2026 Flagship Bow Breakdown: Hoyt, Mathews, PSE, Prime & Xpedition — Full Honest Review

The 2026 bow class draws a hard line: speed is great, but fast, simple tuning is what saves time and stacks tight groups. We sat down and compared the biggest launches head to head—Hoyt’s new XTS tuning system, PSE’s redesigned FDS cam and blazing Sicario, Matthews’ all-new ARC series, and the return-to-form feel of Prime’s Divide lineup—using real shop results, paper tears, and range impressions that match what hunters actually see.

We start with the industry’s pivot toward pressless, micro-adjust solutions. Hoyt finally brings a robust on-bow system with XTS for true micro left-right and even vertical tweaks, while still keeping shims for big corrections. PSE doubles down on carbon performance: the Sicario is shockingly smooth for a 5.25-inch brace height speed bow, and the Mach 33 with FDS might be the best blend of forgiveness and pace for everyday bowhunters. Matthews rebuilt the platform with lighter aluminum risers, integrated SCS, and a new cam that delivers real-world speed; swap to the SWX Z mod and the valley becomes far more livable with only a small hit to fps.

We also unpack where accessories make or break a build. Matthews still leads integration and balance, Hoyt owns durability in the backcountry, and PSE’s carbon lineup remains the lightest way to carry serious performance. Prime’s Divide 31 and 33 feel excellent on standard mods, even if they trail a touch in speed, and Expedition’s Next Light delivers carbon-like carry weight at aluminum pricing with quarter-inch draw steps and ABB strings out of the box. Finally, we rank categories by need: raw trajectory (Sicario), forgiving killer (Mach 33 FDS), indestructible rig (RX10 Ultra), polished ecosystem (ARC with SWX Z), and easiest self-tuning (Bowtech DeadLock).

Ready to pick your lane—speed, forgiveness, or durability? Press play, then tell us your top three, what you’re buying now, and whether you’re waiting on ATA to see Bowtech’s cards. If this helped, follow the show, share it with a bow buddy, and leave a quick review so more archers can get dialed faster.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Stage For 2026 Bows
• 2:02 The Industry Shift To Easier Tuning
• 3:20 Hoyt’s XTS System And Real-World Impact
• 7:55 Early Sales Surprises And Hoyt Colors
• 10:50 PSE Sicario: Speed With Shootability
• 15:20 FDS Cam Deep Dive And Dynamic Brace
• 20:30 Matthews ARC Series: Fast, But Short Valley
• 25:10 Accessory Ecosystems And Build Philosophy
• 29:20 Bowtech’s Timing And The ATA Question
• 33:40 Aluminum Standouts And Shop Favorites
• 38:20 Premium Carbons: Mach 30/33 Versus Sicario
• 43:10 Who Should Shoot What And Why
• 47:30 Tuning Hierarchy Across Brands
• 50:40 Final Rankings, Takeaways, And CTA

Transcript

Zakk Plocica: 0:00

We're talking 2026 Bows. Pretty much everybody's out, JR, right? We've got Hoyt Matthews P S E Prime Expedition, kinda. Yeah, kind of. Botex a little later in, well, not until 2026.

JR Gettler: 0:14

Yeah, actually 2026. 20, yeah, ATA.

Zakk Plocica: 0:16

So that's it, guys. We're talking, we're covering all the new Bows for 2026. So welcome back to the Archer Project. I'm your host, Zach Placea, and I've got Mr. JR back in here, and we're going to cover it all. There's a lot to break down. Once again, it's another fantastic year.

JR Gettler: 0:31

Yeah, always. Yeah.

Zakk Plocica: 0:34

It's I'm always impressed, right? There's always new things that drop, and you don't think it can really get in any better. And there's always something new that I think is pretty intriguing. And I think 2026 is full of some um pretty good upgrades to some of the bows. Um yes. What is yes?

JR Gettler: 0:52

Especially with honestly, it's it's not really getting more to performance. I mean, it kind of is, but it's more of the tunability aspect of everything. That's where everything's kind of gravitating towards, in my opinion.

Zakk Plocica: 1:02

I agree. I think that's been the big shift, right? It's all shifted towards almost like tool-less tuning. Not so much toolless, but it doesn't where there's not as much required in order to tune these bows. That's less, honestly, less effort at this point.

JR Gettler: 1:16

Yeah, yeah, 100%. And um, and essentially it should make it easier for the end user, but at the same time, if you don't know what you're doing, you can mess up a bow real quick. You can make a massive mess, too. So it can be uh kind of a hand in hand for both uh for companies.

Zakk Plocica: 1:29

It can, and I think it's great for shops too, right? Like it really cuts down like the process. You know, people don't gotta wait as long in order to get their bow tuned and set up specifically for them, like when it comes to shimming a bow, right? Whenever you have to break a bow down completely, pull the axles out, pull the cams out, put a shim on, try to hold the shim. Yeah, I mean, that's it's a process in itself, and as a shop, it just really takes some time. And then if you're somebody at your house that does your own tuning, let's say you have the capability, again, it's just very intricate. Yep. So that's that's the big changes that I think we've seen seen. And I think the one of the big ones is Hoyt this year, right? The XTS tuning system. Um, it seems like it's gonna be a really good system. We haven't played with it a whole lot, but it's a massive change to the Hoit lineup, I think. And it it really, I think I think it's a fantastic upgrade. Is it an upgrade enough to justify going from an RX9 to an RX10, though? Or an AX2 to an AX3, in your opinion?

JR Gettler: 2:26

I mean, with the new tunability, I would say yes. Yeah, um, it's gonna make it so much easier for you to get those micro tears out if you need to, micro-tuning. So I think it will be a great system. And you know, with Hoyt, they do extensive testing with their their dry fire testing and all that. So it should be a robust system that should last as well.

