Welcome to this week’s installation of “Why Your Bow Sucks,” an ongoing series of bow reviews.

What sucks

What is there to say about the Elite EnVision that hasn’t already been said about the color beige and vanilla ice cream? This bow exists, and apparently that’s good enough for some of you.

The EnVision is the archery equivalent of the midwestern girlfriend you dumped just before heading to college at Arizona State. She loved you even though you were the high school’s third-string kicker, yet you took her for granted and left for drunker, sexier pastures. You don’t think about her until it’s 9 a.m. on a Sunday and even your pounding head can’t mask the feelings of regret.

Every EnVision (f**k Elite for making me capitalize that V every time) comes with a complementary weighted blanket. It’s a comfort bow – there to make you feel better when you realize tuning a speed bow isn’t as fun as you thought it’d be.

It’s not the fastest bow nor is it the slowest. It’s not a hard bow to tune but it’s not the easiest. You bought it because you drive a Toyota Corolla and hate taking chances. The thought of change scares you. You wear seatbelts on dirt roads. You have a favorite sitcom on network television.

Hoyt is in bed with Cam Hanes. PSE has given the keys to the kingdom to John Dudley. Prime linked themselves to the MeatEater crew. Mathews has Levi Morgan (ouch). I hear Elite is working on a deal with a high school math teacher named Dennis.

The EnVision only comes in a 31-inch axle-to-axle configuration and accommodates draw lengths from 23.5 to 30.5 inches – if you’re one of the long-draw folks you’re S.O.L. It’s also heavier than advertised. We measured it at 4.8 pounds and it’s supposed to be 4.4.

I’m pretty sure this bow only comes in tan and darker tan. The free hats that come with it suck. Elite is headquartered in Rochester, NY which is practically Toronto. The Bills will never win a Super Bowl.

What Doesn’t Suck

Elite claims to make “the world’s most shootable bow” and dammit, they may be right. The draw cycle is as smooth as butter and post-shot vibration isn’t all that noticeable. The EnVision is relatively quiet and it feels remarkably stable with its new wider limbs and limb pockets.

While Bowtech is probably king of the hill when it comes to ease of tuning, the EnVision’s “SET” tuning system is a breeze to work with and achieving bullet holes on paper shouldn’t take much time at all. Any bow that doesn’t require shimming gets a gold star in my book, and the 6.875-inch brace height makes the EnVision a forgiving bow as well.

The EnVision has an advertised IBO of 334 feet per second, and with the Versa performance modules installed it appears to be right there. I didn’t get to conduct my own speed test with this bow because it was sold almost as soon as it came to my local shop, but here are the speed test results from Ohio Premier Archery’s YouTube channel:

The fit and finish on the bow I held looked stellar, and the $1,199 MSRP places Elite’s EnVision among the more affordable flagship models on the market. It’s available in draw weights from 40 to 75 pounds, so most shooters will be able to find a configuration that suits them best.

Final Thoughts

Hoyt, PSE (aside from the Levitate) and Bowtech are expected to release their 2022 flagships in the coming days and weeks, but it’s hard to imagine a better-shooting hunting bow than the EnVision hitting the market. From the tree stand to the mountains, this bow will certainly get the job done.

Could you use the EnVision for 3-D? Sure – and it’d be just fine – but, that’s not really where this bow shines. If a 34-35-inch version were available, I’d probably be all over it. Elite cast a broad enough net with this bow to make it viable and it’s not their fault I didn’t get caught. They did incorporate a slightly longer riser than you’d expect on a 31, which was a nice touch of engineering.

In the age of carbon bows, crazy riser technology and picatinny rails, Elite did what Elite always does – build a quality, highly-shootable bow that’s easy to tune – and there ain’t a damn thing wrong with that.