Mathews, Bowtech, Hoyt, Elite First Impressions w/ Speed Test

Do you smell that? Smells like new bow season. I'm excited to get my hands on these bows and tell you all about them. It's new bow season, get in here. It is that special time of year we call new bow season. Everything is out and I figured I'd get my dirty little mitts on some bows, get you guys some first impressions, overviews of the bows, and a speed test with my good friend here. What's up? The Bow Wizard. Guys, the cool thing about the Bow Wizard is he's got all the in-depth reviews on his channel. So if you want to dive deep, his channel will be linked down below. We're going to test them out, see what we see, and get you guys some good thoughts. Let's get it rolling. First up, we're going to go Elite Ethos. And guys, I have pretty good knowledge on Hoyt, Bowtech, and Matthews, but Elite's semi-new to me, so give us the one-two dirty-dirty on our Elite here. Well, there's a couple things that make Elite unique. The biggest one being their tunability system in their limb pocket, so that you actually can pivot their limb pocket left and right. I still strongly encourage people to change out the spacers to get their wheel in as close as possible of what they want it before you mess with this, because this is intended to be a fine tune, not a coarse tune, and you may be off enough in here that you need to move the cam back and forth. But this is unique to Elite. Nobody else has this. I want to say PSC made a system similar to this a while ago, but quit making it. That, they do have adjustable let-offs in here. The grip contour is actually really nice, and you can actually adjust their roller guard in and out a little bit to relieve or increase lean on both cams as well. So there's a couple things that are kind of unique to them about that, but other than that, it's a good overall bow. All of these bows are set up to my specs, which is 29-inch draw. We're going to keep them at 70 pounds. And then we're going to test them apples to apples for me. Now the interesting thing about that is, depending on where that sits on the cam, you may or may not get the most efficiency depending on where that is with the cam. So your standardized speed tests, like Josh does on his channel, 30-inch draw, 70-pound draw weight, and that's your standardized speed test. But we're going to get you a 29-inch draw, 440 grain arrow, kind of middle of the road, and you'll get to see how these bows perform with my arrow. Yeah, the results you get will definitely differ from the results I got because of where you have to set them and how these bows will react differently. Like that bow will probably react a lot better in speed at 29 compared to the others because of where the module reads. And the dump in this bow won't be as hard as it was at my length because it's not hitting its peak length, it's hitting an inch before. It's like how our results will differ when we go to tac. I come out with a higher score than you. That's exactly how that would go. My ass. How when I come back with more carbon in my quiver at the end of the day, it's like how those results of the quiver. Hilarious, dude. Yeah. All right guys, we're gonna line them up and rip a few. This one's 33. I'm excited to shoot an Elite. I haven't, I have never shot an Elite. I get a lot of good feedback from you guys about Elite and we'll see what we see here. Why is it that anytime you shoot a barebow for the first time it feels like it holds like a rock? It's because there's nothing bolted to it so it's not all out of balance. What is that phenomena called? It's called new bow phenomena. Yeah. Notice the difference? Yeah, you feel a little bit of ringing. Yeah. A little ringing. Yep. First impressions, this feels like a solid bow, solid platform. The grip, factory grip, right out of, straight from the factory is nice. Honestly, top couple grips I've ever put my hand on right away. Now basically every bow, you can customize their grip, you can make it how you want. They make it nice straight from the factory. Yeah, the cam didn't feel aggressive. It didn't feel soft. It just felt like a nice pull to the back wall and yeah, I could see this being a really solid platform. Kind of shoot through them all and be able to formulate a comparison. Core SR. What makes a bowtech interesting is that you can tune it really easy. Like a guy like me can tune it without a press. Deadlock, but basically you can move the cam side to side right here without pressing it. You can adjust your timing screw right here as well. So I'm very comfortable with this platform. This little grip lock allows you to move your grip in and out, which I like a lot for the purpose of how you want to shoot it. But the other thing I learned about that is you can basically micro tune