When is it time to upgrade?

[ElkArcher918]

Don't buy in to some of the bow companies' marketing hype that you should buy a new toy every year. Significant tech. improvements have leveled off the last 3-5 years. If your current bow shoots well and you're happy with it stick with it. Now if you have the $ and just want that shiny new bow have at it.

 

[9.1]

I’ve looked at the specs of newer bows and realize I’m not going to gain much performance or maybe even comfort wise from a newer model and that’s not what I’m looking to gain. I enjoy shooting my bow and shoot thousands of arrows through it every year. There are a lot of moving parts that are wearable. Not to mention some accessories like a drop away rest that I’ve rebuild with new springs a few times and should probably just be replaced at this point but am thinking if I’m upgrading that maybe get a newer model and upgrade everything. Like I said with a few bigger back country hunts coming up over the next few years I’m just wondering if some things are getting tired on it and may not be able to tell now, but susceptible to fail when I’m out in the backcountry. With that all said I know things are probably just as likely to go wrong with a newer model

If you've got a bunch of big trips planned, you should get a second bow and get it tuned. It doesn't have to be a new one. Then you can leave your backup in the truck. A bow is more likely to be broken by dropping it or falling on it than just wearing it out mid-Hunt. A new bow won't help you in that situation, but a backup will.

 

[butcherboy]

If you want a new bow and can afford it then do it. Keep the old one for backup. I haven’t bought a new bow since 2012 and have the itch. I’m really liking the PSE
Mach 30 and Elite Era. Just need to save some more money and sell some more equipment. Lol

 

[Ho5tile1]

I also say if you want a new bow and can afford it get one or sure won’t hurt anything. I also did the same thing and got a new bow every year but stopped with the V3X 29 and still hunt with my VXR 28 or even my Bowtech Realm. I’m saving up for the Lift just so I can shoot 80 pounds without stressing as I shoot all of my Mathews at 80 pounds with 75 pound mods the string maker makes them a touch short so I don’t have to put so many twists in the cables. But I stopped just cause there really isn’t any really noticeable differences in them as far as performance. My Vertix my VXR My V3 and my V3X 29 all feel pretty much the same very small differences they are all pretty much the same speeds within a couple FPS. So why am I spending 2600 bucks for a new bow cause I buy new rest sight etc. so I can shoot and hunt with them all. Bottom line you don’t need a new bow your bow will do anything these new ones will do and it has a lifetime warranty so if a limb goes or an anything else your covered. My VXR has 10s of thousands of shots on it at 82 pounds 29 inch draw and is still going strong but If you want a new bow why not only you can decide. Good luck


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[doc holiday13]

I’ve often wondered when the bow market will go away from a yearly release if ever? If you compare bows to rifles, most don’t upgrade rifles yearly or in some circumstances ever. The Remington 760 is 60 years old and still wildly popular here in Pennsylvania. I think there’s something more intimate in setting up a bow and figuring out tuning and numbering arrows etc. so I can see how the novelty of doing that yearly is appealing but from a financial aspect the bows and accessories are starting to creep into the high performance rifle realms per cost. A fully loaded lift with a ultra view sight could probably run you $3300 with all the bridgelock accessories.

It wound be interesting if manufacturers did what Brandon Mc Donald said about introducing a bow that sells for a few years but has a lot of design feature changes and is the best of the best. It might cost a bit more but customers wouldn't have the fomo from not having a small nonperformance enhancement

 

[Robobiss]

I have a V3X-33 that I love and have let the air out of a few critters with, I personally wouldn’t “upgrade” for a few more years. I put strings on it, and twisted the cables to get 80 lbs out of it, it’s a great bow and great shooting bow.

What I may do at some point however is get another bow, which would be a new Mathews but in the short ATA flavor for treestand/blind hunting. The handiness of the short ATA bow is what I’m looking for, but I like the stability of my “big” bow for 70+ yard shooting so I would keep my V3X.

 

[Ho5tile1]

I have a V3X-33 that I love and have let the air out of a few critters with, I personally wouldn’t “upgrade” for a few more years. I put strings on it, and twisted the cables to get 80 lbs out of it, it’s a great bow and great shooting bow.

What I may do at some point however is get another bow, which would be a new Mathews but in the short ATA flavor for treestand/blind hunting. The handiness of the short ATA bow is what I’m looking for, but I like the stability of my “big” bow for 70+ yard shooting so I would keep my V3X.

