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Hunting Bow Reviews - Summary 2005 Part One


Hunting


Hunting Bows and archery equipment are always one of the biggest categories in Hunting & Fishing Gear Review and this bow hunting season it appears it won’t be any different with some great reviews already coming in of the new 2005 hunting bows. To help you make your decision on your next hunting bow purchase here’s part 1 of our summary of how readers have reviewed the hunting bows they own, along with some background information to make the selection of your new bow easier.

Mathews Archery

Mathews Hunting Bows received the most reviews of the last year at 23. The most amazing part of this is all but two of the reviews were excellent scores of 5. The two Mathews Archery Bows were rated as less than a 5 were the Mathews Outback reviewed by Larry. His biggest gripes with the Mathews Outback Bow was the new parallel limb design which he states makes the bow lose some of the speed Mathews is famous for. In addition Larry wrote the handles center of impact is found directly in the palm making it easy to cant your wrist bringing on inconsistency. He wrote we all know it only takes one shot when hunting however the bow could make the shooter become inconsistent.

Our second submitted review giving the Mathews a less than perfect score was submitted by Never-Again who failed to leave an e-mail address which always makes us suspicious of exactly who it was submitting the review. Anyway he rated the Mathews LX as a one which is unheard of in our ratings of Mathews. Never-again stated the Mathews LX Bow 30” has no let off options and the bow did not come close to the IBO speed as billed. Last, but not least he wrote he’s owned three Mathews hunting bows and won’t own another again.

With the bad bow reviews out of the way here are the 23 excellent ratings of Mathews Archery.

To summarize our readers just love the entire line of Mathews Hunting Bows. Here’s a few quotes of what they had to say about the different models.

Mathews Outback Bows

Likes: I love everything about this bow, it is fast, and very quiet. one of the most forgiving and accurate bows that i have ever had the pleasure to shoot. “Deer Slayer”

Likes: “It was the smoothest and quietest bow I have ever shot. It is also very forgiving.” Nick Kressin

Likes: “The bow is very smooth through the draw and is very forgiving when shooting. The bow is lightweight and compact. The best thing I like about the bow is how quiet the bow is right out of the box.” Bow Hunter

Likes: “The manager of the store had a bow in stock set up with sights and arrow rest. He let me try it out in the shooting range in the back of the store. This was one of the main reasons I bought the bow from them. I shot dozens of shots, but I was sold after only a few shots. The bow is quiet, (very quiet ) and very smooth. It has very little recoil and is a dream to shoot. I am shooting it at 70 lbs. and it doesn't seem to be 70. It feels more like 55 to 60. I checked it out on a scale and it drawing at 72 lbs.” jimarcherhunter

Mathews Blackmax 2

Likes: “The 5.5" brace height took some getting use to but now I love it it's the fastest and hardest shooting bow I've ever seen. How fast and how hard it shoots.” Taylor

Mathews FX Bows

“I really like the way the bow pulls. I have it set at 57# pull, with a 75% let off. I also like the looks of the bow, it is in realtree HD camo.” Kyle/ Willis, Texas

Mathews switchback Bows

Likes: “Straight out of the box with nothing on this bow is super fast & very quiet. After getting my acessories on it & getting it all tuned up this bow is fast,quiet & very very accurate.” indiana redneck Likes: “I like how smooth it is and how fast and quiet it is. this bow is extremely quiet right out of the box. excellent cost. and quality is unbeatable. also a great camo finish.” carlos

Mathews Bow- Legacy

Likes: “From the moment I began shooting my bow, I was hitting the target extremely well. With the care that my archery shop had taken and the Mathews bow, I was hitting bullseyes consistently. I wanted to be able to shoot well, but I had no idea that I could shoot as well as I can. The quietness of the bow is truly unbelievable. When set up properly, hitting the target, only builds confidence. The Mathews bow is truly enjoyable to shoot. Excellent quality.” Robert Cole

Matthews MQ-32 bow

Likes: “This bow is lightweight, extremely fast, very quiet, and proven to be deadly accurate during this year's 2004 NY archery season.” Fletchman

PSE Archery also receives a lot of attention on the site. With thirteen reviews coming in rating their hunting bow models. PSE received some great reviews on some of their bows, however no where near the number of excellent reviews the Mathews hunting bows received. PSE has come out with a couple of new models this year including the PSE Firestorm Lite and the PSE Shark. I look forward to more of their reviews coming in over the next couple of months. In addition PSE introduced the PSE Vengance for as they put it “For Serious Bowhunters”. Here’s are parts of the press release for the PSE Vengance one of the hunting bows I’m really looking forward to shooting this year:

The perfect hunting bow does three things well. First, it must shoot accurately. It must be designed suitably and then build to exact specifications for specific hunting needs in the field. Second, the bow shoots arrows quietly. Finally, the perfect hunting bow would have the ability to store plenty of energy, which translates into remarkable arrow speed. Is this bow a dream?

