bowhunter163
Well-Known Member
THIS IS A LONG READ!!!!!!!!!
My whole archery life I've always gravitated toward fixed blades due to my short(26.5") draw length making my FPS on the slower side. I've shot mechanicals over the years with good success as well, but I definitely get more pass through's with fixed blades. My favorite head has been the tooth of the arrow broadhead. It's a small diameter head coming in at only 1", but it's all one piece design makes it really tough. I've killed multiple deer with the same head only touching up the edges in between.
Well last summer I saw these fixed blades on Amazon that very closely resembled the TOTA heads with the only real difference being that the china modeal was a cut on contact type head instead of the chisel tip. I ordered a couple dozen(and yes that is 24!) to play around with at the same price as the 3 pack TOTA heads!! My plan was to maybe make a little video testing the durability (and I still might do that) over last summer before season and then maybe even shoot some does with them to test real life results etc.
I got them a couple days later but I waited a couple weeks when I had some time off planned to mess around with them. Fast forward and I opened them up to check em out. They were actually surprisingly sharp, but I was still going to go through my normal tuning and sharpening process with them. First I weighed the heads and surprisingly they were all within 2 grains…..Although they were supposed to be 100gr and they averaged 106 which was completely fine with me. Next step is to spin test them for straightness (you can only do this if your arrows are built square. On both the knock and insert side.). I used the same arrow for all of them and all but 3 spun perfect! The other 3 were well within normal limits, but I am just a perfectionist when tuning so I got rid of those. After that I sharpened, spin matched them with 5 arrows, put them in my quiver, and went to shoot them a few times before dark. This verified I had the exact POI as my normal heads and field points allowing me to feel good about moving on to the durability testing the next day….. well of course I had a few house problems come up and I wasn't able to get back to it that week……
The next week on September 23rd I get deployed to Florida in preparation for Hurricane Helene(Fire dept/emergency management). Normally these assignments are 2 week or shorter stints because the state of Florida is so well prepared for them, but due to the unforeseen catastrophic events that followed I did not return home until November 9th! Have I mentioned that I have been following a GIANT deer during the summer and had been planning to hunt him hard once season started?? All I could do while deployed was watch my cell cams and hope at that point.
Fast forward to Nov. 9th I finally made it home and couldn't wait to spend the rest of the month hunting. The next day was opening of muzzleloader and I decided to go after that big deer(I bow hunt all year the majority of the time), even though it was forecasted to be a hot 70 degrees at daybreak, but slightly overcast. With a stroke of dumb luck I ended up killing that big deer after he followed a doe right by me at 27 yards. The shot was perfect burying through the offside scapula, watching the arrow fly through the air after snapping when he took off, and then I got to watch him fall 60 yards later……. I don't know if you have all noticed the mistake I made while you're reading through this. ( because I myself didn't notice until 3 days after this….) But guess what Broadheads were in my quiver that morning? That's right, I just unknowingly tested a Chinese broadhead on a 172" 191lb dressed TN GIANT!! Since it was a couple months the last time I was home I had completely forgot about the head testing project I was planning
. The last thing on my mind was finding the broken off portion of my arrow after I had just shot my best buck ever. It wasn't until I was at our annual LBL deer camp 3 days later that I figured it out.
That first evening someone asked to see my TOTA heads after previously talking about the broadhead I use… As I got my bow out, removed my quiver, and then took an arrow out my heart sank. I was so shocked and almost embarrassed of how stupid I am for allowing that to happen I grabbed one of my TOTA heads from my archery tool box and show them. Actually, until right now reading this I haven't mentioned it to any of them or anyone else!
After returning from that trip I did resume my test and shot them through some plywood, into a 2x6, concrete blocks, and even shot steel transom plate with pretty good results.
I decided I might as well keep testing them out for the remainder of the year and I ended up shooting 2 does and then a lower 130's buck on public land in Alabama using the same head only sharpening in between.
These heads have since doubled in price , but you can still buy 12 for the same price as 3 of the TOTA's.
I mean maybe I got lucky with the batch of heads I was sent, but the ones I have are pretty good heads for extremely cheap. The only real quality difference I found is the edge needs touched up more often than the higher quality heads.
Here are some pictures of the two bucks and the entrance wounds etc. The blood trails and wound channels were similar to all other smaller fixed blades like these.
