How We Score Broadheads

Broadhead Reviews is a syndicated review site. Instead of basing a verdict on one tester's handful of shots, we read the whole hunting world's experience with a head — manufacturer-independent field tests, video reviews, long-running bowhunting-forum threads, and verified buyer reviews — and distill that consensus into one transparent, weighted score so you can compare heads on equal footing.

Being upfront: we do buy and evaluate some heads in-house, but not all of them. Most of our insight comes from aggregating real-world results across thousands of hunters and our own proprietary sentiment analysis of what bowhunters actually say after using a head in the field — far more shots on far more animals than any single reviewer could gather. A score is never influenced by advertising or affiliate relationships.

The five criteria

Penetration (30%) — the single most important factor. Does the head pass through and leave two holes? We weigh cut-on-contact design, ferrule strength, and real-world pass-through reports on bone.

Flight & accuracy (25%) — how forgiving the head is to tune and whether it groups with field points at hunting range.

Durability & edge retention (20%) — blade and ferrule toughness on bone, resharpenability, and how the head holds up shot to shot.

Blood trail (15%) — wound-channel size and how easy the animal is to recover, factoring cut diameter, bleeders and exit wounds.

Value (10%) — performance per dollar, including replacement-blade cost and any lifetime guarantee.

How we gather evidence

We synthesize the largest body of credible evidence we can assemble for each head: independent broadhead tests (HuntStand, N1 Outdoors, Outdoor Life), in-depth video reviews, long-running bowhunting-forum threads (ArcheryTalk, Rokslide, Bowsite) where hunters report real results across many animals, and verified buyer reviews. Where the evidence base is thin for a given head, we say so rather than inflate a score.

We are deliberately critical of failure modes — non-deployment in mechanicals, bent ferrules on bone, dull-from-the-factory edges — because those are exactly the things a buyer needs to know and a manufacturer won't volunteer.

Independence & disclosure

Broadhead Reviews is editorially independent. Some outbound links may be affiliate links that earn a commission at no cost to you; they never affect a score or a ranking. Prices and specifications change frequently — always confirm current details with the retailer before purchasing.