Field Tested: QAD Ultrarest Custom

QAD makes a number of great arrow rests for compounds bows, but it’s hard to beat a rest created specifically for your bow. Enter QAD’s Ultrarest Custom offerings, rests which build on the company’s popular Ultrarest design by featuring brand-specific models to “unleash the bow’s full potential,” as QAD puts it.

Ultrarest Custom rests are available for Bowtech, Hoyt, Mathews, PSE and Elite bows in a variety of colors and camouflage patterns. I recently paired my Bowtech Realm SR6 with a Mossy Oak-clad Ultrarest designed specifically for that make and model, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the combination. The full-containment-style rest features a custom mounting block in the shape of the Bowtech logo, along with a Bowtech logo sticker to cover the mounting block bolt. A new launcher allows for perfect Berger-hole alignment to prevent contact with the riser shelf after the shot, and the nonslip mounting-block surface eliminates the need for set screws on the rest.

More on the launcher: it’s designed to ensure total fletching clearance even with bows shooting 400 fps, drops only when the bow is fired (no fear of containment loss when letting the bow down slowly) and comes with laser-cut rubber dampeners to provide noise reduction at the shot. Total arrow containment is achieved when the launcher is raised to 80 degrees; the launcher then comes to 90 degrees when the bow is at full draw. After the shot, the launcher comes to rest at zero degrees and locks in place to prevent any bounce-back.

There are a number of other innovative features on this unique arrow rest, but my favorite has to be the ability to cock the launcher into the 80-degree capture position for full arrow containment before I ever draw. I can make do without it, but this makes for one less thing I have to be concerned with when a big buck is coming my way.

Case in point: I shot my biggest whitetail to date, a 10-pointer that officially scored 140 1/8 inches, this October after the buck appeared out of nowhere. I had just enough time to range and draw on the deer before he walked into a thicket and out of my life forever. If I had been worried about my arrow falling off the rest or otherwise making noise while I drew, I might have spooked the buck and missed my chance.

The Bowtech Ultrarest is available in right- or left-handed models in black, red or Mossy Oak Infinity. There are different Bowtech Ultrarest versions for different Bowtech models, so be sure to check with your local QAD dealer as to which one is right for your bow. Prices run $164.95-$188.95. As with QAD’s other rests, the Ultrarest Custom is 100-percent designed and manufactured in the USA and is covered by a limited lifetime warranty.