Zakk Plocica: 2:42

Yeah, I agree. They're usually they and that's one of the things we were talking about last year. They're like late to the party, right? Like as far as tuning goes, but like you nailed it perfectly. They make sure that they put everything through the ringer and they're not gonna jeopardize something that's gonna fail, right? If they don't put it to the test, like you said, 1500 dry fires onto the bows before it comes to production and goes to the end user. Uh, it it's got to go through those rigorous tests in order for them to put it and bring it to market. And um, so I there's no question in my mind it's gonna be a great system. Uh, the thing about it that's interesting though is with the XTS system, is you can still shim the bow. Correct. Right. So the XTS system is more for what they say you're micro-tuning. So right out of the gate, when you obviously the bow's got to be set up correctly, everything's got to be level, the bow's got to be timed, tuned, um, and whatnot. But once it's set up correctly and you shoot that arrow and it goes through paper, if it's greater than an inch, they still recommend you shimming the bow. But if it's within that inch, you should technically be able to take out all the tuning issues within the XTS system.

JR Gettler: 3:46

Right. Um, I was playing with it yesterday and I'm still trying to figure it out, but it seems like it's a nice system. It should work really well with what you're talking about. Um, I was almost thinking like if you have a half-inch tear, I'd still almost shim the bow personally, and then that way you can still just kind of microtune as you need. So I think it'd be a great system, though.

Zakk Plocica: 4:03

That makes sense. They're saying most people should not have to shim the bow now, which hopefully, yeah. We'll find out as we, you know, we get more shooters on the Hoyt bows. But Hoyt has been super popular this year already.

JR Gettler: 4:13

It has, yeah.

Zakk Plocica: 4:14

Honestly, more so than what I thought it was gonna be, because I figured, you know, with it's not a whole new riser design, it's not a whole new cam design. It's literally they brought they they they make very small, subtle changes each year. And the change this year was the XTS tuning system. That was the main change, right? And I didn't think that it was gonna be enough to really, you know, move the needle for them and and sell Hoyt bows. Um, but that has been, I think, the most popular bow so far that's released.

JR Gettler: 4:39

Yeah. Um, we've already sold like four or five of them. Yeah. And we've had a couple of custom orders that came in too, so it's awesome. Um, normally it's you know, I have to say it's normally Matthews, that's like right of the gate.

Zakk Plocica: 4:48

They're that's what I was for and yeah, that's what I was. Yeah, I figured Matthews would have been more uh of a demand, but it seems like it's hasn't been for us.

JR Gettler: 4:57

Yeah, I mean, we have sold quite a few Matthews already, but it's not where we normally are. So it's it's a kind of a weird year for that. So but yeah, excited for, you know, I love Hoyt bows, um, especially the AX333. I was shooting that quite a bit the the last couple days, and I actually really enjoy the draw cycle on it. The bow feels really good, uh, post-shot. Um, yeah, it's just it's uh it's a great feeling bow. And normally I gravitate towards carbon bows, but like if I were to shoot Hoyt this year, I'd go with the AX333.

Zakk Plocica: 5:21

So I'm on board with that. Uh, I think I I think Hoyt's aluminum bows are just they're awesome. They're just they just feel really good, they hold really well, they're not overly heavy, they're not the lightest aluminum bows on the market. Um, but as far as like design and feel and grip, I think Hoyt aluminum bows just are fantastic shooting platforms. Um, they have some interesting new colors, which I really want to see. We haven't seen them yet. The Georgia Clay.

JR Gettler: 5:47

Yeah, we haven't seen that one yet. And I know we have one coming, so I'm excited for that. From what I've seen in the pictures, yeah. From what I've seen in the pictures, though, it looks like a sick color. I like it a lot.

Zakk Plocica: 5:56

It's interesting though, because I was kind of unsure how the public would receive it, and it's been received very, very well because it's not it's red, it's a red bow, essentially.

JR Gettler: 6:04

Yeah, I've seen a lot of guys out west getting the bows in in that Georgia clay, which is I I think kind of weird, but hey, you know, that's cool. Like I'm I'm excited to see that color. That would be the color I would get, I think, if I shut a void. Yeah, yeah.

Zakk Plocica: 6:15

It's just different.

JR Gettler: 6:16

Yeah, yeah, it's cool. And then the the top that they're doing on the limbs as well. Um, you can get the top of color or the top of lines on the limbs. That's that's another cool feature.

Zakk Plocica: 6:24

I think that's it's pretty neat. I mean, just the customization you get. I really so when they first brought out the sandstorm, which I call sandstone in all of our videos that we did for Extreme Outfitters, um uh it's Sandstorm.

Speaker 1: 6:37

Yes.

Zakk Plocica: 6:38

And the more I've seen it, the more it's grown on me because it's not too light. It I think it just it look it's a really good-looking color. Um, so their color options this year, I think, are pretty good. I think they did a really good job with it. Their wilderness and then their sandstorm are kind of the two that I gravitate towards.

JR Gettler: 6:54

Yeah, I love wilderness. I'm I'm a sucker for the green.

Zakk Plocica: 6:56

I am too, dude. Green is like where it's at.

JR Gettler: 6:58

Yeah, the the sandstorm is almost like a mix between like buckskin and um the bourbon almost. It's a like a lighter shade between those two, is kind of what I'd call it.

Zakk Plocica: 7:09

Yeah, it's pretty close, I'd say. Um, but yeah, I mean though that's the big change with the Hoy Bow, right? The XTS tuning system, that's the talking point for it. So far, I think it's been very well received from everybody. And I mean, you you've got a lot of options with it. I'm still I'm hopeful that majority of these bows don't have to be shimmed.

Speaker 1: 7:27

Me too.

Zakk Plocica: 7:28

As far as going out, like setting them up for a customer, just because that in that shim is still kind of a pain. If the tool always breaks, yeah, it does. The Hoyt tool tool always breaks when it comes to those. I mean, ours never have lasted. Yeah, and then you've got to try to hold those shims in there with like a little pick or something like that, and it's kind of a pain. Um, but the system is tried and true, it's it's incredibly durable and robust. You're you can't break it.

