Matthews VXR owners- Any dislikes

[DOMMA]

I sold my VXR. I struggled to get proper bare shaft flight. I hate using Top Hats for tuning. I have been leaning towards Hoyt and Bowtech due to the flexibility when fine tuning. The Bowtech Deadlock system is impressive and works well.

 

[TheCougar]

I like mine. My only issue is the big dampener that projects out of the riser under the grip popped out on a walk to my stand. The strings are meh. I wasn’t able to get it past 71# with the 75# mod, no matter what I tried. Dead quiet though. Seriously. Stupid quiet and smooth on the shot.

 

[Zac]

I sold my VXR. I struggled to get proper bare shaft flight. I hate using Top Hats for tuning. I have been leaning towards Hoyt and Bowtech due to the flexibility when fine tuning. The Bowtech Deadlock system is impressive and works well.

Well the Mathews will probably end up being much easier than the new Hoyt I bought. I always thought the Top Hats were a dream to tune.

 

[DOMMA]

Well the Mathews will probably end up being much easier than the new Hoyt I bought. I always thought the Top Hats were a dream to tune.

I have an RX-4 and a Revolt X. Took about 5 hours to get perfect BS flight with the Hoyt. Press the bow, twist/untwist a cable, shoot. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat until perfect BS flight at 20 yards. My VXR took at least as long and BS flight was good, not perfect.

With the Revolt X. Shoot BS into target. Tail leans left. Use Allen wrench to move top and bottom of CAM 1/2 turn to move CAM to the left. Perfect BS flight. 15 minutes.

 

[Billy Goat]

I have an RX-4 and a Revolt X. Took about 5 hours to get perfect BS flight with the Hoyt. Press the bow, twist/untwist a cable, shoot. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat until perfect BS flight at 20 yards. My VXR took at least as long and BS flight was good, not perfect.

With the Revolt X. Shoot BS into target. Tail leans left. Use Allen wrench to move top and bottom of CAM 1/2 turn to move CAM to the left. Perfect BS flight. 15 minutes.

How far away was your press?


I could probably go thru every top hat setup shooting a dozen arrows and it would take an hour and a half tops. That with trips to the cooler.

Yokes way faster.


I'll give the Bowtech system seems to be working well, and is definitely easier. I'm just still looking at it as an unproven system, waiting to see if they live upto their name. I know a few have put a pile of shots thru them. Not certain what poundage they are all shooting. I'm just not certain how it will all hold up. Time will tell. Elites system looks nice too, but not certain about it either. Might very well be the way things are headed. But I'm comfortable with yokes and shims.

 

[DOMMA]

How far away was your press?


I could probably go thru every top hat setup shooting a dozen arrows and it would take an hour and a half tops. That with trips to the cooler.

Yokes way faster.


I'll give the Bowtech system seems to be working well, and is definitely easier. I'm just still looking at it as an unproven system, waiting to see if they live upto their name. I know a few have put a pile of shots thru them. Not certain what poundage they are all shooting. I'm just not certain how it will all hold up. Time will tell. Elites system looks nice too, but not certain about it either. Might very well be the way things are headed. But I'm comfortable with yokes and shims.

I am slow and will admit it. I have a Bow Time Machine and tinker until I get everything perfect. I'm not a fan of Top Hats, and to add further aggravation, they do not come with your bow. $50 for three matching variations of spacers to tune my $1,100 bow. Yes, they do work, but I do not care for them.

 

[Billy Goat]

I am slow and will admit it. I have a Bow Time Machine and tinker until I get everything perfect. I'm not a fan of Top Hats, and to add further aggravation, they do not come with your bow. $50 for three matching variations of spacers to tune my $1,100 bow. Yes, they do work, but I do not care for them.

Yes, I agree, should be included with the bow for the price.


I don't believe Hoyt is including shims with theirs either, but for a shim system I prefer the top hats. I'm curious if the Hoyt shims will need to be sanded to fit like the Elite shims frequently needed.

I suspect they aren't included so to discourage people from working on their own bows, if I was a manufacturer, I'd do the same thing. Too much liability and people can just screw stuff up. Same as shooting handloads voids the warranty on a rifle. To get the best accuracy, likely you will need to handload. Just like to get the best tune possible, you will likely need to learn to tune yourself, however for the majority of people off the shelf ammo will work just fine. Same principle I believe.


I have the same press.


I'll add that the shop I go to isn't going to charge you for top hats, they will swap them out for you to get the bow tuned to you, so for most people, they wouldn't need to purchase a pack of them. I did so I can do my tuning at home, same as most people on here will likely do.

 

[DOMMA]

Yes, I agree, should be included with the bow for the price.


I don't believe Hoyt is including shims with theirs either, but for a shim system I prefer the top hats. I'm curious if the Hoyt shims will need to be sanded to fit like the Elite shims frequently needed.

I suspect they aren't included so to discourage people from working on their own bows, if I was a manufacturer, I'd do the same thing. Too much liability and people can just screw stuff up. Same as shooting handloads voids the warranty on a rifle. To get the best accuracy, likely you will need to handload. Just like to get the best tune possible, you will likely need to learn to tune yourself, however for the majority of people off the shelf ammo will work just fine. Same principle I believe.


I have the same press.

I think you are correct about Hoyt not including spacers for their new CAM system. I really think Elite's S.E.T and Bowtech's Deadlock system are game changers.

A lot of guys do not ever tune their bows, several of my hunting buddies do not. But if you want to shoot a big fixed blade broadhead and have them group with your field points, your bow has to be in tune. The S.E.T. and Deadlock technology makes tuning for broadheads stone simple.

 

[Beendare]

Hoyt guy here- ha ha

 

[Zac]

The reason Mathews doesn't include Top Hats is because they are adamantly against anyone besides the shop touching their bows.

 

[Brizzle]

I’ve found most tuning issues are more shooter related than equipment related. I’ve tuned bows that others can’t get a good tear with to save their lives. It’s not rocket science, it’s archery, and that being said 99% of paper tuning issues are shooter error. If it takes hours to tune your bow it’s you, not the bow, regardless of who manufactured it. The only bows I’ve over seen not tune well have had a bent riser, cam, or something else usually broken by the shooter. I’ve also seen a couple lefty bows come from the manufacturer with the limbs backwards because the person assembling them probably didn’t realize it was a lefty, which is very uncommon. I think people naturally want to blame the equipment for their mistakes. Also paper tuning isn’t the benchmark for tuning, it’s just to get you in the ballpark, and possibly show you what you’re doing wrong when you shoot the bow. I feel like a lot people reading and writing these posts on paper tuning don’t understand what torque actually is. The best thing you can do is refer to a reputable pro shop so they can inform you on tuning and proper form, there’s only so much you can learn through the internet.

 

[Chris_Judy]

I'm not a fan of the strings, cable guide is to close to arrow vanes, top heavy. I fixed all those issues and I would not trade this bow for anything else atm. Dinner plate groups at 100 with no magnifier...they shoot

Just out of curiosity, what were your fixes?

 

[Coveyleader]

Test shot one yesterday, I cannot get over how top heavy they are. My forearm was straiged from just holding it. On an elk hunt that thing would have to be on your shoulder, or carried by the string, carry by the handle is out.

 

[AkRyan]

Just out of curiosity, what were your fixes?

I replaced the strings with Rogue strings, added a custom rear bar, started to build my own arrows with shorter vanes.