# Comparison - 5 Light Flatbands



## Northerner (Nov 9, 2010)

*Flatband Test - 5 Bands *​​
This week I received a generous gift of flatband samples from forum member Slingdude. The bands were already pouched up and ready to fasten to my favorite frame. I spent a crazy amount of time testing these bands for comparisons. Below are my results.

*--- Details ---*

Band Cut = 13mm x 11mm x 185mm (pouch to ties)

Pouch = 50mm x 13mm MF from WuJim

Ammo = 1/4" and 7mm steel

Frame = Pocket Predator TTF Mini-Taurus

Draw Length - 32"

Temperature = indoor shooting at approx 22C (72F)

*--- Actual Band Thicknesses --- *

Sumeike Pink .45mm ====== .017"

Precise Green Gen3 .45mm = .0175"

GZK Orange .54mm ======= .021"

Precise Yellow Gen3 .55mm = .021"

USOPP Black .55mm ====== .021"

*--- Velocity Tests (1/4" and 7mm) ---*

Sumeike Pink .45mm ====== 241 fps and 228 fps

Precise Green Gen3 .45mm = 244 fps and 232 fps

GZK Orange .54mm ======= 260 fps and 248 fps

Precise Yellow Gen3 .55mm = 251 fps and 241 fps

USOPP Black .55mm ====== 267 fps and 255 fps

*--- Draw Weights @32" ---*

Precise Yellow Gen3 .45mm = 5.75 lb

*--- Comments & Opinions ---*

- All bands had the same cut and pouch

- The Pink Sumeike and Green Precise felt very close in draw weight and draw feel. They were both very mild to draw and I felt like I could pull them another couple of inches further. They were the lowest draw wt of the bands tested. Sweet to shoot!

- The GZK Orange felt a bit heavier than the Precise Yellow .55mm but not by much. Both bands felt stretchy, still mild and comfortable.

- The OSOPP Black .55mm felt the heaviest to draw. A bit stiff for my preference but I like mild bands.

- All speeds were tested with a minimum of 10 shots and I checked them all at least twice.

- Only the Precise Green was tested for draw weight.

- Only 1/4" and 7mm ammo were tested. The pouch seems well matched for these sizes.

- The Precise Green might become my new favorite, if it has a good shooting life.


----------



## Alfred E.M. (Jul 5, 2014)

*Excellent testing on a relevant subject. Light draw weight is the key to avoiding tendonitis ... this comparative info is really valuable. * :thumbsup:


----------



## urbanshooter (Aug 23, 2017)

Excellent!!! Thanks for sharing the results


----------



## Ibojoe (Mar 13, 2016)

A lot of info my friend. I'm gonna have to revisit the usopp, it looks like a good performer. 
I just sent some gen 3 green to a buddy that shoots small ammo and he's lovin it. It has such a smooth draw. 
The elongation factor seems good too. 
Thanks for putting in the work to share with us buddy.


----------



## urbanshooter (Aug 23, 2017)

Of late, Sumeike Green 0.50 has been my favourite one to band-up. It seems to have about the same draw weight as the pink but it zips ammo a lot faster. But I always have frames banded up with the pink as it is just so much fun and relaxing to shoot targets with.


----------



## Tag (Jun 11, 2014)

Thanks for sharing


----------



## KawKan (May 11, 2013)

Thanks for the data!

There's a bigger performance range there than I expected!


----------



## MOJAVE MO (Apr 11, 2018)

Thanks for this work! It really helps a rubber rookie like myself. Up until recently I would just shoot whatever bandset I could trade for and figure out how to shoot it in my backyard. Jazz built an amazing computer program to define information like this. The only downside is I learned computers well into my adult life. It would be great to take all of this confirmed data and make one of those old-fashioned cardboard data wheels. Have a window wheel that reads 'Target, another that reads 'Frame Style', then the other windows would show best combination of bands, ammo, FPS, etc.
Then after I think on it I want to be 7 years old and just make practices guesses with my gear!

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk


----------



## Flatband (Dec 18, 2009)

Great Information and some real serious stretching going on in the " Northern Laboratory For Elastomer Testing "  Nice job Todd!


----------



## SLINGDUDE (Aug 15, 2018)

Wow! Thank you very much for putting in the time to take all these measurements and write up the results. I have been shooting a lot of 1/4" steel lately and this information is great and extremely useful, as these are the cuts I most commonly use. I also use these same cuts for clay ammo.

I also found the Ussop black to be the stiffest drawing band out of the bunch, so i guess I'm not too surprised it was the fastest. I am a little surprised that the 0.55mm precise yellow was 16fps slower than the black and 9fps slower than the GZK with the same thickness. I had kinda expected it to perform better or at least closer to the GZK orange.

Lately I have been grabbing the 0.45mm green over the 0.45mm pink for casual plinking, but both are great to shoot for longer sessions and these results show there really isn't much difference between the two. I seem to get comparable band life between all these elastics as well.


----------

