So I made my yearly trip out to shoot the new bows of interest and see if they impress me more then my current setup.

The following is my experience and opinion of the bows I shot.

Mathews Switchback XT........I actually like the fatter grips of the Mathews bows even though I know they tend to be more of a torque issue with so much of the grip in contact with your hand. It felt good, drew smooth and shot well. It didn't feel great, draw great, or shoot great. I think this is a definate step backwards for Mathews as nothing about the bow made me say WOW!!. Last year the Switchback had everything except the speed IMO. This year the Switchback XT is an all around good bow with really no great attributes. A fine bow without any doubt but really just blends into the crowd IMO and there must be 50 bows out there just as good as the XT and probably half the price. The XT was also the least impressive at the chrono. It was slower then my 03 Patriot and only 9 fps faster then my brother's Fred Bear TRX which is from 01. Little let down by this one to be honest. Again, fine bow.........top shelf in today's market?? I don't see it.

Bowtech Tribute.........we shot a fully setup Tribute that a shop worker has as his bow. My first impression was it is HEAVY.......it just felt like it weighed a ton. I didn't say anything and handed it to my brother and he shot it a few times and said "This thing is too heavy" We couldn't figure it out because there were no accessories that would make it so heavy. We took the stabilizer out and it helped but the feeling of weight pulling your bow arm down never left. The bow drew VERY well and shot VERY well.....was dead in the hand and VERY quiet.......noticably more so then my Patriot. We put her through the chrono and I gained 23-24 fps with the same arrow vs my Patriot........OK now I am interested. The bow felt great, drew great, and shot great.......and speed was what I would consider significantly increased. Just couldn't shake the heavy feeling. My brother was so put off by it he said he couldn't see buying it for just that reason..............it's always something I guess. So overall the Tribute was an outstanding bow and very fast......with just a negative of excess weight.

What to do??..........the Allegiance is the same weight as the Tribute so we were in the same boat............or so we thought.

Hoping it was just the accessories we asked to shoot the Allegiance. Now this bow was bare so it would give us a good idea of weight of just the bow which we couldn't get from the Tribute without taking the guys bow apart. I grabbed the Allegiance and a smile came across my face as the weight was no longer an issue.........one or more of that guys accessories weighed more then they looked like because we got none of the weight issues when handling the other bow and the core weights are the same. The Allegiance was without question (IMO) the best bow we shot of the 3. It was smooth on the draw(something I think was absent last year) and shot dead in the hand bare bow (something I think was absent last year) and was SCREAMING fast.......something I think was present last year. The bow has it all IMO and really made me say WOW!!........now off to the chrono. Same arrow, same draw and Allegiance 64lbs and my Patriot 63lbs. The Allegiance was putting the arrows out there 35-37 fps faster then my Patriot...........ummmmmm........WOW!!! To gain 37 fps with a smooth draw and not lose any comfort on the shot or increase noise is something I would say is a definate step up and has me STRONGLY considering a new bow. Just a flat out beautiful bow that knocked my socks off in every department.

Just for anyone who may not know.......I may shoot a Bowtech and perhaps that does bias my opinion to a certain degree that can't be helped but I am in no way a Bowtech honk who will praise them no matter what they put out just because I own one. I shot there bows last year and was VERY un-impressed and said so here in this forum. I also said that Mathews impressed the heck out of me with the Switchback.......this year seems to be the opposite.


NOW FOR THE REAL DILEMA..........I NEED HELP!!!!!!

I am a short draw length of 27".........now if there is anyone out there that has an Equalizer or know someone who does or has any opinion on that bow please speak up and help me out.

According to Bowtech the Equalizer is pound for pound the fastest bow they have. My question is then..........if I have an Equalizer maxed out at 26 1/2" draw (27 with loop) and 60 lbs will it be faster then the Allegiance set at the same specs???

Also........with all that speed and power coming from a 26.5" draw at 60lbs I am concerned that the bow won't feel as nice or be a little louder then the Allegiance.

I mean, I just am having trouble seeing the logic here.......if the Equalizer is really faster then the Allegiance and every other bow they have then why not just extend the design of the Equalizer out to 30" and 70lbs and have an even faster bow then the Allegiance??

Simple solution is just to shoot it........I know........BUT. The shop owner is very worried that he will get stuck with the Equalizer if I don't buy it and is reluctant to order one due to this fear.

If the Equalizer really shoots 295-302 at 26.5" and 60lbs and has everything else equal to the Allegiance then I am sold on that sucker.


Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks