truglo titanium x 3-blade broadhead

TruGlo Titanium X 3-Blade Broadheads Review [In-Depth Testing!]

You most likely found your way here because you are interested in how the TruGlo Broadheads perform.

Well, you’re in luck, because in this review, I tested the TruGlo Fixed Blade Titanium 3 Blade Head.

A Closeup Look At The TruGlo Titanium X 3-Blade

So let’s zoom on in here. Check out some of the designs features and specifications and then put this Truglo to the test.

truglo titanium x 3-blade broadhead profile view

Here’s a good look at the head close up. Pretty cool-looking head. It is 100 grains. It’s a 3-blade head with replaceable blades. .

titanium x 3-blade thickness

Each of the blades are 0.031 inch thick, so they’re relatively thin compared to a lot of other heads on the market.

titanium x 3-blade cutting diameter

And the cutting diameter is 1-3/16 inches, so that’s a little wider than a typical 1-1/8 inch cut, but not as wide as the 1-1/4 inch cut of the QAD Exodus broadhead.

titanium x vent gap

You will notice that the blades have quite a bit of venting to them. There’s also a little bit of gap that goes between the blades and the ferrule, so a little bit of extra venting there. I’m not used to seeing so much gap in there. It made me wonder how secure the blade lock was going to be.



titanium x 3-blade ferrule and tip

The ferrule is a one piece construction. The whole ferrule as well as the tip, is CNC machined out of titanium grade 5. Titanium is a great material to use when you’re trying to get good strength, while still cutting back on the weight. So, it’s a little bit stronger than most of the aluminums, a lot lighter than most of the steels, and can even be a bit stronger than some steels.

I was eager to put the Titanium X 3-blade broadheads to the test and see how they would perform. So, let’s see how they did!

For these tests, I used my Bowtech SR6 set at 72 poundsand Bishop FOC King Arrows for most of the shooting. But, for the really hard impact shots, I used the Bishop FAD Eliminators because they are just so tough.


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Flight Test

titanium x broadhead flight at 40 yards

I shot one field point (right) and two broadheads (inside circles) into my target at 40 yards and here were the results.



Initial Sharpness Test

titanium x initial sharpness

Before I put the Titanium X 3-blade through my battery of tests, I measured it’s initial sharpness (how much pressure it takes to cut a small wire… 175.



Ballistic Gel Penetration Test

I shot the Titanium X into a block of ballistic gel that was fronted with 1/2″ MDF board and 2/3″ foam matting.

titanium x 3-blade ballistic gel penetration

The Titanium X penetrated 7 inches into the ballistic gel block.



Sharpness Test After Ballistic Gel Test

titanium x 3-blade sharpness after ballistic gel test

After the ballistic gel test, I measured the sharpness of the blades once again… 275.



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Cardboard Penetration Test

The Titanium X penetrated through 57 layers of cardboard.



Durability Test (Steel Plate)

truglo titanium x 3-blade steel plate test

I shot the Titanium X into a 22 gauge steel plate to see how well it would hold up.

titanium x 3-blade after steel plate test

Here’s the Truglo 3-Blade that is now a 2-blade. And what happened is on the very first shot into the 22-gauge steel plate, it lost a blade. I’m not sure what happened to it. I couldn’t recover it because it was just gone inside my target.

truglo titanium 3-blade blunted tip

The other two blades are in decent shape, one of them got a little bit nicked up. And again, that’s just after one shot. The other blade didn’t get very nicked up at all. The tip got blunted a bit after one shot. So this is definitely one of the weaker fixed blade heads that I’ve tested.



titanium x 3-blade hole in steel plate

Here’s a good look at the wound channel and you can see that it’s a hole with 3 slits as opposed to a triangular hole like some broadheads make. And, you can see that blade on the left is the one that was broken because it didn’t get quite the total cut that the other two blades did.




Concrete Test

titanium x 3-blade cinder block test

I shot the head into a concrete block to see if it could take the impact…

titanium x 3-blade head after concrete block test

Here’s the Truglo after impacting the concrete. The blades barely touched the concrete, and they got nicked-up where they hit the concrete.

titanium x 3-blade curled tip after concrete block test

The tip held together fairly well, but you can see it now has somewhat of a “hook” to it and is curled over quite a bit. So, it’s definitely not reusable. However, overall as a head, it held together fairly well.



Final Thoughts On The TruGlo Titanium X 3-Blade

So what do you think of the Truglo Fixed blade?

It certainly has its strengths, and I’m sure it can get the job done in most bowhunting situations. I know a lot of people have used it and really liked it. It’s not very expensive so it’s a decent value as well for what it is.



However, I have to be honest… I think if you’re looking for a head like this, there are a lot better choices on the market.

But, you check out the score sheet below and see the data points that I provided there and see what matters to you the most. Compare those scores to other similarly designed heads and see which one is the right one for you.

titanium x scorecard


truglo titanium x 3-blade lusk score


slang blade broadheads review header image

Should You “Slang” Arrows? | The Slang Blade Broadheads Review

Talk about a really weird, creative, and innovative broadhead!

