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Squat Squad — welcome back to SHOT Show 2026. We are still on the floor, still at the Bowtech booth, and this time the deep dive is the adult / serious-archer side of the lineup: the new Ascend and the flagship Alliance / Alliance 33.
This is a booth interview with Todd — product walkthrough and feature talk, not me punching paper with these bows on a backyard range. Specs and price talk below are what he said on camera. I am not inventing brochure numbers. If you are shopping youth / JOAD next, we already covered the Diamond Radian from the same group.
Why this video exists
Parents and blue-collar hunters keep asking the same thing: do I really need to sink around $2,000 into a flagship bow? Bowtech’s answer this year is the Ascend in a sub-$1,000 conversation (Todd’s floor talk), plus the Alliance family when you want the latest flagship feel.
Bowtech Ascend (2026)
Positioned as a hunting bow that pulls flagship technologies down without forcing a flagship check. Todd walked through:
- DeadLock Light — Bowtech’s adjustable cam story in a lighter / more accessible form. Leave the rest on center shot and micro-adjust the system instead of chasing every spine change only at the rest.
- Inline picatinny-style sight mount for balance (usually flagship territory), plus an integrated rest mount that still accepts a standard rest if you already own one.
- Draw-weight adjustment about 15 pounds on this bow (Todd contrasted that with the usual ~10 lb window): ranges called out as 45–60 and 55–70.
- Available bare, a standard package with starter accessories, and a DLX kit (drop-away rest, Black Gold Rush sight in a pic-style mount, TightSpot quiver).
- Right-hand and left-hand. Colors mentioned: forest green, OD green, stealth gray, and Mossy Oak Bottomland (launched at ATA).
- Axle-to-axle called around 31 inches, brace height about seven inches. Draw-length adjustability starting around 24 / 24.5 inches in the conversation — useful if someone is growing out of a Diamond Infinite Edge–class youth bow without jumping straight to $2k.
Vs big-box cheap bows: Todd pointed at tunability, binary cam sync vs split-yoke timing issues, and the overall speed / smoothness package — not “plastic junk bad,” just different tools.
Bowtech Alliance and Alliance 33
Flagship lane. Names track axle-to-axle: Alliance ~30.5″ (tighter quarters / tree stand / ground blind), Alliance 33 ~33″ (longer, holds better for some shooters). Speeds Todd quoted: about 338 fps IBO on the shorter Alliance and 334 on the 33. New red dirt clay / mud color was getting heavy dealer orders.
- Full DeadLock (vs DeadLock Light on Ascend) with more reference marks and more adjustability range.
- Draw-length ranges called roughly 26–31″ on the Alliance and starting around 27″ on the 33 — no separate cams/modules to chase the full range.
- FlipDisc: flip for a different draw feel and about 6–8 fps more; no bow press for that or for draw-length screws. Peep still needs a press.
- Right hands shipping first; lefts a few weeks behind at the time of the interview. Stocked at dealers and bowtecharchery.com.
Bottom line
SHOT Show 2026 booth walkthrough: Ascend for the “I will not spend two grand” hunter / recreational shooter who still wants DeadLock-style tunability, and Alliance / Alliance 33 when you want the flagship package and length choice. Not my backyard groups — Todd’s floor talk.
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Keep on squatting. I’ll see you in the next video.
Are you team Ascend under a grand, or are you stretching for Alliance / Alliance 33?
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