JR Gettler: 7:52

Right. Yeah. I mean, even with our our dry fire test we did on that RX8, you know, nothing happened to the shims. No, at all. It's perfect. Yeah, since they're made out of aluminum, so yeah, it's it's great with that. Um, but yeah, I mean, luckily though, like I've I've shimmed a lot of those bows in the past, so I can get them done pretty quick. Yeah, you're fast with them. Um every yeah, like every ordinary person, it could definitely be a pain. I can see it.

Zakk Plocica: 8:12

Yeah, if you don't do it all the time, and if you don't know what shims is shim you need to go to, if you got to keep breaking it down because you're unsure based off the tear that you get, you're gonna be chasing your tail.

JR Gettler: 8:20

Yeah, it'll make a tuning process from you know 10 minutes to an hour, yes, very easily. Yeah.

Zakk Plocica: 8:26

So, you know, Hoyt already like big demand for them right out of the gate, I think, more so the aluminum side um is what I've seen. Uh, and just I think the price point on them is for aluminum bows, it's in line with everything. When you move to the carbon side of things, it's just you know, your your premium bows. 2100 bucks, 2,000 plus dollars for it. So, but you know, it's when we talk carbon, I I think PSE is like when now when we look at everything, king of carbon, I think, is no no denying it. I think PSE is the king of the carbon world uh at this point. Oh, yeah. They introduced the Sicario this year, which has been the the bow of the year. It's been the talk out of anything. That bow is a brand new bow brought to market. It's a 33-inch axle to axle bow with a five and a quarter inch brace height, which is smoking fast. An IBO of 357. Yeah, and you hit 360.

JR Gettler: 9:18

I hit 360 one time, consistent 355. So it's it's hitting numbers, and we've said it in the past. PC always hits their numbers.

Zakk Plocica: 9:25

PSE does always hit their numbers. It's honestly insane how fast that bow is. And the thing that makes the Sicario different, right? Because it's a speed bow. There's no denying it, it is a speed bow. And when we talk about speed bows, they're typically pretty unforgiving, pretty rough draw cycle, just not a fun bow to shoot, not an easy bow to shoot. Um, and I was shooting the Hoyt RX 10 Ultra beside the Sicario, and the FDS cam on the Sicario is significantly smoother than the RX10 Ultra, and the speed on it is insane.

JR Gettler: 9:56

Yep.

Zakk Plocica: 9:56

Uh, it's it's very, very surprising. Uh honestly, um, because I've got some videos, I gotta do some comparison videos um that I'm actually gonna be doing between the RX 10 Ultra and the Sicario. That's where we got them set up. And uh I really didn't, it's I I had shot the Sicario. We had shot it earlier, but I haven't shot it much since. And then I picked it up and shot again and was just honestly so surprised at the cam system. PSE cams, like in my opinion, when it comes to just a complete package, they do a really good job. Very smooth, they um they're not overly aggressive, they roll over nicely. There's a very nice back wall. The valley is, I think, almost perfect on the bows, and then the speeds that you get out of them are pretty untouchable. Yeah, I mean, for for everything that you get. The the interesting thing though, going back to the scicario, is the brace height.

JR Gettler: 10:47

Yeah, it's very short. Um, not trying to change gears, but you know, one of our guys here, Taylor, he bought a scicario and he's already killed a deer with it. And oh, did he? Yeah, he he got one um he went up towards Fayetteville, I think it was, or something like that, Raleigh, um, on a hunt and he killed a deer up there. Um, but he said shooting at 60-70 yards, he's I mean, he's grouping extremely well. I shot his bow a couple times and it it does feel really good.

Zakk Plocica: 11:11

Yeah, that and so that that right there, you know, PSE is big on their full draw stability system. So the FDS cam is not that. The FDS cam is a force distribution system, right? Right. So that's that FDS cam is a new for PSE. They've replaced the EC2 cam. And what it is is they've taken recess the post that the cable's on, so there's uh more of a um even distribution on the axle. And then the big change for the cam, in my opinion, is the let off and the the draw stop.

Speaker 1: 11:38

Yes, right?

Zakk Plocica: 11:39

So let off is now 75 to 85 percent. Yep. And then the draw stop is a one solid footer piece that's flushed, there's nothing you can lose on it. Um, it's much more, it's much better than what the draw stop was on the EC2 key.

JR Gettler: 11:54

Yes, that was the biggest upgrade, in my opinion, for a small feature, you know, that that was the biggest upgrade that they made. Absolutely that draw stop.

Zakk Plocica: 12:00

Absolutely, and it's really, really impressing just how well the Sicario shoots with that system. When we talk about the full draw stability, that's what they that's what PSE is talking about. Like obviously, the Sicario is gonna be less forgiving than a Mach 33, right? Or an RX10 Ultra, right? It's going to. There's no, there's no no doubt about it. It's a speed bow. But it is gonna be significantly easier to shoot than any of your speedbows ever.

JR Gettler: 12:26

Right. Yeah, um, so but that's going back to the like we're talking about with the FDS system, the the full draw stability, you know, because it's a five and a quarter inch static brace height, but the dynamic makes it almost six and an eighth or something like that. So it's increasing seven eighths of an inch, if I remember right or correctly.

Zakk Plocica: 12:42

Yes, it's um increasing seven eighths of an inch on top of the yeah, no, for that bow with yeah, it's in seven eighths of an inch, uh, is what it increases. So, which is crazy to think. But Hoyt is also known for they don't advertise it like PSC does, but their cams are designed really well too that increases your dynamic brace height.

Speaker 1: 13:01

Correct.

Zakk Plocica: 13:02

So um both killer systems, um, but the scicario, when we talk about like if you want performance, if you want speed, if you want flat trajectories, you want to shoot a heavy arrow fast, you want any of those things, the scicario hands down this year is gonna be it. And it's still a surprisingly very, very forgiving, just very good shooting bow out to distance. I mean, that's already been tested by some of our guys who, like you said, are shooting out 70, 80 yards and you know, stacking arrows. So I was happy.

JR Gettler: 13:32

Yeah, I've talked to other customers too and other people, and they've said that they've loved the scicario. And I know probably about five people now that have a scario and they they freaking love it.

Zakk Plocica: 13:40

Yeah, we've sold a bunch already.

JR Gettler: 13:41

Yeah, we have.

