Parker Tornado F4 Review

Model	Draw Weight	Stroke	Velocity	Suggested Arrow Length	Crossbow Length / Weight
Parker Tornado F4 Check price on Amazon.com	165 lbs.	11.875"	340 FPS Crossbow Academy: ballistics, sighting, tuning	20"	35.5" / 8 lbs.

Package Contents

Welcome to our Crossbow Review of the Parker Bows Tornado F4. The Tornado F4 is a hunter’s crossbow, with a draw weight of 165 lbs. and the compact design necessary for ground blind or deer stand hunting. Each package delivered by Parker Bows includes the following items:

• The Parker Tornado F4 Crossbow, including stock and bow assembly
• Assembly hardware and Allen wrench
• 4 x 32mm Multi-Reticle Scope
• 4-arrow Quick-Detach Quiver
• 4 400-gr arrows with field tips
• Instruction manual
• Parker Bows sticker
• Warranty card

Assembling The Crossbow

Parker’s Tornado F4 is easy to assemble, and I had mine ready to shoot within 10 minutes. All that’s required is to attach the cable guide, mount the prod onto the stock and secure it with the included bolts and Allen wrench, and then mount the quiver. You should also check all of the screws and bolts for tightness, since the action screws sometimes work loose during shipping and could affect accuracy. Once you’ve done all of that, you’re ready to head out to the range for sighting in and target practice.

Accuracy And Power

The Parker Bows Tornado F4 blasts arrows off the rail at 340 fps, packing 103 ft. lbs. of kinetic energy behind them. This is fast enough and powerful enough that my foam core target block kept moving backwards until I propped it up against a hay bale to keep it secure.

Sighting the crossbow in took no time at all, since Parker Bows bore-sights the scopes before shipping. I might have made one or two adjustments, but the scope was pretty much sighted in out of the box.

For accuracy testing, I fired the crossbow from 20 yards, 40 yards, and 60 yards. I found the Tornado F4 very accurate at each of these ranges, pretty much as I would expect from a crossbow of this cost and caliber. At 20 yards, the crossbow fired groupings of around 1”, and I was able to hold 1.5” groupings from 40 yards. My test shots from 60 yards held in at around 2.5”, accurate enough for me to be confident using this crossbow for any game, small or large.

Ballistic Data For The Parker Tornado F4

Your actual results will vary slightly depending on weather, and significantly with arrow weight change. See our Crossbow Ballistics Guides section for a complete understanding of how we conducted our tests and why this data matters.

Hunting: What To Expect

The Parker Tornado F4 weighs in at 8 pounds, so it’s not the lightest crossbow I’ve reviewed, but not the heaviest either. I strongly recommend taking advantage of the preinstalled swivels for a padded sling.

Parker has made a relatively quiet crossbow, especially since it’s such a heavy-duty bow. I fired it beside someone with a lighter crossbow, and I’m positive the Parker Tornado F4 was quieter by a long shot.

The Tornado F4 is more than powerful enough for small to large game. I’d feel confident taking on a grizzly bear or Cape buffalo with this crossbow, given its accuracy and power. During a hunting trip with the Tornado F4, I spotted a moose about 60 yards from my ground blind, a truly amazing sight. I took careful aim and let loose, and the arrow went straight through his left shoulder and out the other side. He ran about 100 yards, and then dropped for the dirt nap.

Kinetic Energy Of The Parker Tornado F4

So how powerful is the Parker Tornado F4? Well, from point blank range, the Tornado F4 blisters the 400-grain arrows to the target at 340 fps, which gives each shot around 103 ft. lbs. of kinetic energy. This is more than enough for just about any hunting purpose, even when you factor in losing a few percent ft. lbs. of kinetic energy for yard beyond point blank range. For example, a 30-yard shot would still have 96 ft. lbs. of KE, more than enough for the toughest grizzly or Cape buffalo. A 40-yard should would still maintain 94 ft. lbs. of kinetic energy, so you can count on the Tornado F4 to take down just about any game you can legally hunt in North America.

Use our arrow ballistics calculator for more valuable information.

Cocking The Parker Tornado F4 Crossbow

The draw weight on this crossbow is 165 lbs., which is doable for a man or woman of average strength to pull without any assist. Even so, I always recommend using a rope cocking device or hand-crank cocking device, simply because these devices ensure you get an even, consistent draw every single time.

When you cock the Tornado F4, the safety and anti dry-fire mechanism will automatically engage, keeping you and your crossbow safe.

The Crossbow Scope

Parker includes a 4 x 32mm multi-reticle scope with this crossbow. This scope is a decent scope with excellent light-gathering properties and clear optics. Even on a foggy morning from 60 yards, I was able to clearly see both my target (the moose I mentioned before) and the reticles.

Parker bore-sights the scope before shipping, so my scope only required a couple of minor adjustments to be completely zeroed in. Once sighted in, the scope holds zero quite readily. In fact, I haven’t had to re-sight the scope since I first sighted in, and I’ve taken the crossbow on several hunting and target shooting trips since then.

See our detailed guide on how to sight-in your crossbow

Bolts

The Tornado F4 comes with 4 20” 400-grain arrows. These arrows are pretty good, but Parker has chosen a rather odd design for the nocks. You absolutely must use capture nocks with this crossbow, or you risk damaging your arrows, the crossbow, or yourself.

I installed some capture nocks on a few of my Firebolt carbon arrows, and tested them on the crossbow. The results were pretty much the same as with the stock arrows.

You can also learn more about crossbow arrows and take a look at our broadhead recommendations

Safety and Design

The Tornado F4’s G2 Bull-Pup Trigger has a smooth, consistent pull that breaks over almost exactly when you’d expect it to. The trigger pull is a tad bit long, but not much. The auto-engaging safety is ambidextrous and works flawlessly, as does the anti dry-fire mechanism.

A vented forearm with a safety finger flange keeps your fingers clear of the string, and the included dual string suppressors help quiet the crossbow quite a bit. Another thing to note is that this crossbow is very well balanced, without much frontal heaviness at all.

Overall, the Tornado F4 is very well built and designed with both accuracy and safety in mind. Durability is also good with this crossbow; I’ve fired over 100 arrows through the Tornado F4, waxing and lubing every 20 shots, and haven’t seen any sign of wear and tear on the string or cables.

Warranty

Parker provides a lifetime warranty on the Tornado F4, and their customer service staff is very friendly and helpful. If you have any problems at all with your crossbow, they’re eager to help and make things right.

What Crossbow Case Fits the Parker Tornado F4?

The Carbon Express Deluxe Case is a beautiful soft case choice for well under the $100 mark. If you have a large scope you may want to consider the SKB Hunter Series Crossbow Case instead. It is a high end hard case option for $291. It does have straps to keep the crossbow in place; however, they can sometimes wiggle loose.

Crossbow Review – Summary

Thanks for reading this crossbow review of the Parker Tornado F4. This is an excellent crossbow, and should serve you well for years of crossbow hunting and target shooting. Take a look at today's amazon.com price on this crossbow and check out our top 10 crossbows rankings for more.