and a faster, flatter arrow. You don’t get both here.

Final Verdict

If $85 is your ceiling and you want a light, good looking one piece hybrid longbow to learn on or keep around for backyard practice, this bow earns its price. The grip is excellent, it’s light, it shoots accurately, and the included accessories add real value.

But if hand shock is a dealbreaker, and for a lot of shooters putting in high volume days it is, we’d point you toward something else. The Deerseeker Vendetta 60″ is a light one piece hybrid that shoots dead calm in the hand, though it costs more than this AF Archery bow. If you don’t mind stepping up to a takedown, the Black Hunter longbow shoots just as smooth and usually runs $90 to $100, only a little more than the AF Archery longbow, for noticeably better performance.

Bottom line: The AF Archery hybrid longbow delivers real value at $85, with a grip and build quality that punch above the price. Just budget for a set of string silencers, and don’t expect it to shoot dead quiet in the hand.

Watch the full video review above for slow motion shooting footage and a side by side comparison against the Black Hunter and Deerseeker Vendetta.