Oh my word....the haters clinging to the target bow price to try and attack the new lineup...seriously the HTR is the hunting bow, and it will hit shelves below $1000 I nearly guarantee you.
Unless all you guys complaining about the $1,800 bow are interested in buying the target bow then you have no argument. As far as the weight goes on those target bows.... Have you ever seen how much weight a target shooter stacks on his bow?? Hell alot of hunters will add an extra pound or two in stabilizers to there bows. I for one am not interested in there target bow so I don't care how much it costs.
Well I haven't put my hands on one yet so my ability to sell them is pretty limited right now. However I am very intrigued by this new No Cam system. I feel like a broken record when I say this stuff but here goes (again)... If you look back over the past decade bow specs, as a whole, haven't changed much. The industry standard these days seems to be 30-32" axle-to-axle, 7 inch brace height, 4 lbs, and 330-340 fps. With a few notable exceptions those specs are a fair representation of just about every flagship bow from every big bow manufacturer from the past 10 years. They've tried shorter and heard cries about the string angle being too severe or not being accurate at long range. They've tried longer and people cried about the bows being too heavy. They've tried shorter brace height and people cried about it not being forgiving enough. When it's all said and done these specs seem to be, for the most part, the "sweet spot" as far as overall weight, balance, shootability, and accuracy for bow hunters. So now the engineers have to sit down and find ways to make a bow within these general guidelines that's "better" (subjective of course) than previous bows. But what defines "better" at this point? To me, and a lot of others, I think it boils down to shootability, tunability and accuracy. The factors that influence this are items such as riser design, part tolerance and of course cam design. That's why this new NoCam system was born. If you can engineer a system that is extremely smooth drawing, easy to tune, efficient and super accurate I think you've been able to make a bow better without having to stray from the physical specs that people have become accustomed to. Could they have made a bow that's faster? Of course. They've done it for years with the Monster series bows. However a lot of guys don't feel the need for a few extra FPS at the sake of the draw cycle or lack of valley that feels like it wants to rip your arm off. Could have have made a bow that's shorter, or longer, or lighter? Of course - they've done that as well. But like I said, time and time again we come back to this "sweet spot" that the majority of bow hunters look for in the "perfect" all around hunting bow. Sure, Mathews is a Sponsor of this site so I'm extremely biased here. I'll be the first to admit it. However I'm also very excited to shoot this new bow and feel it in my hand before I pass judgement based on the way the riser looks. But hey, this is the Internet and everyone is an expert!
I'm not a hater. And I'm not attacking the lineup. I kind of like the look of them and I am curious to see how they work/shoot with no cam. Budget is a big part of why I shoot what I shoot (currently Diamond Core). Now that I'm a little better of a shooter than what I was when I started, I want to upgrade to something a little better. If our local shop gets an HTR and it is $1000 or less, I will definitely give it a shot and try it out. Now if he has say the 2014 bows (Creed XS or others) for a couple hundred cheaper, I would still probably go with that because there isn't going to be much difference and that extra money can go to accessories.
Thank you...wish you have shot one but appreciate you doing your best with the info given. I will shoot one for sure. Im less excited about this bow then many others in Mathews past, but haven't held one yet so well see. I do look forward to shooting it and see if they can change my mind. Either way I am buying a Mathews, maybe used or maybe a Creed/chill. But I will for sure give the HTR a try if I can find one around to shoot.
Why can't people give their honest first impressions without being labeled a "hater"? Probably the most over and mis-used term on this site. It's almost like playing the race card. As far as "everybody on the internet being an expert"...we are on a bowhunting forum with guys that by any standard have experience enough to be considered actual experts and a lot of them here. Many of those guys are also Mathews shooters and are still pretty objective but also critical of the lineup.
Unlike years past no bows went out to "Pros" before they were released to the public so not many outside of Mathews have shot them yet. I would imagine most of the local shops see them before we do at this point, which is honestly okay with me. The dealers and consumers are more important than guys like us in the big scheme of things. It's nice to see Mathews putting their needs ahead of ours. Out of curiosity why would you be less excited about this than other bows from them in the past? This is without question their biggest change/innovation since the introduction of the Z7 some years ago. We're looking at a completely redesigned riser, new limbs, and a new cam system that has never been seen before. I'm certainly more excited about this than I was for the shorter version of the Creed or the longer version of the Chill.
Why be critical of the target bows price tag that most here will never buy or even shoot for that matter? I will hold my judgement of there hunting bow until I actually shoot it. None of the new bows shoot worth a crap on the Internet.
I guess this is where I get confused. With a few minor variances the flagship bows from the big names in archery are all pretty much the same. I don't see anything that's all that much more impressive with any one of these bows than the others. Mathews NoCam HTR 32" ATA 4.3 lbs 6 5/8" Brace Height 330 fps Hoyt Nitrum 30 30" ATA 3.9 lbs 6 3/4" brace height 332 fps Elite Energy 32 32" ATA 4.3 lbs 7" brace height 335 fps Bowtech Prodigy 32" ATA 4.2 lbs 7" brace height 343 fps
But it isn't pretty....bunch of nancies needing their bows to look good. I ain't gonna be able to afford the new line up but only care how it handles and shoots, only looks factor is the trophy shots taken after a harvest.
Jeeze, you're going to cling to the remarks on the price (which weren't even mine btw)? Personally I don't care about the price and I think it's clear the few other remarks were admittedly "hasty". First impressions don't require the bow to be shot...maybe opinions will change...maybe they won't. I think we're all adult enough to realize these are first impressions based on a bow that no one in the general populace has touched yet...
Jeeze Tyni, get over it. People like to get a well rounded package when they lay down a grand or better for equipment, why is that so hard to understand. It's not an issue that demands revoking a man card, we do it with pickups, farm equipment and everything else including women...I mean really...just stop.
I would beg to differ. When two of the first criticisms of the new lineup are the weight and price tag of the top end target bow and not the hunting bow I'd say that's hating. I don't have anything against people who don't like the look of the bow, that's purely a subjective issue. Some are going to like it some aren't. That's life. I'm certainly not going to lose sleep over it.
Since the Z7 and the MR6 I haven't been very excited honestly. Helim was kinda cool too I guess. But back before that it always was exciting to see what Mathews put out. And there was a thread not that long ago asking best Mathews, I counted it up Z7X won by far, even more if you add the Z7 votes in. Chill R did pretty good also. Would think knowing that they would have went a little more like the Z7X. Speed wise this is, and II forget the physical weight on Z7X, but think it was lighter then this. New riser is ugly in my opinion on HTR, but better looking then the target bows lol. I know that doesn't mean much, just a personal opinion. I was hoping for a shorter lighter bow like Z7X, with rock mods and smoother draw. But I can understand them trying to do something new and again I will shoot it and see what I think of it then. Cant knock it till I try it. I would also like to know about the other 2 new bows this year since the website wont let me see. A new chill and think it was Z2 if I remember right? Just curious what they have to offer. Would be really cool if they would bring the Z7X back as a budget bow or something, maybe with something like Rock Mods just to improve on the old design a tiny bit. Bet it would sell good considering how many people love the original.
I'd say it's not very careful reading on their part or it was a valid criticism of the target bow. The mistakes could be pointed out without accusations of "hater"...just sayin.
mine was not careful reading. I went back and said that I'll shoot the HTR and see how she goes. But with being on a budget I might end up upgrading to a 2014 model instead of a 2015 model. The specs aren't too terribly different. I'm more interested to see how it shoots without a cam. Being fairly new to all of this, I've never shot a bow without a cam so i don't know what the differences are. I do like the more weight idea though because for me, it is easier to hold steady. that is one of the reasons I always shoot with the quiver on. I'm a lot more accurate.
As I look at it more, the target bows are still ugly to me but I'm liking the HTR more and more. The creed was pushing about a grand at the end of it's life, of course a brand new bow will be over that a little. I won't be able to afford it and probably get a past generation mathews when I upgrade but there isn't any problems with the HTR. Quite frankly Justin is right, it fits the average of what people want. The tech isn't out there right now to make the big jump in speed. I think a lot of people had high expectations that were impossible to meet and are now disappointed. I admit I jumped on the wagon at first not understanding that the other bows were target bows but after doing more research I'm jumping off just as fast. Maybe in 3 years I'll be able to afford a 1k bow and then I'll definitely shoot the HTR Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I haven't been impressed with anything after the z7 or helium I guess. I'm glad I own a z7 I seriously love that bow. They surely aren't doing anything big this year from what I see b
Actually no. The Z7X was around 4.2 lbs bare bow and shot mid 330's if I recall. Maybe 333 or 335? The more I look at the HTR the more I like it. The target bow may have to grow on me yet. Although I'm not a target shooter so I guess it shouldn't matter. :D The thing is we all have our individual idea of what the "perfect" bow is for us. As a manufacturer you have to balance out what the majority of folks want in a bow and I don't think the 28" axle-to-axle length is it. If it were everyone would be doing it, but they're not. And just to be clear the HTR does have mods with a draw stop on them (basically the same as rock mods) and will be smoother drawing thanks to the dual wheels instead of a single or dual cam system. So you're good there. They did this last year as the ZXT.