I love testing this weird stuff, so I tested the Fire-N-The-Hole Slang Blade Broadhead.

slang blades open and closed

Talk about a wide cut! I couldn’t wait to start testing the Slang Blade broadheads and see how they measured up!

For this broadhead test, I used my Bowtech SR6 set at 72 pounds and Bishop FOC King Arrows for most of the testing and then the Bishop FAD Eliminators for the really hard impact tests.

If this is not the weirdest-looking thing you’ve ever seen, I don’t know what is!

But let’s go ahead and check out the Slang Blade closeup and then put it to all the tests.

The Slang Blade Broadheads Up Close

slang blade side view

Here’s a good look at the Slang Blade. I had to have the camera zoomed out because once I open the blade, the head would not fit in the screen! In the closed position which it is in right now, believe it or not, it’s only 7/8 of an inch in cutting diameter. You can see the O-ring that holds the blades together.

The ferrule is aluminum and the blades are mad of stainless steel.

slang blade cut width

But, as it flies and penetrates, the O-ring is forced back and the blades open up to their full cutting diameter, which is 4 inches!

The blades are pretty thick. They are 0.052 inch thick by my measurements and they are single bevel.

slang blade double beveled tip

The tip, the edge, the bevel, continue over this circular portion which becomes the tip. However, when the two single bevels line up, they are double bevel right there at the top. So that makes the tip extra stout.

I had no idea how the Slang Blade was going to perform but I was eager to put it to the test! So, let’s see how it performed!



Initial Sharpness

slang blade initial sharpness

The initial sharpness of the Slang Blade out of the box was 300.


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Flight Test

slang blade from 40 yards

Here is the Slang Blade shot into my target from 40 yards away.



Penetration Test 1:

I shot the Slang Blade into ballistic gel fronted by 2/3″ rubber mat and 1/2″ MDF.

slang blade ballistic gel penetration test

It penetrated 4-1/2 inches. I know it doesn’t look like it in this picture but that’s just because of the angle of the camera.



entry hole in mdf test for slang blade

Here’s the entrance hole in the rubber mat. It was just its closed position at entrance.



slang blade exit hole in mdf test

And then here’s the exit on the back of that first layer of MDF and rubber foam mat. It opened up to 2 inches.



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slang blade wound channel in ballistic gel

Here’s a really good shot of the wound channel. You can see that after about 1 inch into the gel, it reached its full opening position there of 4 inches and it stayed that way for the rest of the penetration. So, it took 2 inches to get to its full position and then it cut for another 2-1/2 inches after that.



Edge Retention Test:

slang blade sharpness test after mdf

The blade sharpness was 450 after the ballistic gel test.





Penetration Test 2: (layered cardboard)  

I shot the Slang Blade into layered cardboard to see how many it could penetrate.

slang blade cardboard penetration test

It penetrated through 35 layers of cardboard.



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Durability Test: (1/2” MDF)

Below is a look at what happened when I shot the Slang Blade into 1/2″ MDF board. I broke a blade (this has only happened one other time).

slang blade after mdf impact

As you can see, one of the blades just came completely off. And then part of the base broke off as well. I’m not sure why that happened. And then the other blade that stayed intact got significantly bent. To be honest, I’m not super surprised, but I thought maybe it would hold up to at least one shot through the MDF. But that was not the case.



Slang Blade Broadheads Review Final Thoughts

So what do you think of the Slang Blade? I’ve got to give props to Fire-N-The-Hole for coming up with a creative, innovative design.

And, I love that wicked wound channel. It was cool to see that in the gel as well as in the cardboard.



It only penetrated through 12 of the layers of cardboard, but man, it cut its full width. With that 4 inch wide cut, it has an impressive cutting diameter.

But the flight and the durability of this head are severely lacking.

slang blade after 3 shots in target

You saw the lack of durability in the MDF test. But, also when I was shooting it into my target at distance, on the third shot, it lost both of its blades.



slang blade shot into apple

I thought I’d do something cool and shoot through an apple but it didn’t even open on the apple. So, it didn’t do anything more than a field point would have done. In addition, the blades got really messed up after that as well.



I didn’t even do the concrete test where I shoot into a cinder block and see how a head holds up, because honestly, I thought it would be irresponsible. I didn’t want that much blade just flying all over my house and back at me!

So, if you’re trying to choose a broadhead, check out the score sheet and see how it performed in the areas that matter to you the most.

slang blade scorecard
lusk grade on slang blade
rage trypan nc broadhead

Is this head all the Rage? | The Rage Trypan NC Broadheads Review

In this review, I tested the Rage Trypan NC, (no collar). I had been wanting to test this head for a while.

In this broadhead test I used my Bowtech SR6 set at 72 pounds and I used a Bishop FOC King Arrow for most of the shots, and then the Bishop FAD Eliminators for the really hard impact shots.

Let’s check out these broadheads and then put them to the test.