Zakk Plocica: 13:42

Yeah, I think uh it's gonna be uh it's gonna continue to be a very popular bow. It's different. Um with the Sicario as well is yeah, that thing's gonna get you. Dude, they're aggressive, man. It's like it's hot and cold here. One day it's it's 30 degrees and then in the afternoon it's 78. Yeah. Um the the Sicario, the brace height is one of the concerns uh a lot of people have, right? As far as um vein configurations. Because that's one thing you're gonna have to take into consideration with that bow specifically because it is so short. Like five and a quarter inch brace height is in when you look at it, you're like, and then you put a rest in there, like there's not a room, a lot of uh a lot of margin for error. So anything within um like those really long veins, you're gonna have to be careful with max stells, uh max hybrids, yeah.

JR Gettler: 14:36

They're they're they're gonna hit your rest, especially if you're on a cable driven, it's gonna hit it.

Zakk Plocica: 14:40

Yeah, you just gotta, yeah, you gotta take into consideration the rest you're gonna run on that bow too.

JR Gettler: 14:44

Throw a hamsky on there, like that's what he did through through a hamsky on. No issue, no problem.

Zakk Plocica: 14:48

Yeah, I think Hamsky, I mean, it's it's not so far to the rear of the bow that it it takes away from you know, there's enough space.

JR Gettler: 14:57

Right, and and with your launcher staying down to you, you know, you're you're not gonna have a problem with that too. But any cable-driven rest, I mean, you could still run it, but I would probably recommend to not raise your launcher until you shoot. Yeah, that makes sense.

Zakk Plocica: 15:08

No, that makes sense. So yeah. Um, you know, PSE is another big change. You know, they they kept the Mach 30 and the Mach 30 in the lineup. Um, they just put new cams on them.

JR Gettler: 15:18

Yeah, the 30, 33, and 35. They you can you can still get the EC2 cam, but I I would say might as well just get the new FDS cam.

Zakk Plocica: 15:25

There's no reason to stick with the EC2 cam, in my opinion, because when we tested all these bows, right? EC2 cam beside the FDS cam on all these platforms, and the draw cycle uh, when you feel it, is just as good, as smooth as the EC2 cam, in my opinion, and you gain the performance. Yeah, you don't gain as much performance in the uh Mach 30.

JR Gettler: 15:47

Correct. Yeah, that's what from our testing. Yeah, we haven't seen any big increase in speed, but it's still I would get the new FTS cam 100%.

Zakk Plocica: 15:54

Absolutely, it's it's equivalent to the EC2 cam as far as speed. You do see a massive speed gain on the 33, though. You gain 10 to 12 feet per second consistently, and they're saying that has to do with the way that that cam was designed, it's the most efficient on that 33-inch bow. Um, because when you look at the Mach 35, the IBO on that bow is actually small uh slower than it was from the EC2 cam, and the brace height's shorter.

JR Gettler: 16:21

It is, yep. Yeah, they were um was about a quarter inch shorter, I think, for most of the brace heights.

Zakk Plocica: 16:25

Yep, right about a quarter inch shorter. So uh you get right about the same speed, but PLC also, it was interesting. I talked to them the other day. They were when it came to IBO, they had a plus or minus of four feet per second with all of their previous IBOs. They no longer have that. So the IBO that you get is the number that they're getting through the chronograph consistently.

JR Gettler: 16:45

I did not know that.

Zakk Plocica: 16:45

Yeah, I just found that out actually yesterday. I was talking to Cooper and them in the um at the factory. So I thought it was kind of interesting. Um, and I think you've noticed all of these bows as far as IBO. Everyone's kind of caught on that you can't fudge the numbers. So everybody's kind of taking that into consideration now with the numbers. And I'd say most of your bows are close to IBO. PSE nails it all the time. Um, I think majority of your other bows too. Matthews this year is pretty on par with uh IBO. Their bows are smoking fast too.

JR Gettler: 17:14

Good. Okay. Yeah, I haven't done a lot of testing because I was gone for the launch week.

Zakk Plocica: 17:18

So that's right, yeah.

JR Gettler: 17:19

Um, I I've been shooting them, but I haven't been testing speeds or anything really.

Zakk Plocica: 17:22

Yeah, no, they are um there, dude. So that's the thing about Matthews this year, is they're they're advertising like they're hitting real world speeds, and they absolutely are, dude. Those bows are cruising good too. The thing, like we talked about the FDS cam, the valley on it's great. The valley on the Hoyt, I think, is probably the most forgiving, almost a little too forgiving, like on the RX10 to me, right?

JR Gettler: 17:46

Yeah, I I can definitely relate to that.

Zakk Plocica: 17:48

It doesn't it seem like it? Because like when you draw that bow back, it like rolls and it kind of dumps into it a little bit, and you got to kind of force it down, even on 85%.

JR Gettler: 17:55

I didn't notice it as bad on the AX333, but the RX10 Ultra, I did notice it. I think it's worse than more drastic, yeah.

Zakk Plocica: 18:02

But the Matthews bows, bro, there's no valley on that. With the SWX mod, there is no valley, it is so short and unforgiving. If you relax on that bow whatsoever on the ARC series, that bow's gone.

JR Gettler: 18:15

Yeah, it happened me quite a bit because I'll say something like, oh, the draw cycle feels good. And then I got to the valley.

Zakk Plocica: 18:19

I'm like, oh boy, I'm the draw cycle is awesome. Like the draw cycle's great on the Matthews bows. Letting the bow is down so easy because you're gonna accidentally let it down. Yep, it runs away, dude.

JR Gettler: 18:29

Yeah, it happened me quite a couple times when I was trying to test them. So yeah. Um, I don't know if it's just the the new cam because that is a uh a second gen of the lots of changes for Matthews, lots of changes. Yeah, I don't know if it's with that change in the cam, but it is definitely way shorter, um, very surprisingly shorter.