your draw length because you're changing a little bit. Yeah, maybe like a quarter inch or something. Yeah, yeah. I'm genuinely excited to shoot this bow. Josh says it's fast. Bowtech Core SR. The feel of the draw length on this is like it could be a smidge shorter than the Elite. The way it feels, it definitely feels like a more aggressive cam, which I don't mind. Basically, it's like more of a pull, pull, pull, pull, and then at the end it breaks over. I've learned to like shooting like that because you actually garner some feedback. Because you like humps? Yeah, and you garner some feedback. So I like the feel of that cam, but it definitely feels aggressive and fast. On all of my tests for 2024, that was the fastest bow and it was the fastest bow by a pretty good window. So one thing Bowtech didn't do that, speaking for the meatheads of the world like my friend Drew, I got to speak on his behalf real quick, is they didn't offer an 80 pound bow with the same features. Yeah, I don't think you'll see that, to be honest. 70 pound bow to 70 pound bow, this feels like you're pulling a little more weight because it is an aggressive cam, which I don't mind. I like the draw cycle. It feels good back here. To me, one reason to buy Bowtech is, hey, I want to be able to tune my bow at home, which scares some people. You know, Josh and I are both big advocates for a at home creates a more well-rounded archer, right? If you can identify what's wrong with your bow yourself, you're way more likely to be consistent grader because you have more faith in your equipment. You understand how it works. So guys, I like that. Let's go to the Hoyt. Look at this. Look at this bow sitting right next to this dog. Look at that new hotness. Pretty interesting, guys. In a change of events last year, I ended up shooting a Hoyt VTM, really happy with the bow for the season. And when I first heard about everything, they changed. I was like, well, you know, is it that different from a VTM? And immediately my brain was like, no, not really. And the more I got to think on it and mull it over, it is pretty different. And all of their improvements are very thoughtful. If you had a VTM from last year, consideration to improve. Let's take a look at the considerations. Nipple of destiny. I don't know what Hoyt calls that, but it allows you to sit your cam on the ground without damaging the cam. Pretty awesome. Simple little innovation. They basically added a bipod to the front with a couple of different adjustable positions. But I've always been a huge fan of being able to set my bow down and walk away from it. And if this was the bow I hunted with, I would hunt with this on and often in this position, unless I was in the thick bush or something. It's like spring loaded. You can go all the way back with it too. So if you're worried about those catching on things or snagging on things, you can set them to where they're all the way back into the riser. Or if you have a stabilizer on there, you can just line it forward with your stabilizer either way. So like that, I mean, that's not making it any wider than the bow right there. Yeah. I mean, if you had a quiver on there, you'd already be pushing into that. And you only have to unscrew that like a quarter turn or a half turn to let the spring engage, which is pretty cool. I like it. It's a good, thoughtful innovation. Something I'm curious about doing more with is being able to adjust the back wall. It's the first time I've seen a back wall adjustment on a bow. Being able to go from 75 to 80 to 85% let off, I think is pretty slick too. And the one thing that really kind of brought it over the edge for me was quarter inch draw length adjustments. Being able to take it and move it a quarter inch at a time, which doesn't sound like a big deal. I get caught right in between like 29, 29 and a quarter. And I think for a pretty dang valuable to have quarter inch draw length adjustments. So you're not messing with your loop or trying to fidget your way there. It's, it's pretty thoughtful. I like that. After shooting basically all the bows for a while, I think Hoyt is a good contender for most speed to best feel in their cam. I think that's a fair statement. Yeah. It's a very efficient cam that doesn't feel like an aggressive cam. Hoyt Alpha X 33. I'm going to get a couple shots out of this and get you some thoughts. They did go with a wider limb. That seems to be a trend in the industry. Do you have thoughts about that, Josh? Yeah. Typically a wider limb platform is going to make your bow more stable left to right. The idea of it. And that's been kind of common. You're seeing almost everyone go wider. In fact, it was common enough that last chance went through and redid all their bow presses to have a three inch finger width. So you