When you have your strings done if you ask them to make them a tiny bit short so you can run 75 pound mods at 80 they will. It makes it much easier and a lot less twists in the cables. I do the same with all my Mathews bows as well


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[Robobiss]

When you have your strings done if you ask them to make them a tiny bit short so you can run 75 pound mods at 80 they will. It makes it much easier and a lot less twists in the cables. I do the same with all my Mathews bows as well


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Yeah that makes sense, unfortunately I’m poor and just bought some gas strings off the shelf, no custom job here.

My bow is just barely out of spec and everything looks normal, it was only pulling 78 lbs last I checked so not a true 80 or 80+

 

[Ho5tile1]

Yeah that makes sense, unfortunately I’m poor and just bought some gas strings off the shelf, no custom job here.

My bow is just barely out of spec and everything looks normal, it was only pulling 78 lbs last I checked so not a true 80 or 80+

I don’t know what those gas strings cost off the shelf but if they are more then 130 check out JBK bowstrings his strings are 130 or 120 without speed nocks i ordered a set last sunday and they will be here tomorrow which is Saturday. He has been doing all my strings for all 16 bows. Jeff is an awesome dude and possibly a better string maker. The last set of gas ghost xv I got was like 240 bucks. Also his strings have a 2 year warranty he don’t make different levels of strings just top notch on the different materials. Good luck. I understand about being poor thank God for PayPal pay in 4 and JBK takes PayPal lol…


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[Jsmalls273]

I only upgrade when something tickles my pickle enough. Took me a number of years to upgrade from my Matthew's zxt, and kinda wish I hadn't but I now have a VXR 31.5. I like it enough but want a 33 Ata. So maybe I'll look into it next year and keep my vxr.

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[Robobiss]

I don’t know what those gas strings cost off the shelf but if they are more then 130 check out JBK bowstrings his strings are 130 or 120 without speed nocks i ordered a set last sunday and they will be here tomorrow which is Saturday. He has been doing all my strings for all 16 bows. Jeff is an awesome dude and possibly a better string maker. The last set of gas ghost xv I got was like 240 bucks. Also his strings have a 2 year warranty he don’t make different levels of strings just top notch on the different materials. Good luck. I understand about being poor thank God for PayPal pay in 4 and JBK takes PayPal lol…


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Sounds legit, I’ll check them out for the next set!

 

[Zac]

When you have your strings done if you ask them to make them a tiny bit short so you can run 75 pound mods at 80 they will. It makes it much easier and a lot less twists in the cables. I do the same with all my Mathews bows as well


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I had Threadz take a 1/4 out of each cable and was over by 8 lbs

 

[Shraedus]

I still have my Halon 6 that I bought new. I have found no reason to upgrade because that bow just fits me. I shoot it well.The only thing I have upgraded is the accessories and strings.

 

[waspocrew]

I’m still on my first bow, a Halon 32. I’ve been tempted to upgrade, but haven’t yet. I do like the idea of keeping it as a backup.

 

[berretsteve]

attachment is death bro, lol.. try getting something new, who knows how much better you will be using that!

 

[Zak406]

I replace every 7 years. I hate siting them in so I replace every 6-7

 

[flyboy214]

I have a cycle.
Replace the strings every 2-3 hunting seasons.
Replace arrows about every 2 years.
Replace the bow after 6 ish years.

 

[IdahoBeav]

I'm still using a Hoyt Nitrum Turbo that I bought new almost 10 years ago. I have checked out and shot some new bows, but the difference between them and my bow doesn't seem significant. Back when I bought my Hoyt, a 10 year old bow (mid 00s) seemed a lot more outdated than 10 year old bows do now.

 

[wyodog]

The Halon is a great bow. If you are curious about upgrading I think you should tryout a few new or newer bows and decide if its worth it for you or not.

I don't agree with some previous post that there hasn't been significant performance improvements in the past years. I guess it depends on what you consider performance improvements to be. Draw cycle, hand shock, noise, balance, tunability, finickyness (my own word) have all improved bits at a time. I used to upgrade every year maybe 2 now its about 5 years. The 2024 bows are much improved compared to my 2019 flagship bow.

 

[Ride123]

When you have to rwplace your string because retuning takes forever so if your considering upgrading.....might as well do it then