Zakk Plocica: 18:46

Yeah, and I think the so the bow's faster. It's a new, it's a new camera SWX2 cam, with they have their standard SWX mod, but they now have an S SWX Z mod that you can get. So technically you have a standard mod, it's not a performance mod, I would say. It's their standard mod. People are like, oh, your speed mod. It's not a speed mod, it's the standard mod. And then they have an SWX Z mod, which is a more of a comfort mod or a forgiving mod, where it makes the draw cycle a little bit better, the valley a little bit better, but you lose roughly four to five feet per second, which to me is no big deal. I all day would opt for the SWX Z mod because the draw cycle on it is incredible. The valley is much better on it, and you still get the bow is still faster than the Hoit Bows.

JR Gettler: 19:33

Okay, good.

Zakk Plocica: 19:34

Yeah, I shot it the other week. I did a video out on it, and um the standard SWX mod is about 10, I want to say 10 to 12 feet a second faster than what it was on the Hoyt, and then you go down to the SWX Z mod and it's about five or six feet a second faster than the Hoyt. So all the Bows are single are pretty close in speed, but uh the ARC series from Matthews, with all the changes that they made, the they're fast with the SWX mod, but that valley is non-existent.

JR Gettler: 20:03

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, though, and the only downside to it right now is with the Z mods, they're only offered in 60, 65, or 70 pound options, which I'm I'm sure further down the road they're gonna have the 75s and 80s coming out. I didn't even think about that. Yeah, that's only three right now. Um, but I'm like I said, I'm sure they're gonna add them down the road.

Zakk Plocica: 20:18

Bro, that SWX Z mod is legit. I like it. So Matthews, all new designed riser, all new designed cam, they integrated their um silent connect system. It's no longer an additional accessory, it's integrated into the riser, which dude if you're not a Matthews guy, which I've never been a Matthews guy, I can appreciate what they do. Their bows are fantastic, um, but they have the best accessories in the game.

JR Gettler: 20:43

I think so as well.

Zakk Plocica: 20:44

Dude, they I mean, as far as one marketing and the story they tell is incredible. I mean, Matthews is the leader in the archery industry, in my opinion.

Speaker 1: 20:51

Yeah.

Zakk Plocica: 20:52

Um, and then their bows and accessory options that you get are just fantastic, man. They've thought of everything, and I get it. Yeah, it's a premium price, but it's designed to work in sync with each other, and it does.

JR Gettler: 21:03

It works, it works really well. Like it's funny, me and Ed were literally just talking about this before before the podcast. And I was like, you know, if I were to get a Matthews, I'm gonna run all their accessories. They they look great on the bow, they perform. Um, they're honestly like tested. So I've I've always run the proprietary stuff for Matthews, and I I think it looks great on the bow too. Their new color options, the colorways, everything just it looks great.

Zakk Plocica: 21:25

Kodiak Brown, dude. Yeah, Kodiak Brown is slick. Everybody loves that color. I think they did a good job with that. Um, and yeah, so they've got obviously it's uh it's a brand new bow, right? So, not not all bow manufacturers do that, right? They're usually like little changes make, like Hoyt made the XTS tuning system, little changes here and there. Matthews comes out of the gate swinging with a full new bow, all new cam, new mod options, new accessory options. They've got their seven degree stabilizers, they've got their new arc limb legs.

JR Gettler: 21:52

Yep. Yeah, lots of changes. And you know, going back to what you're saying, where most times it's like subtle changes from like the lift to the lift X, it was a very subtle change with their tuning system, but it that was a big upgrade for them. Huge. Just like for Hoyt, this is a big upgrade with their XTS tuning system.

Zakk Plocica: 22:07

Yeah, absolutely. Um, and then they've got their new rear bar that integrates, their V-bar that integrates into the watch. Everything integrates, and they have the lightest aluminum bows on the market, 3.99 pounds for their 30-inch bow. And so a sub-four-pound aluminum bow, which is on par with carbon, uh, if not lighter than some of your carbon bows. And um just the the best accessory options there are. And um, dude, it's it's it's hard to argue with what they do, and they are they do a such a good job at marketing. People get mad at them. Oh, it's just a marketing place, dude. It's not marketing, they have their technology and their bows. Whether you understand it or not, most people who don't spend all their time, they just see what's on the computers or what they don't spend time behind all these bows and can't appreciate what has been done. The technology that they integrate into their stuff is is phenomenal, man. Um and I would say that for all the bows. I mean, they're their S their um what is their limb shift technology? Yeah, you know, I was I think there was a lot of people at first that were a little hesitant on it because they were, you know, how how's it gonna impact the limbs? There's eight limbs, are they gonna last? We haven't seen any issues.

JR Gettler: 23:12

Um, yeah, no, no issues. None. Have we?

Zakk Plocica: 23:15

I mean, have you had one?

JR Gettler: 23:16

No, it was uh all we've had was a lift X, nothing, nothing on the or yes, we did have one lift X where the limb delaminated, but it it can happen. Yeah, I mean just like my my expedition, the limbs delaminated on that when I was hunting, so that's awesome. Yeah, good times. It can happen.

Zakk Plocica: 23:31

I mean, every boat we've seen them have had a limb problem at some point, but we I was honestly, you know, the the issue that they had back on the lift series, I was worried about with the new um tuning system that it might cause an issue, and we really haven't seen enough for it to be a worry on it. Works great.

JR Gettler: 23:46

It does, it works flawless.

Zakk Plocica: 23:48

So, and I I really feel like, man, it it's kind of a bummer to me. Like, I feel like Ben uh um Benchmade, benchmade knives, Botech missed the mark when it came to tuning. Botec was the leader. They were right. The deadlock cam, they just missed the marketing uh behind it. Like, dude, if if you've ever shot a bow and did any tuning yourself, if you've ever picked up a bow tech to try to tune a bow, the best tuning bows on the market would be the bowtechs with the deadlock cam technology, like just unreal.

JR Gettler: 24:15

And then what was it two years ago they added the um their timing lock, the time lock. Yeah, so that was another great feature. If you had that little micro tuning you need to do, instead of throwing a piece of 550 cord or D loop in there and in your cables, you can just micro-tune it right there on the bow. So super simple system and it's super awesome.