Many of today’s hunting bows have one or two of these three qualities. The new PSE Vengeance has them all.

It is smooth, fast, ultra quiet, and accurate. The accuracy of the Vengeance hunting bow is built-in. A 7-5/8 inch brace height makes this bow forgiving and with tight tolerances throughout makes it a smooth shooting bow. The new ultra light Pivoting Limb Pocket keeps the limb tracking in perfect alignment. The Phase III grip permits three options to fit anyone’s most comfortable hand position. Comfort produces relaxation that leads to accuracy in shooting .

PSE Press Release Continued>BR>
Peak energy storage, within the constraints of a smooth draw cycle, is the strength of the NRG single-cam system. It is a moderately aggressive cam with modules for easy draw length adjustment. The cam produces a solid back wall Vengeance™ for consistent anchor and 80% letoff (adjustable to 65%) for a relaxed hold. IBO speed rating is 303 fps – plenty of speed for any hunting situation. The Vengeance is also available with the new NRG Hybrid Performance Cam option. New for 2005, is the SRS System, String Recoil Suppressors that attach to the limb tips and apply a soft rubber cushion to the string. Top Gun String Chubs are installed in the string and stop it from vibrating immediately after the arrow leaves the bow. The Vengeance hunting bow was already quiet without the addition of the Chubs due to its low vibration parallel limb design and limb isolation systems in each limb pocket. These rugged elastic pads eliminate limb to riser contact and thereby short circuit vibration. – end press release.

Here are some of the comments people submitted concerning the PSE models

PSE BABY-G FORCE

Dislikes: “The bow's cable guard is poorly designed. It is an offset guard and regardless how tight the bolt is the guard will rotate and ruin the arrow vanes. The small "caps" at the end of the limbs(that hold the cam pin)are poorly welded on, with large gaps around the seams. The bow is also louder than bows I've shot in the past. Last season the excessive noise cost me a beautiful 10 point!” Matt A.

Likes: The orginal short draw fast compound that gives a shorter archer some decent arrow speed. Its still hard to find a bow with a 26" draw that will produce the arrow speed of a Baby G. Compact size makes it easy to get through the bush. Reasonably quiet when fitted with string silencers and a good let off makes it easy to hold at peak draw.

PSE Whitetail Extreme Bows

Likes: “I really like the length, speed and how forgiving the bow is. The brace height is 8" and that really seems to help cut down on bad shots when I have a tough angle or somthing like that.” Tony Strasser

PSE Deer Hunter

Dislikes: “i really dont like the stock round cams it comes with but they can always be updated. Also this bow would be much better if it was a dual limb bow. And lastly i dont like the arrow rest it comes with, it is metal so when you draw back it makes a lot of noise.” Steve-O

PSE Firestorm Lite 2004

Likes: “very light, compact(only 31 inches axle to axle), very forgiving(8 inch brace height), quiet”

Dislikes: “small sight window, if you use a bodoodle rest you cant use molehair in the window because your broadhead will catch the mole hair...mechanical broadheads would solve the problem. i use crimson talons and just trimmed back the molehair to allow clearance.” Landon K.

PSE Stingray Bows

“I love my Stingray and wouldn't trade it for anything. Not even a Matthews. I have consistant 2 inch groups at 50 yards. It is also very quiet. You know, that quiet, muffled, thump sound. And talk about fast. I love this bow and think anyone would feel the same.” BAMA ARCHER "ROLL TIDE"

Likes: “I like it's light weight and its' Short axle to axle yet forgiving brace height make this bow a pleasure to shoot. It has a 75% letoff which comes in handy when you are waiting for that open shot. I love everything about this bow.” BAMA ARCHER "ROLL TIDE"

PSE Nova Extreme

Likes: “This is the most quietest bow I have ever shot and its light weight for those long hikes into the woods. I used the sights that came with the bow and they couldn't be more accurate than I have ever used.” Tim Nieto

That’s the end of part one of our hunting bow review summary 2005. Stop back next week when we summarize our Hoyt, Bowtech and a few other hunting bows. Also next week we’ll have another article on the latest hunting bows to hit the scene in 2005.

Pictured is one of the newest bows to hit the archery market the PSE Vengeance.

Read all of our hunting bow reviews and Bow ratings by clicking here.
> Hunting Bow > reviews




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