Mathews Hunting Bows

Mathews retired the Lift X line for 2026, and the ARC 34 is the new flagship — in Outdoor Life's 2026 test it earned the only unanimous 5/5 draw-cycle score, with testers calling it smooth as butter. That matches about half of ArcheryTalk; the other half found the first third of the draw stiff and the bow a bit jumpy off the back wall, because the valley is short and you have to keep steady pressure into the stops. The new SWX-2 cam carries perimeter weights, and mod choice matters: standard SWX mods chrono'd 289 fps in OL's 28.5"/62.5-lb rig, while the smoother SWX-Z mods gave up about 5 fps. It aims rock-steady for a 4.3-lb bow, tunes in minutes with press-free Limb Shift adjustment, and is typically Mathews-quiet and dead in the hand after the shot. The knocks: the grip remains polarizing ("the grip still hates me" is live-thread sentiment), and its 3.56" 50-yard groups trailed the Elite Varos' 2.79". At $1,469 it undercuts carbon rivals by several hundred dollars while giving up little.

Mathews' 2025 flagship is still on dealer racks, and now that the ARC series has replaced it, closeout pricing makes it the sleeper buy of this list — Scheels has it at $1,099, down from $1,299. On paper it's the athlete of the group: 3.99 lb bare, 348 fps IBO (the fastest-rated Mathews here), and a compact 29.5" ATA that's a treestand and blind favorite. Field & Stream measured it among the quietest bows they've tested at 67.5 dB and found it the most accurate bow in their test from 20–40 yards, and owners echo the dead-in-the-hand shot. The honest caveat is the draw: the SWX cam holds near max weight late in the cycle before dropping into a short valley, and ArcheryTalk draw-force-curve threads confirm it's more aggressive than the marketing suggests — the ARC exists partly to fix that. Limb Shift Technology handles cam-lean tuning with a wrench, no press, and the BOND grip is swappable if the stock feel isn't yours. If the price-per-performance math matters more than having the newest cam, this is the value play.

The ARC 30 headlines Mathews' 2026 lineup alongside the ARC 34, and it is the fastest short hunting bow Mathews has built: 348 fps IBO from a 30-inch, sub-four-pound aluminum chassis. The SWX-2 cam adds Perimeter Weight Technology to keep felt recoil down once accessories go on, and Field & Stream chronographed 328 fps with a 350-grain arrow at 30 inches and 70 pounds — real speed, independently verified. Optional Z mods trade speed for a noticeably softer cycle. Community reception is more divided than a typical Mathews launch; an ArcheryTalk thread literally titled "Is the ARC really that bad??" captures the mood. Fans call it the most pleasant-drawing Switchweight Mathews yet, while detractors find the back wall aggressive and report shakier pin float than on a Hoyt AX-3, and $1,459 continues Mathews' steady price creep. Owner head-to-heads against the AX-3 29 usually give Mathews the draw feel and Hoyt the hold, quietness, and tuning system. Dealer-only distribution means no online discounts, but Switchweight mods (55–80 lb) and a 25–30.5-inch draw range make it easy to configure. For whitetail rigs where compactness and speed rule, it remains the benchmark.