Zakk Plocica: 24:31

And it works so good. I they missed the mark on it because they were the leader when it came to like tuning, toolless, you know, pressless tuning. That botec did it and it and it worked great. We have never had an issue with with their tuning system ever. Nope. The new deadlock cam light technology, deadlock light yes, tuning system that they integrated into their mid-price point bow now. Yeah, it works fantastic. Um, you know, and that's a great thing about all the bows now in the tuning capabilities that they've got. PSE, their tuning system is not as micro-tunable. Uh, you know, it's the easy 220 shim system, it works great, but when you look at like micro-tuning, I think some of the other companies are are are ahead as far as that goes, especially Matthews, now Hoyt potentially, and um Botec.

JR Gettler: 25:16

Yeah, so I mean if you look at it now, like we'd always kind of dog on Hoyt with the the tuning stuff where you had to press it, you had to break break it apart. Now it's PSE that's honestly behind because you hit you still have to press the PSE to change out the shims. But you know, it's it's a minor thing, but you have to have a press for that.

Zakk Plocica: 25:31

Yeah, PSE is, yeah, you're right. Um, but their their their tuning system works so good. It does. It's so fast and so so easy. Like for a shop, like they probably have, I think, one of the faster tuning bows, aside from like now the Matthews and the um the Botec that we've seen. We'll we'll find out more with Hoyt this year. Um, but the PSE bows, they just they tune when you as soon as you get that tear, you know exactly what shim you need to go to. Correct. Typically it's an 8140 for us for most of them. Uh, and it cleans it up right away as I rip this mic down. And um, you know, you're you're good. That's the great thing about all the bows now is it's no more moving than the rest. You set the rest, center, level, 1316s from the riser, seven eighths of an inch from the riser.

JR Gettler: 26:14

Yep, lock it down, lock it down, throw some loctite on there, and don't touch it. Don't ever touch it again.

Zakk Plocica: 26:19

And you know, just use your tuning, tune everything out with the cam. Uh the cool thing about the XTS tuning system too is like all the broadhead tuning and stuff they talk about that you can do with it, you know, your up and down tears. There's a lot of different things you can do with it. Um, it's gonna obviously require a little bit more playing.

JR Gettler: 26:37

Right. And that's what I was trying to figure out yesterday because I was, you know, I I was going, I had a knock right tear, it was about a half inch. Um, I started going by their the pamphlet on saying what to do. So it's you go on the upper right and the bottom, upper right and bottom right, and you're gonna add to that side. Um, it started giving me a little bit of a knock high tear.

Zakk Plocica: 26:56

So let me ask you this. You said you were upper right, right? You had a knock right tear, so you gotta put a little bit of tension on the right limbs. Right. You need to take the equal amount of tension out of the left limb.

JR Gettler: 27:05

From what I've been reading, it says you don't have to, but I was doing that as well. Okay. And that's what was actually making my vertical tear worse. Interesting. So what I wound up doing was um adding, or I took a little bit out of the top and added a little bit more to the bottom right, and that seemed to help, but it still wasn't quite perfect. But I didn't get enough time to finish playing with it. But yeah, um so far, I I think it'd be a great system, especially if you are getting some of those micro micro knock highs or knock lows. You can adjust that by changing the deflection.

Zakk Plocica: 27:33

Interesting. Yeah. Well, it like I said, all this stuff, it takes a little bit of time to learn. I mean, there's a lot of different bows. We carry a lot of different, we carry all the bows, yeah. So we got to kind of know, be well, be versed in all of them. Um, so yeah, it's very, very interesting. So far, everything seems to be working very well. Uh, you know, Prime dropped their new bows, the divide series, which I was a little worried about first, right? So we talked about the Prime, they had the form last year, which in my opinion was honestly a flop. They didn't do well. We had no demand for them whatsoever. Um, and then they introduced the divide this year. And I was like, oh, same bow, different story, right? Same story essentially. It wasn't though. So, like the divides, prime's taking a different approach. They give you a lot of options. So you've got a divide 31, a 33, a 35, and a 37. And you have the option to go with a six-inch brace height or seven-inch brace height, which, right, as a shop, it's a lot of different things. Um, I honestly think that we're gonna be focused on the 31 and 33 with a six-inch brace height. Those are ones we've got in so far. And dude, the divide 31 is a banger of a bow.

JR Gettler: 28:37

So I like the 31, but I like the 33 better.

Zakk Plocica: 28:41

But it's great, right? Dude, the core camps still in the lineup. You've got your standard mods and your performance mods. I'll take standard mods all day over performance. The performance to me is just god-awful this far as like the draw cycle. It rolls over and it dumps into the um into the back wall, and it's a massive dump, and that bow just like yeah.

JR Gettler: 29:01

So when they brought that out on especially on the form 30, that was uh honestly the the worst draw cycle I felt like. It was awful. I didn't like it at all um on the on the performance mods. Even the standard mods, it kind of dumped a little too much for my liking. And it was it was it was too short for me anyway, with the draw cycle or the draw length. It was too short. Um, yeah, I just didn't like it at all either.

Zakk Plocica: 29:21

Yeah, but now with the core cam with a standard mod, it's honestly really, really good, man. The draw cycle is fantastic on there. The bows are in my they're they're slower than the other bows, right? They're a little bit slower, whatever though. Like you can manipulate that with arrow weight and your arrow build and whatnot. Um, but that bow shoots and feels so good. The 31, I think, is going to be a really pop. I'm hopeful that it gets the traction that it deserves because I feel like that bow, like Prime has been pretty slept on uh as far as like they had the R VX Plus series, which did pretty well.

JR Gettler: 29:52

Yeah, they did good. Yeah.

Zakk Plocica: 29:54

And now that they've got the the divide series and all the options, I it if you Haven't shot the Prime Divide 31 and 33. You need to because that bow feels fantastic. It's got a great grip. It just feels really good. They are behind, in my opinion, on the tuning side of things.

