# Eli vanes vs Brady's Spider vanes



## eagle man (Jun 7, 2011)

Has anybody out there used both of these vanes? Differences? Similarities? Are the Spider vanes as durable as the Eli vanes? Just curious more than anything.

Ted


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## airwolfipsc (Apr 2, 2008)

Only way for you to find out is to shoot them . if they group better with your form then go for it.


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## jhinaz (Mar 1, 2003)

I've used Eli and Spider. In my limited experience the Spiders are more durable than Eli (and Eli is more durable than Spin Wing).
A White Spider measures about .001" thicker than a Purple Eli, but that could have something to do with the colors. I don't have a White Eli to compare it to. 
I will stay with shooting the Spiders, and I hear they are coming out with several different new colors (red, blue, etc.). - John


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## erose (Aug 12, 2014)

Haven't shot Eli's but I've been shooting the Spiders the last few months and haven't had to replaced one vane yet.


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## limbwalker (Sep 26, 2003)

I have arrows fletched with Elivanes that I used to train and shoot the 2012 trials and probably a dozen competitions since then. I've probably replaced 2 vanes in that time. Elivanes are very durable. Haven't tried spider vanes, but haven't seen the need to either.


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## chrstphr (Nov 23, 2005)

Eli Vanes all the way. 

Spider vanes are much the same as the XS wings that came and went. Too high a profile and too stiff. Or the AAE waves which came and went. 

Spin wings still rule and Eli Vanes are the best of spin wings flight capabilities with much better durability. 

I see no reason to change from Eli vanes. Best groups i have ever shot are with Eli vanes. 

Chris


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## eagle man (Jun 7, 2011)

Thanks for all those that chimed in. I have been shooting Eli Vanes for 4 years ever since I saw a post by John. I also have shot my best groups with them. I was just curious about the Spider vanes. They just looked stiff form the videos I have seen and wanted hear what people had to say about them. I won't be switching from my Eli vanes anytime soon.


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## Ms.Speedmaster (Dec 10, 2010)

Smart man. I concur on the Elivanes. Shot my best scores with them. Never had to repair or replace them. I have Spiders on three sets of arrows right now. The short silvers on my McKinneys and the long silvers on my X7s. White shorts on my CX pros. The Spiders are very durable, but I still prefer the Elivanes. 

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## Arsi (May 14, 2011)

Just to chime in, I shot better groups indoors with Spider Vanes compared to Spin Wings but outdoors they caught a bit more wind. I will be shooting Spider Vanes for indoor season and will try them again for outdoor but I will most likely be going back to Spin Wings outdoors.

I have shot WAVs, Spiders, Eli P3, Eli S3, Spinnies, and XS Wings. When I got the Spider Vanes, I took a sample of all of them at the same time. In terms of rigidity, the ranking from flexible to stiff, it goes Spin Wings, Eli Vanes, WAVs, Spider Vanes, and XS wings. With the Eli/WAV/Spider Vanes all very similar in rigidity. I do not agree with people saying Spider Vanes are as stiff as XS Wings. The XS Wings are in a world of their own in terms of stiffness. Also the profile is lower on the Spider Vanes in comparison to the Eli Vane P3s. Once fletched onto an arrow, the curve on them is much more aggressive.

The point is, you have to get the vanes and try them out for yourself. You never know if they will be good or bad until you try them with your bow re-tuned to match. I feel like we had this same conversation with the Bjorn Dragonflight vanes. 

Nobody is wrong in this thread, but when it comes to what YOU should do with YOUR setup, nothing we tell you will help much until you try it yourself. Nowadays people tend to love to bash on equipment changes rather than giving an honest go at new equipment. At the end of the day it's still up to the archer anyways.


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## Rylando (Jul 30, 2016)

I like the ELI vanes but the spider vanes are nice because they sell them in packs of 60, as opposed to ELI vanes packs of 50. You can use all the vanes to fletch arrows with spider vanes, with ELI you always have some left over.


