Older Mathews bows

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? I rarely hear about somebody shooting a 15 year old Hoyt or PSE.

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I worked in a bow hunting specialty store around 2004-2005. More Matthews walked out the door than Hoyt or PSE by a good margin.

Switchback was THE bow

Hoyt would shoot faster but not as smooth

Currently shoot a Switchback. I bought it used off a buddies dad as my first bow and the limbs cracked shortly after, called Mathews and they sent new limbs in no questions asked for a 15 year old bow

I kept a Q2 for close to 20 years. It was a damn fine bow.

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Ha, that's my bow

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Based on what I've read I'm kind of scared to shoot it. I'll probably end up buying it if I do.

I shot a Z Max for years!

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Mathews and they sent new limbs in no questions asked for a 15 year old bow

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I think this is a big part of it. They will retool machines every so often to make a batch of parts for 15 year old bows to keep them available.

Another thing is they’ve stuck to the dealer sales/maintenance model, and have been fairly consistent in their core design. They haven’t really ever reinvented the wheel year to year just steady progressed. You have guys in local shops who have been working on them for 20 years and can pick up a random model they’ve never seen before, and have it shooting bullet holes in 30 mins.

Matt McPherson is a very smart businessman who began making super high-end acoustic guitars in the mid 1980's. His guitars retailed for $5,000 - $10,000 and they only produced around 150 per year. Very nice guitars but priced to steep for most people. They were HUGE in Nashville amongst the Christian musician group. Today, his guitars bring $10,000 - $20,000 depending on the make and model.

That being said, his first bow company was McPherson Archery which was started in the late 80's. High-end, quality engineered bows. Several years later he created Matthews Archery and introduced the solocam. Other bow manufacturers were promoting speed with aggressive "hatchet cams". Matthews marketed these bows as ultra smooth draw cycle. The rest is history due to his excellent marketing and quality product.

The Switchback XT was one of the best selling bows of all-time. It was introduced in 2004 and still shot today by archers who are 100% happy with it's performance. I've owned 3-4 different Matthews and never had a complaint. My favorite was the Drenalin LD which was 36" ATA and insanely accurate at 40, 50, and 60 yds. I moved on to Elite Archery when Kevin Strother left Bowtech and created his own company. His bows were just as smooth as Matthews yet a little faster.

Absolutely nothing wrong with owning or hunting with an older or newer Matthews bow. Lots of people shoot them as I'm content and satisfied with my current bowhunting setup Elite E35.

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Kevin Strother

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Dude's been with more bow companies than he has toes.

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Dude's been with more bow companies than he has toes.

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Amazing R&D engineer, not a very wise business owner. Dude was obsessed with speed and owned several arrow speed & distance World Records. This is beyond INSANITY ... 31" draw, 190# draw weight, 14" 130 gr arrow, chrono'd 588 fps and travelled 1320 yds. Limbs and arrow shafts could only be shot once or twice before blowing up. Many people don't realize but Kevin founded Bowtech in 1999 which was originally based in Louisiana. No telling where KS is now, probably consulting his cam designs with a bow manufacturer, only to move on after several years.

I used to shoot an Xi Legend Myles Keller edition up until I tore my rotator cuff 2 years ago and haven't been able to have surgery on it due to owning my own business and can't take off.