JR Gettler: 30:11

Yeah, so I do have to retract my statement because uh Prime you have to press as well and got to pop those shims out with our tool. Um, and I remember when uh we were testing on that, I found it was actually easier just to take a take the axles out instead of trying to get those shims because those shims are really narrow. Yeah, so that I do remember that now.

Zakk Plocica: 30:28

So yeah, I think um that is one of the drawbacks. Uh and again, it takes a little bit more time, so they are a little bit outdated with that. Uh, but as far as like once you get it set up and shooting the bow, the bow just feels really good. The post shot feel is fantastic on it. Um, dude, what was the bow that has uh oh, it was a mid-price point bow. It was the enduro that had that tuning fork feel. Yes, yeah, it was. It was none of the flagships.

JR Gettler: 30:56

No, yeah. Everything I've shot so far this year has been awesome. Um, but yeah, going with the divide, I I love the 33, and it was faster than the 31, which typically that's kind of normal for prime, is their their middle actual axle length has been the fastest bow out of all their lineups. Like it was the same with the Nexus, I think the inline was the same. So those 31s, 33s, 35s, all those the 33s were the fastest.

Zakk Plocica: 31:17

The biggest issue though with the primes is their draw lengths, right? Especially like a 31, it only goes at 29 and a half inches with the six-inch brace height. You can go to the seven-inch brace height and get a little bit more draw length, so that's something you would have to do, but you sacrifice a little bit of speed. Um, because like let's take a look at so the divide series.

JR Gettler: 31:35

Yeah, but I mean, if you want a good performing bow that's gonna be very forgiving, I mean you could definitely go with that seven-inch brace height, and that way you're gonna get that extra draw length that you need if you need it.

Zakk Plocica: 31:44

Yeah, because if you go to the the seven-inch brace height, you go goes to thirty and a half, I want to say.

JR Gettler: 31:56

That's gotta be on the thirty-five or the thirty-seven. Oh, what's their thirty-three seven inch?

Zakk Plocica: 32:04

Yeah, it's gotta be. I think you are right, man. Yeah. So that's one of the bigger issues with the shorter brace height that they got. And a six-inch brace height is a perfect brace height, I think. I mean, it's it's not too long. You get good speeds typically with that that brace height, it's fairly forgiving for what it is, especially for a hunting bow. You start getting that seven-inch brace height, man, that's a long brace height.

JR Gettler: 32:38

That'd be a great hybrid bow, though. It would be about a 33, 35 on that seven-inch brace height, that would be a very forgiving platform, like I said. And if you want to have one bow for everything, you could do that with that. You could do it as a 3D setup out west, tree stand, you know, it'd be a great option for just about anybody. Um, but I definitely feel like a lot of guys are gonna gravitate towards that six-inch brace height as well.

Zakk Plocica: 32:58

Yeah, I agree. I think that um it just makes sense for most people. Uh, I did have somebody that hit me up that was interested in the seven-inch brace height, um, especially for cunting hunting like extreme cold for like when they have layers on.

JR Gettler: 33:12

Yeah, yeah.

Zakk Plocica: 33:13

Um, so really wanted that longer brace height to minimize any contact with their layers. So that might be an issue with the Sicario.

JR Gettler: 33:20

It could.

Zakk Plocica: 33:21

Maybe you know, guys hitting their their forearm with not so much like warmer climates, but you're talking about extreme cold weather when they're bundled up in layers. Yeah, maybe a potential concern. So if you're somebody, I'm not sure that that's gonna be a factor, but I mean, depending on how you grip the bow, it very well could be.

JR Gettler: 33:37

Yeah, so yeah. I I haven't personally done it myself. I haven't hunted that extremely cold, but I I know of some guys that I think have have had that problem. And or if anything, they'll shorten the draw length just a little bit, go about a half inch shorter, and that'll help a little bit too sometimes.

Zakk Plocica: 33:50

Yeah, retune the whole bow for that.

JR Gettler: 33:52

Yeah, pretty much. So that's the only downside. Yeah, that's the biggest thing.

Zakk Plocica: 33:55

Uh, you know, interesting bow tech, they're not released until ATA this year. Right. So I can appreciate that, but I also wonder if it sets them behind, you know, as far as um it's gonna it can it can affect demand. I mean well, the big thing I see from people right now is they're like, I'm impatient. I want to buy a mow. I've got a money, I've got money burn in a hole in my pocket. Do I want to wait for this or am I gonna get the the new this bow or that bow?

JR Gettler: 34:21

Right. Yeah, so I mean, I've I've heard some stuff from a rep. I'm not gonna leak anything, but uh we'll we'll see um for BoTech. I mean, like I said, it could be a double-edged sword form, you know, it could be a great thing, especially for ATA because they're opening up to the public this year. So they should hopefully, if if there's a lot of traffic going to ATA, that that'd be a great thing for their exposure. But at the same time, you know, they're behind on the power curve because all the other bows have already launched, already people coming in buying new bows. So yeah, we'll we'll have to see what what happens with BoTech.

Zakk Plocica: 34:49

Yeah, I'm interested because ATA, I'm this will be the year that I think determines whether ATA continues to happen. Right. And from what I've already heard, your major bow brands aren't going to be there, Matthews and Hoyt. I'm not 100%, but that's what I've heard. Um, I know PSE will be there.

JR Gettler: 35:03

Okay, good.

Zakk Plocica: 35:03

Um, I that has been confirmed. But the other ones, man, when you don't have a Hoyt and Matthews on on site for the biggest archery trade shows, that's a that's a a problem. Um, but they are taking a different approach this year with allowing the public in, like you said, and they've got a big event, they've got a big shoot that they're doing.

JR Gettler: 35:21

Yeah, should be exciting for ATA. I really hope. I really hope.

Zakk Plocica: 35:24

I I I do too, man. Some things you just don't want to see die, right? You just I mean, it's it's part of the culture. It's a great opportunity to meet up. I'm gonna depending on my schedule, if I can shoot up that way, I might for a day or so just to check in and see what it's all about. I don't know if that's gonna be a reality. Um, but I would like to. Uh, we've got a lot going on this year. I mean, the place to be obviously is total archery challenge that's taken archery by storm as far as like manufacturers, vendors, dealers, and places to be in front of our customer. It's total archery challenge. Yeah, yeah.