The Rage Trypan NC Broadhead Up Close

rage trypan nc close up

Here’s a good look at the head close-up. The ferrule is made out of titanium and it has been age-hardened, which is just a process of hardening where a solution is added to the metal and brought to a super high temperature. Then it is quenched and brought down to a really low temperature and then heated up to an intermediate temperature for several hours. It results in an extra hard ferrule that is extra durable, resistant to wear and readily machinable.

The blades of the Trypan NC are stainless steel. They are 0.039 inch thick, so, relatively thick. They are double bevel on both sides.

trypan nc fat adapter

Now, you’ve also got this little collar down here. This is not a retention collar. But rather, this is what they call their FAT adaptor, (Ferrule Alignment Technology), which just allows the ferrule to taper smoothly and transition smoothly into the end of the shaft right there.

As the “NC” implies, there is no collar, O-rings or clips like some other expandables have.

trypan nc blade opening lever

The blades deploy simply by pressure on these two like blunt wings or “bats” of the blade.

rage trypan nc in open blade position

The pressure causes the blades to slide back and reach their full open position, which is 2 inches. So, you’re getting a full 2 inches of cut, plus a about a quarter of an inch from the tip going in the opposite direction.

I was hopeful that the Trypan Hypodermic NC would be more durable than some of the other Rages that I’ve tested in the past. But, initially, it looked like a pretty cool head. So, let’s see how this Rage Trypan NC performed.


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Initial Sharpness Test

rage trypan nc initial sharpness test

The initial out-of-the-box sharpness test result: 225



Ballistic Gel Penetration Test

I shot the Trypan NC into ballistic get that was fronted with 1/2″ MDF and foam matting.

rage trypan nc ballistic gel test

The Rage Trypan NC penetrated 6 inches into the ballistic gel.



rage trypan nc wound channel in ballistic gel

Here you can see that the blades open to almost their full position upon impact. They had 1-1/2 inches of opening on their initial impact. But, then as you can see, the blades begin to close because they don’t lock open. They begin to close and they reached their closed position and then they just stayed in that position.


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Edge Retention Test

rage trypan nc sharpness after ballistic gel test

I tested the Trypan head after the ballistic gel test to see how well it retained its initial sharpness. The result was 275.




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Layered Cardboard Penetration Test

I shot the head into layered cardboard to see how it would penetrate.

rage trypan nc exit hole leather

The Trypan NC penetrated through 49 layers of the cardboard.



Blade Opening Test

rage trypan nc into leather

I tested the Trypan NC on leather that’s stretched tightly over a cardboard box.

rage trypan nc entry cut into leather

It opened one and a quarter inches on the initial impact.

rage trypan nc exit hole leather

And then by the back of the box, it had opened almost to its full 2 inches of cut, but a little short.



Durability Test

I shot the Trypan NC into MDF board 5 consecutive times to see how durable it was.

rage trypan nc after 5 shots into MDF

Here’s the head after going through the MDF 5 times. And as you can see, the blades did bend pretty significantly. That started to happen on the second shot. However, the ferrule is in excellent shape. It still spun perfectly well and the blades didn’t collapse. They didn’t bend laterally and they didn’t break off. So overall, I’d say this held up fairly well especially compared to the other Rages that I’ve tested.



Concrete Test

rage trypan nc shot into cinder block

I shot the head into a cinder block to see how it would fare…

rage trypan nc after cinder block test

Here’s the head after impacting the concrete. On the good side, it penetrated really deeply into the concrete. And also on the good side, it held together. It didn’t break into a bunch of different pieces. On the bad side, it did bend considerably.



Now, I know we don’t hunt concrete, OK? So, you can hold back on your comments about that. But, this is a good test of the structural integrity of a broadhead. And again, the goal is just to expose the weak points a head may have.

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It doesn’t mean it’s not a great hunting broadhead. But, it does show you what’s going to happen in a zero penetration test on a really hard impact with things like heavy bone. This is a good indication of the weakness of that really vented titanium ferrule.



rage trypan nc scorecard
Scorecard for the Rage Trypan NC


Final Thoughts on the Rage Trypan NC

So what do you think of the Hypodermic Trypan NC? You know, it performed better than I expected.

I’ve come to kind of expect that most of the Rages that I test are just going fall apart. But these didn’t. They bent, but they didn’t break and they have lot of good things going for them.

Now, ad for the “NC.” It’s an advantage in some ways that you don’t have to mess around with the collars and the bands and stuff like that.



And, I know usually even when a mechanical doesn’t open well in testing, it usually does OK on animals because of the hide, and the body behind that hide, and the tissue being stretched really tight and so forth.

And, while the Trypan NC has a wide cut, they gave me a bit of pause and concern about how they would open.

Check out the score sheet below and see how they performed in the areas that matter to you the most and see how they stack up to other mechanicals of this size.



rage trypan nc lusk grade
The Rage Trypan NC got 6 Golden Arrows.


John Lusk archery goat
John Lusk of Lusk Archery Adventures