My whole archery life I've always gravitated toward fixed blades due to my short(26.5") draw length making my FPS on the slower side. I've shot mechanicals over the years with good success as well, but I definitely get more pass through's with fixed blades. My favorite head has been the tooth of the arrow broadhead. It's a small diameter head coming in at only 1", but it's all one piece design makes it really tough. I've killed multiple deer with the same head only touching up the edges in between.
Well last summer I saw these fixed blades on Amazon that very closely resembled the TOTA heads with the only real difference being that the china modeal was a cut on contact type head instead of the chisel tip. I ordered a couple dozen(and yes that is 24!) to play around with at the same price as the 3 pack TOTA heads!! My plan was to maybe make a little video testing the durability (and I still might do that) over last summer before season and then maybe even shoot some does with them to test real life results etc.
I got them a couple days later but I waited a couple weeks when I had some time off planned to mess around with them. Fast forward and I opened them up to check em out. They were actually surprisingly sharp, but I was still going to go through my normal tuning and sharpening process with them. First I weighed the heads and surprisingly they were all within 2 grains…..Although they were supposed to be 100gr and they averaged 106 which was completely fine with me. Next step is to spin test them for straightness (you can only do this if your arrows are built square. On both the knock and insert side.). I used the same arrow for all of them and all but 3 spun perfect! The other 3 were well within normal limits, but I am just a perfectionist when tuning so I got rid of those. After that I sharpened, spin matched them with 5 arrows, put them in my quiver, and went to shoot them a few times before dark. This verified I had the exact POI as my normal heads and field points allowing me to feel good about moving on to the durability testing the next day….. well of course I had a few house problems come up and I wasn't able to get back to it that week……
The next week on September 23rd I get deployed to Florida in preparation for Hurricane Helene(Fire dept/emergency management). Normally these assignments are 2 week or shorter stints because the state of Florida is so well prepared for them, but due to the unforeseen catastrophic events that followed I did not return home until November 9th! Have I mentioned that I have been following a GIANT deer during the summer and had been planning to hunt him hard once season started?? All I could do while deployed was watch my cell cams and hope at that point.
Fast forward to Nov. 9th I finally made it home and couldn't wait to spend the rest of the month hunting. The next day was opening of muzzleloader and I decided to go after that big deer(I bow hunt all year the majority of the time), even though it was forecasted to be a hot 70 degrees at daybreak, but slightly overcast. With a stroke of dumb luck I ended up killing that big deer after he followed a doe right by me at 27 yards. The shot was perfect burying through the offside scapula, watching the arrow fly through the air after snapping when he took off, and then I got to watch him fall 60 yards later……. I don't know if you have all noticed the mistake I made while you're reading through this. ( because I myself didn't notice until 3 days after this….) But guess what Broadheads were in my quiver that morning? That's right, I just unknowingly tested a Chinese broadhead on a 172" 191lb dressed TN GIANT!! Since it was a couple months the last time I was home I had completely forgot about the head testing project I was planning
. The last thing on my mind was finding the broken off portion of my arrow after I had just shot my best buck ever. It wasn't until I was at our annual LBL deer camp 3 days later that I figured it out.That first evening someone asked to see my TOTA heads after previously talking about the broadhead I use… As I got my bow out, removed my quiver, and then took an arrow out my heart sank. I was so shocked and almost embarrassed of how stupid I am for allowing that to happen I grabbed one of my TOTA heads from my archery tool box and show them. Actually, until right now reading this I haven't mentioned it to any of them or anyone else!
After returning from that trip I did resume my test and shot them through some plywood, into a 2x6, concrete blocks, and even shot steel transom plate with pretty good results.
I decided I might as well keep testing them out for the remainder of the year and I ended up shooting 2 does and then a lower 130's buck on public land in Alabama using the same head only sharpening in between.
These heads have since doubled in price , but you can still buy 12 for the same price as 3 of the TOTA's.
I mean maybe I got lucky with the batch of heads I was sent, but the ones I have are pretty good heads for extremely cheap. The only real quality difference I found is the edge needs touched up more often than the higher quality heads.
Here are some pictures of the two bucks and the entrance wounds etc. The blood trails and wound channels were similar to all other smaller fixed blades like these.
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now, the next batch off the line could be complete garbage, but I'd put this particular batch against my TOTA heads for sure. I do however plan on switching back to my homemade hybrid heads after this year. 
