Offshootboy

I'm in the market for a new bow. I think I want to get a mathews, Ive shot a switchback and loved it but now theres a dxt, drenalin, drenalin ld, or even the switchback. Ive noticed that they all look very similar except the axle to axle is different. So i guess my question ishow different would these bows feel and or performconsidering theyre basically the same, or are they? (Except the A to A length)

Sorry if this is a dumb question

Thanks for the input
Brandon

Roskoe

I think you will find, as a general concept, that the shorter ATA bows are less forgiving. Not an issue when your form is perfect, but often in hunting situations when the shooting position is less than ideal it becomes an issue. Major manufacturers have been working to create shorter faster bows because that's what sells. I'm still shooting a 38" ATA Hoyt because of its forgiveness. And, so far, the length hasn't caused me a clearance issue in the field.

TFOX

ALSO,a longer a-a bow will usually hold steadier and balance better. NOT an abslute though.

MeanV2

I prefer a little longer A to A than some of the offerings out there now. I was glad to see Bowtech offer the Airbornes this year with an A to A of 36+" I agree they usually are a steadier hold. For me 33" seems to be the breaking point anything less than that and I just don't feel comfortable.

Dan

sngehl01

All these responses are excellent, but I'm going to let you in on a little secret...



31" is the PERFECT axle to axle length.

[8D]

TFOX

Yea,especially if you have a 31" draw length.[8D]

Ok maybe not.

bowdoc1

Longer axle bow are more forgiving, steadier, better balance and less string pinch. The first shorter compounds where hard to shoot. How days the shorter bow has longer risers, shorter limb, parallel limbs and with higher brace height that help to make the shorter bow a lot more forgiving then the first ones. The loop has helped us to be able to shoot them with the string pinch. Longer bow still have some advantages, but the shorter axle bows are getting there and are a lot easier to shoot and are great for a hunting bow and are starting to move into the target picture.

Arthur P

It takes less material to make a 30" bow than it takes to make a 45" bow. Set yourself up to have less cost for raw materials and convince consumers that they WANT super short bows and sell them for the same price as a full length bow - or more. That's increased profit margin andTHAT is the true advantage of short bows.

So, short bows are more manueverable in the woods. Heck, even my old46" ProTec is 22" shorter andmore manueverablein the woods than my longbow. It's 18" shorter than my favorite recurve. Unless you're hunting in the middle of a holly hedge, you don't need a pocket rocket bow to get manueverability. Most of it, I think, is akin to the speed syndrome -"my bow is faster'n your bow" becomes "my bow's shorter than your bow."

Of the sub-40" bows I've owned, onlytwo have been able to deliver the kind of accuracy and consistencyI demand from a bow and they were 37" and38". It's getting hard to find bows that are actually long enough to give the stability benefits the guys above are describing, which would be40" or more. So I recommend, in general,staying with bows that are closer to 40" than they are to 30".

OHbowhntr

I agree with Bowdoc on this one, the LONG riser has made a HUGE difference in the forgiveness of a the short bows. I believe riser length as well as axle-to-axle length should be taken into consideration, because whatever torquing an archer may have is distributed over a longer span with a longer riser, blunting the hand torque just a little. Though they rate roughly the same, I can tell you that my Trykon XL is FAR, FAR more forgiving than my Highlander, with the same a-to-a and BH on both bows, and the Trykon is 9fps faster by IBO rating. I also agree with Charlie in that I like a longer a-to-a bow, and have never owned anything shorter than 35" personally.

KodiakArcher

Here's one reason that a longer bow is more stable: leverage. It's plain and simple physics. To demonstrate it take a broom handle and put a weight on each end of the handle, hold your hand in the middle and with it out at arms length try to twist/lift one end and then the other. Now do the same thing, using the same weights, on a handle half the length and see what happens. (It takes half the energy to twist the handle/lift the weight). That's why a long riser bow is harder to torque than a short one, the longer one takes more energy to pivot it on the fulcrum point of your grip.

The other reason is mass; because the riser weighs more it also demands more energy to move. (and as an added benefit, absorbs more latent energy from the bow at the shot which makes it quieter.)

The only advantage I see to a short riser bow is that it weighs less which is a huge issue for me lugging it up and down 2000' mountains every day but shouldn't matter to the average hunter that just pulls it 20' up a tree. (I even poured lead into the limb pockets of my target bow.) Even given the weight issue I refuse to own a bow shorter than 36" and it took me a long time to try one that short with my DL at 30". In general someone with a shorter draw can shoot a shorter ATA but that gets into a whole other aspect with 'finger'/nock pinch (not such a big deal with 'D' loops and release as it used to be with fingers).

Art's got a good point about the marketing/materials aspect. Billets of 6061 aluminum and CNC machining/tooling ain't cheap!