could, uh, they have like replacement kits. If you have an older one that needs a wider limb set to be able to get into that. But yeah, that's very getting very common. Yeah. I'll try to grip this one a little bit. The touch of ringing afterwards, I think it's a solid platform. And because I shot the VTM 34, just to like this as a platform anyway, I think good job Hoyt. I mean, some good, simple stuff that makes the bow considerably better. The way the quiver attaches now is shallower. So you can actually move your quiver even farther in, which is pretty cool. But more than anything, just a ton of machine work in there, like way more than they did previous year, which increases the cost of manufacturing, but they didn't raise the price of the bow. And I like that from a tuning perspective, Hoyts are a shim system too. Yes. And those are metal. They came out with the new one. It's aluminum. It's not plastic, but it's kind of the same amount of movement, which is unfortunate. I wish they would have had a little more in that at least. Not as user-friendly to tune a really good platform, definitely a contender for, for a great bow. But a lot of people are going to ask, well, if I have a VTM, should I upgrade? You're not going to know that answer unless you go to a shop and shoot it. And so that's what I would recommend go to a shop and shoot it. But to have some thoughtful little things in the cam that allow you to get a little further down the rabbit hole. I think that's pretty meaningful stuff. If you're particularly working towards that next level of archery. Guys, Josh is usually pretty cool when it comes to bows. He's extra excited about this. And that gets me a little bit excited because that means, yeah, there's some serious innovation. Look at the machine work top to bottom. There's something missing in here. A giant ass limb bolt and turret. Yeah. The deal here is Matthews basically did everything they could to make this bow lighter. There's a whole bunch of stuff they did, but it's as light as possible. It comes in at four, 4.26. And that includes the dampener, 33 inch riser, new strings. I think that is awesome. A company that's put in some thought and effort into creating awesome strings. We don't know how long those are going to last until they get through them with a season. Even the fact their head is thinking about new strings shows they're listening. And that's really cool. They started that on the titles and we've had several of those in usage and really good feedback so far. It's early, but feedback's really good. The only thing I didn't love on the phase four was the end of the back wall. I would get the jitters sometimes. And you know what, that probably wasn't me problem. But if it's a hunting bow designed to be a hunting bow, I don't want to be thinking about if I'm going to get a jitter at full draw. And they did put a new cam on this bow. So I'm particularly excited to shoot it and see what we see. Now this little guy right here, I can't give you the full skinny on because it's not out yet. Basically there's some kind of app coming that's going to be an additional add-on to be able to measure how the bow is moving around. Yeah, we'll do an in-depth video on it when we get it. And that's a good piece of innovation. They continue to go with everything, Bridgelock sight, Bridgelock stabilizer, everything with a Matthews is built to be integrated tight. There's kind of a pro and a con to that. It's nice to have everything tight, but it can also limit your accessory choices. So let's try it out. New bow. The cam definitely felt different when it rolled over. Yeah, it's definitely different. Now, one thing about a Matthews when you shoot one is they don't jump out of your hand. I think that's because the limbs are so parallel. That's the most parallel limb by far. Yeah. And those are actually shorter. That's like the shortest limit, which makes it feel just very soft and dead in your hand. That can be a really good thing for a hunting bow. For my curiosity, I'm going to go like a little, like a little soft here and see if it jumps forward on me. Yeah, it's not. It looks like it's holding. Yeah. It is the 85% and 80 would be more jumpy, but we don't have any modules yet. Yeah. I shot 85. Yeah. The bow does feel different from that perspective. It doesn't want to have that forward creep on you. I got to grip one. I forgot to do that. Yeah. It's just a very dead in the hand bow. The bow holds very nicely. It's got that long riser. It feels very dead in the hand. Shout out to Matthews guys. I didn't feel that a little forward jump. That definitely makes it a contender for me again, to be a bow that I would consider hunting with. Well guys lighter, everything's lighter. You'd think there was a theme here. And in the words of the