At Teonn I had the good luck to run into Zara after the market. She was kind enough to shoot me with both her arrows and my IDV arrows so that I could compare how it feels.
The experience of being hit with the two different types of arrow was similar. They both hit my chest with a solid impact, but nothing like hard enough to leave a bruise on me. In both cases I thought that I’d prefer not to be hit in the head with them, but it wouldn’t injure me. A direct hit to the eye with either arrow would be uncomfortable and may cause some reddening and watering. Therefore shots to the head should be avoided, much like headshots with latex weapons should be.
I felt that the IDV arrows may have hit slightly more firmly than Zara’s arrows. However, I believe this was because the IDV arrows fly faster if you draw the bow the same amount, not because the heads are harder.
IDV do say that their arrows do fly faster at the same draw weight, and therefore drop less over the same distance, meaning that you shouldn’t correct your aim as much with them (i.e. you must aim lower). For this reason they recommend that you stick to using one type of arrow and not mix them, because the archer gets used to how to correct for the arrow flight. I think this was apparent in our test - Zara felt she was aiming at my chest, but from my perspective it looked like the arrows were aimed at my head and the first arrow IDV arrow she shot at me zipped past my head.
Overall, I thought that both types of arrow are larp-safe when used well. Larp archers should practice extensively to ensure that they can shoot accurately and adjust their draw weight for the target distance. Head shots should be carefully avoided - for this reason very long shots where accuracy is difficult should be avoided. Archers should stick to one type of arrow that they are experienced with. The IDV arrows should be drawn with less weight than arrows like Zara’s, so as to not hit too hard, especially at close range.
Chris (TazzyD) had some IDV arrows at this Teonn. I’d be interested to hear how they went, how people felt about being shot with them as compared with Zara’s arrows. They look like this:
I have three more IDV arrows in stock, they are $19 each or $15.20 with the 20% NZLARPS member discount. I will get more in if these sell.