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## tunedlow (Nov 7, 2012)

eagle man said:


> Has anybody out there used both of these vanes? Differences? Similarities? Are the Spider vanes as durable as the Eli vanes? Just curious more than anything.
> 
> Ted


I find the profile is the similar between brady's vanes and the elivanes. the main difference is the resilience of the vane material because spiders seem to use the same plastic as the XS wings which is pretty hardy.

i like spin wings and ive shot my PB scores in competition with them. i like elivanes too but i only had one pack and i like them a lot. regular XS wings barrel a ton in wind but the spiders dont seem to as badly. i wanted to give spider vanes a try and they shoot pretty well. i prefer the profile of the elivanes to the spiders just because my experience is bigger vanes = catch more wind = more barreling like a mofo


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## StarDog (Feb 17, 2007)

Just received Spider vanes -- I was using XS wings. I am over these things and I haven't started fletching. It's very cute that the top and bottom tape is silver like the vanes, but here are only enough to fletch 8 arrows. That's it. Only one sheet of the securing tape, nicely cut in half already, but only enough for 8 arrows. These suckers are going back to Lancaster tomorrow and they can send me XS wings which does give you enough tape to secure the vanes when you have to refletch.


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## bobnikon (Jun 10, 2012)

I always have a role of Bohning fletch tape on hand. I don't even use the included tape. It works great, and I like that I can roll off just the amount I want. Use it on both flat vanes and feathers.


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## jhinaz (Mar 1, 2003)

StarDog said:


> <snipit>....but here are only enough to fletch 8 arrows. That's it. Only one sheet of the securing tape, nicely cut in half already, but only enough for 8 arrows.


Sounds like the Spider Inspector fell asleep on the job. Did you look inside the folded instruction sheet? My package had some sheets there....I don't remember if it was the sheets of 'double-back tape' or the 'top & bottom' tape. Only the sheet of 'top & bottom' tape is as you say, "nicely cut in half already". The sheets of 'double-back tape' are 3 1/2" long and contains 31 strips....my pkg has 2 of these sheets. - John


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## StarDog (Feb 17, 2007)

jhinaz said:


> Sounds like the Spider Inspector fell asleep on the job. Did you look inside the folded instruction sheet? My package had some sheets there....I don't remember if it was the sheets of 'double-back tape' or the 'top & bottom' tape. Only the sheet of 'top & bottom' tape is as you say, "nicely cut in half already". The sheets of 'double-back tape' are 3 1/2" long and contains 31 strips....my pkg has 2 of these sheets. - John


Nope. One sheet. I emptied the package looked inside the instruction sheet, everything. There was enough double sided tape to attach the vanes to the arrows, two sheets of the double sided tape but only one sheet of the "top and bottom". 60 vanes = 20 arrows (or a dozen and repair jobs). There should be at least two of the "top and bottom" sheets if not more. 

I never had a problem with the XS wings made by the same people. They always include a boat load of that black tape to wrap the ends of the vanes.


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## Rylando (Jul 30, 2016)

Huh odd, I have never had that problem with spider vanes, always just the right amount of tape.


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## jhinaz (Mar 1, 2003)

StarDog said:


> Nope. One sheet. I emptied the package looked inside the instruction sheet, everything. There was enough double sided tape to attach the vanes to the arrows, two sheets of the double sided tape but only one sheet of the "top and bottom". 60 vanes = 20 arrows (or a dozen and repair jobs). There should be at least two of the "top and bottom" sheets if not more.
> 
> I never had a problem with the XS wings made by the same people. They always include a boat load of that black tape to wrap the ends of the vanes.


I also only received one sheet of the "top and bottom" wrap, but mine contained two rows of 31 wraps....which is enough to do 31 arrows. - John


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## erose (Aug 12, 2014)

Yeah, I've gotten two batches of the spider vanes, and have already gone through the first batch, and still have not gone through half of the 2 sided tape that came with the first batch.


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## StarDog (Feb 17, 2007)

I had a lovely email chat with Dejan Sitar about this, mostly in Slovenian (me using google translate because he says his English isn't that good) and he has kindly offered to send me an extra sheet. I also asked him some questions about what material they were using that was different than XS wings.

The securing tape is a higher quality. Made by some people called Oracal. so it's not the same maker as XS wings.


