Well, my wife says a couple days before Christmas "Are you getting a new bow this year??".........I said "Don't know......haven't shot them yet".........she replies "Go shoot them and if you like them get one and put it under the tree"...........far be it from me to decline such an invite so I called the shop to be sure they had the new lines in and they did so I headed out with high hopes.
I came home not only empty handed but pretty disappointed as well. I
REALLY thought this was the year I would be impressed enough with the new bows to get one........the guardian design (and good vibe from reviews I had read) had me thinking it was coming home with me.
I shot the Guardian, The Allegiance, and the Drenalin. All set at 63, 62, and 63 lbs respectively. Bare bows, nothing but a WB rest on each one.
First was the guardian. Looking over the bow it was definately nice to look at but 2 things IMMEDIATELY jumped out at me. I didn't care for the extra moving parts, especially held in place by small clip like cotter pins. Looks like a way too many new areas added that could be a problem. Most of all on initial inspection the cables are twisted around in the cam like a pretzel with two posts set awkwardly close to each other.........just looking at it closely my initial fear was confirmed.......the serving on the cable was already coming apart in that area. The shop owner said 4 people had shot the bow before me and it probably had well under 100 shots through it.
Everything else on the bow looked very good........beautiful bow top to bottom (there was something I missed that I was shown later that was BIG). Time to shoot it. The grip is OK.......not really a grip at all but more of a rounded back side of the riser. I don't like grips THAT thin and if I want to shoot off a cold riser I will just take the grip off all together. The draw on the guardian is awful........just plain awful.........no way I would want that in my stand. 63lbs felt like 70lbs. After my first shot the owner says "How'd you like the draw?" I started laughing and he says "I know". The shot was sweet.........and I mean SWEET!!!. The bow is VERY pleasant during the shot. I felt VERY little in the grip and sound was very low. Nice shooter for sure.
After about 10 shots I say to the shop owner "This one is definately not for me" and he says "Wait until you see this"...........he then takes the bow from me and shows me the spot on the riser where the movable branch of the riser meets the limb in the middle and the finish on the riser arm had a line worn into it down to the metal from where the limb bracket was scraping the arm. YIKES!!!! Less then 100 shots and the serving was coming apart and one of the new moving parts had scraped right through the nice camo dipping. I will be more then surprised if this design lasts very long. It looks like they have a lot of tinkering to do before they nail this one. My opinion of this bow is that it has potential to be great but also potential to be disasterous.........only the future will tell which direction it takes. Lots of issues to be worked out...........but a sweet shooter. Anyone that goes to shoot one should stand aside and watch someone else draw this thing........the stress on the back half of those limbs is incredible.........almost enough to make you wince. The guardian also looks better in person then in mags IMO.
The Allegiance felt light and looked really good...........handled well and was overall not much different then last year's Allegiance, save for some riser tweaks and the new cams. Sadly the Allegiance showed similar (although not as bad) serving wear in the cams. This was disappointing. The bow drew nicely.........I wouldn't say great, but for a fast bow I would say pretty darn good. The draw was definately not a problem with this bow. Then I tripped the release and was shocked by how much I felt the shot go off in the riser. WOW. There was no stabilizer on it but I have to say I don't know if that much vibration could be solved with just a stabilizer. The bow was fast and respectably quiet for a bare bow. Trying to describe the feeling in my hand during the shot would be more of a large vibration vs a small buzz if that makes any sense.......sort of a much lower frequency like if someone hit the side of the riser with their fist...........and not like a high frequency buzz like if you hit a ball off the end of a bat. (Hope that made sense to someone)
Sigh...........I was pretty bummed at this point.
Last on the trip was the Drenalin. I really liked the realtree camo on this bow............just plain sharp looking and very well done. Man they are not kidding when they call them slim limbs
The shop owner said they did a test on these new limbs and they are supposedly twice as strong as the old ones........since they are all lifetime warranty I didn't really see why anyone would care.........but I digress. The bow is what Mathews has become today in my opinion........a very good all around bow........a jack of all trades and master of none so to speak. It looks good but the string is junk...........it draws smooth as silk but is slow in today's world.........it shoots smooth as butter but the grip is bulky (like holding a hockey puck).
Certainly a wonderful bow but absolutely no wow factor at all. Smooth and quiet for sure.........but that can be said about 50 other bows on the market. The Drenalin was nice but left me yawning.........and there is NO WAY this bow is worth $850 (MSRP) selling for $800 was a joke IMO.
Once again my Patriot will be with me in the treetops next year. This sucks..........I really thought I was getting a new bow
Hopefully I will get to shoot an equalizer sometime and see how it is...........last year's model was as close as I have come to getting a new bow..........and there is always the Vectrix I guess.
The only bow I took to the chronograph was the allegiance and it was 26 fps faster then my Patriot at 1 inch longer draw and nothing on the string........I equated this to about 10-12 fps faster if that.
The shop owner and I are friendly.......he knows I have money and no aversion to spending it on hunting stuff. He told me in his opinion that the nicest bow in the room was the one I brought with me.