Just a few observations and questions. Destroyer 350 61lbs maxed out 28" draw Draw was fine......not harsh, not butter smooth. I wouldn't rave or complain about it either way. Grip was kinda lame........plastic on a top shelf bow is a weak move. It felt fine in the hand though and was shaped to my liking. Wood side plates or wood grip is just 1,000 better visually and in the hand (just my opinion). The grip would be the first thing to go. Seems like they are trying to copy the Bone Collectors grips from Hoyt by looking for another place to put the name of the bow. Pretty lame but not a big deal. The bow is beautiful.............the Destroyer logo on the limbs is a bit cartoonish but without a doubt she is a looker, specially with the red in the strings to match. The balance and feel of the bow was excellent. Nice weight and felt very balanced at all times. She is fast..........no doubt about that. BC on the one I shot was 340 fps at 29" so she is tickling 350 at IBO if the BC is accurate. Didn't shoot chrono but she felt every bit that quick. I had a long sleeved shirt on and the draw was 1 inch long for me and not once did I ever feel the string even touch my arm. She holds very nicely at full draw and that was bare bow. I don't think I would have trouble shooting this bow accurately. It's not the quietest bow out there that is for sure. The FLX roller guard is a question mark.........it visually vibrates like a tuning fork after the shot (took a few just watching it) and an audible buzz could be heard when I shot and when I had the shop guys shoot and stood about 5 feet away. Maybe a mini limbsaver needs to be stuck on there or something. Not a huge deal but a negative for sure. I didn't find the bow "dead in the hand"..........I could feel a slight buzz at the shot. Could be the FLX guard though, not sure. Nothing dramatic but it's there. The vane clearance and the cams are my primary concerns..........this bow had a WB on it and shooting cock vane up left MINIMAL clearance at rest. As I understand it the FLX guard squeezes in towards the riser at full draw right?? I have no way of knowing if the vanes were scraping as I was shooting blind but it really looked tight with my 2" Blazers cock vane up. The cams freaked me out and I took a pic of the clearance to show you guys and see what you thought before I make up my mind on this bow. There is a normal looking "V" groove in the limbs machined out for the cams to pass through............but the cams don't pass through the center of the "V" or near the apex where clearance is maximum......the cams seriously had 1/16" or less of clearance from the limbs......I took my bank card out and couldn't get the corner between the limb and cam. Is this right?? I mean it is SO close it just looks wrong, like something an engineer would never OK because even the smallest amount of influence on those cams and they will be rubbing the limbs. The tollerances just seem way too tight. This may be by design, I don't know but wow it is as tight as could be. Here is a pic..........does this look right to you guys?? Mathews Z7 29" 70lb turned down to 62lb Bow looks a bit goofy..........riser like a Deadzone and those stupid "monkey tail" string leeches gotta go. Bow felt nice weight and balance wise. Draw was smooth as expected on a Mathews. Grip was OK but a bit fat........not bad though. The shot was very nice.......very little noise and/or vibrations if any. Speed was OK. Reverse roller guard thing didn't seem to do much of anything different. The cables seemed really fat.........heavy on the serving or something. Pretty much a smooth slick shooter I think the Mathews crowd will enjoy especially the solo cam die hards...........if they can get by the looks.
thats a good write up. like you i am hoping to shoot both bows soon, going to get a new bow this year.. i am a mathews bow shooter and love my single cam bow (ultramax) model 70lb 30 draw and bought the low letoff cam option that was offered back then wish that option was still avalible!! before this bow i was buying three and four bows a year, most had cam timing issues and put that together with short brace ht they were not a good fit and not forgiving enough for my hunting , the monster series looks awesome to me, hope there is some cam timing adjustment to them. cant wait to get my hands on one.:p
Germ, Go shoot one man..........it really is a nice bow. If you liked a Ross enough to buy one you will probably love this bow. Man, dude..........you will be hating that thing though when you have to dry every tiny hole in that honeycomb riser after a rainy day. Really nice bow though IMO.............at $700 I bet Mathews sells a bunch of those things.
They are essentially useless on bows................especially from fanboys No one is going to buy or not buy a bow based on anything someone says online...........they will go shoot it themselves and decide. What actually may be useful is to help each other out with answers to questions about the bows.
the Razor i got for Tara had the same things with the cams atlas..... i was freaking out to, so i had them pull another one out, same thing. then i had them pull another one out, finally found one that the came was in "more" in the center.... none were perfect. you got me on why it was like that??????????????????
That was the problem.........no other bows to compare it to. They only sent one 350. The shop owner didn't know for sure if that is the way the cam is "supposed" to look or not.............all he could say is "doesn't look right to me". Someone out there should be able to answer this sooner or later. Hopefully it's "normal" and there is a logical explanation for it.
if i were at a "shop" not at Bass Pro, and were gonna buy it, and no other ones... then i'd aslk for them to tear it down and fix it b4 i bought it. with that being said the ones that were "touching" or almost "touching" didnt shoot different for her at the range but you gotta think that over time that is not a good thing. you're right i'd really like to find out why!!!! cause those guys at Bass Pro didnt have a clue either
Yea........this bow shot fine brand new..........couple years down the road is more of a concern. Sooner or later someone qualified to answer will read this.
This I disagree with. There are plenty of guys that buy a bow based on what others say on the Internet. Go over to AT and listen to guys rave about a bow that isn't even released yet. Hell, the Strothers SR-71 had guys clamoring to buy one based off of prototype pics leaked to the web.
For S&G's, I shot both of these bows a couple hours ago. I really can't add anything to what Atlas said. The grip? Cheesy. A simple wood upgrade would go a long ways. Vibration? I felt it, too. The flex RG is a help AND a hinderance (IMO). The good? Draws "fine". Holds great (as do all BT''s I've shot). Looks? Fine. I shot the bow @ 65#'s and I "think" they're getting about 290fps from an IBO-ish weight arrow (though I don't recall what DL I shot). I assume it was a 28". I gotta say, though.....If you're coming from a Captain; Admiral or General.....you're going backwards in the "feel" dept. The three I mentioned are noticably more "dead" to the shot. I know I wouldn't feel I was "upgrading" from one of those bows (or their ilk). All in all.....a "nice" bow (as was expected, from BT). The Mathews? Nice bow. Which would "I" buy? LOL....neither, but it has nothing to do with the way they shot. I wouldn't kick a hog in the ass for the "diff" between the two, for a hunting rig.
Ben and I did TeeJay just to see. If your referring to the Z7? If you went in and shot the Z7, you'd likely love it as a stand alone. It was quiet, had some hand shock. It wanted to kick up. A little more noticeable than the 340 I shot. I haven't shot the 350 and I'd be interested in what atlasman has to say if he gets to shoot the 340 now. Grips, yeah. Probably one of the first things I'll change. I wonder if the wood inlay standing alone on the bow without the plastic/rubber grip would be nice?
I wanted to do the same T, the shop didn't have one. I thought it would be the closest comparison as the specs (340) are very similar.