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## Gregjlongbow (Jun 15, 2016)

Anyone ever have issue with the vane peeling away from the tape with Spider vanes? For some reason they stick great when I first apply them, but overnight that nice glue line that you can see on the white vanes is gone and the vane has peeled away from the tape. The only thing holding them on is the top and tail tape. 

Do you guys clean the vane itself with something? It didn't seem necessary, but my vanes consistently peel away.


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## ryan b. (Sep 1, 2005)

Make ceratain you push them down really well. I almost wrap them around the shaft as I'm pushing and rubbing them on. Perhaps a bad batch of tape??


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## jhinaz (Mar 1, 2003)

Gregjlongbow said:


> Do you guys clean the vane itself with something? It didn't seem necessary, but my vanes consistently peel away.


Sometimes I'll wipe them with an alcohol cloth, but I don't always do it and haven't really noticed a difference. You may be putting body oil on them from handling. - John


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## Gregjlongbow (Jun 15, 2016)

I thought that too, and used non powder gloves this last time. Still the same result. 


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## xantiema (Nov 4, 2017)

I recently did all my arrows in silver spider vanes, and had no issues with the glue what so ever.
Try with more force next time, or perhaps you got a bad batch of glue


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## Gregjlongbow (Jun 15, 2016)

Dejan is sending me another package to try. He thinks maybe they sat in stock too long. I’m going to redo a few and try cleaning the vane with alcohol. 


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## jhinaz (Mar 1, 2003)

Gregjlongbow said:


> Dejan is sending me another package to try.


:thumbs_up


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## Gregjlongbow (Jun 15, 2016)

I just redid two of them. Both wearing gloves. I cleaned one set with alcohol, and the other with non acetone nail polish remover. Neither are any different from my others. Not sure what the problem is. I mean they aren’t going to come off because I have the top and tail tape. 


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## Gregjlongbow (Jun 15, 2016)

That is what they end up looking like, and then what they look like when I press them down well. 


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## xantiema (Nov 4, 2017)

The second image actually looks like my vanes as well


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## archeryal (Apr 16, 2005)

Aparently, old school nail polish remover was a toxic brew of acetone and MEK (great for archers), but it was too drying, so they added oils. Plain acetone would now be better.


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## Gregjlongbow (Jun 15, 2016)

xantiema said:


> The second image actually looks like my vanes as well


No the second image is the good one. That thicker dark line means that the vane is fully adhering to the tape. The first one shows that only a small sliver of the vane is even touching the tape. I’ve done probably 28 arrows and they all go the same way. 


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## Gregjlongbow (Jun 15, 2016)

No matter what I do my vanes creep to the first image 


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## Gregjlongbow (Jun 15, 2016)

Ok quick update. Dejan sent me new packages, and the tape is much stickier. Sat all night and they are very well adhered. So I think that tape for the other two had just sat too long. These are 3m and I’m not sure if the others were also. 

However, while I was waiting I ordered some Eli canes to try, and I have to say that I really like them. Much lower profile, but still seem just as stable as the Spiders. I wouldn’t say one is better, but I think I like the Eli vanes better. I have 6 of each fletched up now, and I will do more objective testing with my set up. I don’t like the top and tail tape with the Eli vanes though. I like to stretch and break the top and tail tape, and these don’t stretch and break well. 


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## bobnikon (Jun 10, 2012)

Try car pinstripe tape for tip and taill


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## vlesiv (Oct 20, 2013)

This is what I buy - and I’m extremely happy with quality, size and a price  https://m.ebay.com/itm/2Pcs-4mm-Wid...ive-Tape-Red-/311994795242?txnId=808102680021


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## Gregjlongbow (Jun 15, 2016)

vlesiv said:


> This is what I buy - and I’m extremely happy with quality, size and a price  https://m.ebay.com/itm/2Pcs-4mm-Wid...ive-Tape-Red-/311994795242?txnId=808102680021
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


Cool! 


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## Gregjlongbow (Jun 15, 2016)

It was really windy today, and I can see that the Eli performs much better in the wind. I had some clearance issue that I did not have with the Spiders, but I think just twisting the knock so the bottom fletching pointed almost straight down fixed it. 


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