Josh behind me, a lighter is nice, but it gives you more flexibility on where we can put the weight and how we want it. So there's a shitload more machining on this bow, new strings, all the innovation. Shout out to Matthews. They kept the price point nearly the same. MSRP is only $30 more. Pretty cool. Speed test up next. You're rolling homie. My inner meathead is just like tingling to do this speed test. I'm excited to see what these bows shoot for speed. Funny how happy tangible numbers make people. Yeah. It's really nice. I guess we're using this little, this little Garmin. Yep. Garmin chronograph brand new. Just got it. It seems like it's going to be the gold standard for chronos because you can use it with rifles. You can use it with bows and there's an app that'll like store your, your data. Well, and you can use it inside, outside without a light kit. And it's the size of a fricking GoPro. Okay. It's tiny. So elite ethos speed test 283, five. These are my 440 grain rip TKO arrows with Josh's titanium insert and 125 out front. It's been a really hard arrow for me to get away from because it's really fricking good. Look at this girl's little, uh, her leg. How's her hitching her giddy up? She's doing great. Yeah. Doing great. Okay. It's like, yeah, it's cold. It's cold. It's supposed to be the fast bow for this year. So Bowtech core SR in performance mode. Let her rip 291. Focus 0.6 point alpha X 33, 33 in the house speed test to 80.3. It's clear. Boy did put some new strings on here. I like that. People are thinking about strings. Strings are really important. It's kind of stinks to order a brand new bow and know right out the gate, you got to put $150 set of strings on custom strings will continue to be a nice upgrade. If you can afford it. When you buy a new bow like this, we want to have strings that are dependable on my last year's Hoyt. I did get a little touch of serving separation right at the end of the seasons, stuff like that should be avoided with good quality strings. It'll be nice to see how these hold up over time. Grand finale here. One quick thing. If you want to support the cause, Josh helped me out a lot. They came in and said all these bows up at 29 inch draw. We're lucky. We're kind of spoiled. We can do this kind of thing. So if you need some archery gear, check out podiumarchery.com. I have a discount code. It's Tim C. Get you 10% off the things you even wouldn't think it would. Final final Matthew's lift speed test. Let's get it dude. 281.2 is a quick caveat. We're shooting 85% mods. We just don't have 80% mods yet. They're supposed to shoot four or five feet per second faster. Yeah. Cool bow. Feels great guys. Basically what I learned right there is if you're shopping for a bow speeds, probably not your great differentiator, unless you're like, Hey, I want to push my speed to the top, top level. And which if you're going that way, this is probably your baby. It does feel like a more aggressive cam. If you're shopping for a bow, go to your local archery shop and shoot them all side by side. See what you like, see which features are important to you. Make your decisions based on that. We have some really neat features. We have some cool innovation. I think this company's mostly knocked it out of the park. You have anything to add to that? Well, something to keep in mind with the speed that you're getting on this over the others is the brace height difference. So this bow has a six inch brace height and all three other bows had a six and a half give or take brace height. And that will usually reflect about a five to eight foot a second difference on a half of an inch of brace. So that's a relevant number. And that's where that velocity change is coming from. But keep in mind that higher brace height probably means the bow is more forgiving. So you're going to lose a little with speed, gain a little bit of a loss of speed and forgiveness. It just depends on what's important to you. And if I'm you and I walk into an archery shop, I'm not shopping for speed. I'm shopping for features. I'm shopping for what's the best tool for my application. Guys, we're pretty blessed here. We have a great archery shop, 3D range. We're going to do a big bash here when we get 200,000 subscribers on this channel. So do me a favor, subscribe to the channel. I'll have Josh's channel link down below. He does all the archery deep dive stuff. And that's where you want to be if you want to dive into the weeds on these bows. Anyway, we appreciate you hanging out. This has been fun. I'm excited to see which one of these bows I'm going to end up shooting in 2024. It truly is TBD. There's some interesting things to think about and I got to mull that over and we'll continue that in a future video. Anyway, we will catch you back for the next one.