JR Gettler: 35:56

I mean, that's that's our end user as bow hunters, you know. That's it, dude. I'd love to to expand our target line, but it's just in our area, it's it's hard. There's nobody in our area that really shoots target.

Zakk Plocica: 36:06

It's super hard. Yeah, yeah. We're in a weird spot. Um, so I don't know. I'm I'm curious to see what BoTech has. I'm really hopeful because I feel like they always have such great like technology, like they're kind of like like leaders when it comes to like the especially the tuning side. Uh the core series, I think, did pretty well. The SS and the SR did well, they were good bows. The Proven 34, not so much for us.

JR Gettler: 36:29

Yeah.

Zakk Plocica: 36:30

Um the Virtue. The Virtue, not so much. It's just a premium bow. I mean, it comes with some killer stuff, right? Like their hardware.

JR Gettler: 36:37

Yeah, it was awesome with with the setup, but yeah, it was just it was a hard sell, unfortunately.

Zakk Plocica: 36:41

Yeah, it really was. Um, you know, but and the other thing about bow tech they offer, I mean, there's so much configurations that you can do as the the owner of that bow, whether it's you, you know, tuning it yourself with their deadlock um technology, it's micro-tuning it, their grip lock, you can adjust the grip perfectly for you. And then you can run their mods on either a comfort or performance setting, you know, depending on the bow that you're running. Like the SS could be great on performance, in my opinion, but you go to the SR, the virtue. I didn't like those on um performance, they just really dump. They did like a noticeable dump, but they were you gained 10 feet a second almost consistently going from comfort to performance.

JR Gettler: 37:19

Yeah, um, the proven 34, that wasn't bad on performance. That was a pretty forgiving bow, I think, especially with the the axle axle length. That's pretty big bow. It was, it was very big. Yeah, and then you had the long draw version on that or the the standard draw. So yeah, the the I think Botec has everything nailed. It's just like we've talked about, there's their marketing is not there.

Zakk Plocica: 37:38

I feel like, I mean, I feel like a lot of the brands are kind of behind with it. Like, dude, I mean, if there's anyone you want to emulate, it's what Matthews does. I mean, they just do everybody, they've got a bow in everybody's hands. They sell such a good, a good story, right? They tell a story with what they're doing without hard selling you something. It's almost like when I compare it to like uh milk, like got milk, yeah, right? It's like the absence of the product, right? It's like Matthews does a good job because they're not just like hard selling that product, it's like painting this picture, and you know, you can put yourself in that position, right? Right, you can imagine yourself there on that hunt or on that journey with that bow in hand, and they just do a fantastic job with it, and they're everywhere. They are and they back it up with a killer product. Yep. So Hoyt does a good job too. They've got some pretty, they've got some stout guys behind their bows um as far as like bow hunters and stuff go, uh, advertising, and you know, Hoyt's a legacy brand, they've been around forever. The are like hands down, the toughest bows in the market.

JR Gettler: 38:40

Yes, 100%.

Zakk Plocica: 38:41

You can't compete when durability-wise, a a Hoyt bow with a spothawk sight with a Hamski rest. I was just gonna say that, is bro, like arguably like the best, like that will last you forever.

JR Gettler: 38:56

If you're gonna if you're gonna go out in the backcountry and you're gonna be beating it up, that is that is the combination.

Zakk Plocica: 39:00

It's dude, it's hard to deny that, man. Those are three brands right there that are known. You could put them through the ringer, and they are going to come out superior you know, superior every time. Like that you can put them through anything and it they're gonna it's gonna perform. They outperform, yeah. No doubt. So yeah, I think um it's it's hard to deny that, man. They are bulletproof.

JR Gettler: 39:22

Yes. Wasn't it Cody, uh Cody Griffin that said a couple years ago, like he was hunting somewhere and he was trying to climb up this little mountain or something or little hill, and uh he lost his footing and he used his sight to actually pull himself up on the side. I would not spot it. I think I remember him saying that. So Cody, if you're listening, let us know about that. Yeah, no doubt. Yeah, that's funny.

Zakk Plocica: 39:40

No doubt. You know, uh one of the things I was hoping for, so like we carry like all of these brands, right? Like it's been important for us as an archery shop at Extreme Outfitters to be able to offer all the brands, not the brands that are just super popular, that you are easy to sell, right? Matthews and Hoyt are pretty easy to sell. The other brands require a little bit more effort, but I think it's important to the archery industry to carry those brands, right? Obviously, the inventory is not as deep. Um, but those brands are fan, are they good bows that shouldn't be slept on. They deserve to be in put in people's hands, and that's what we do. Right. Um, and I'm a little bummed right now that we don't have our expedition bows. You know, we were supposed to have those already. Uh, that's a newer brand for us, um, which I think deserves to be again put in people's hands because they're they're really great shooting bows that offer a lot. Yeah.

JR Gettler: 40:27

Um, super awesome. You know, I I tried them when I was at one of the first tacks I went to. I was impressed by them. You know, I wasn't impressed by the price point. It was they're they're pricey. They were. Um, so they they have dropped their price point, which is awesome for them. But yeah, just the bow, it it shoots really well, it feels really good. Um, it's very lightweight with that magnite riser. So it's it's a uh up-and-coming company, and I'm I'm excited for them, but I'm yeah, I'm also bummed that we don't have ours yet.

Zakk Plocica: 40:53

Yeah, because I would like to put my hands on one to actually see it.

JR Gettler: 40:55

So I did get to shoot the new bow when you were going in Kentucky on your hunting trip. Um, I was very impressed by it. Um, best way to describe it is draw cycle, it feels just like um like a Mach 30 or Mach 33. Draw cycle fantastic, very smooth. It felt just like any C2 cam or even the new FDS cam. It was very smooth. Um, the tunability on it, they have a new tuning system as well. So it's going to be a pressless system. It's uh goes on the back of the limb tip. You just take out screws, you move your shims as you need, put it back on.

Zakk Plocica: 41:24

So does it seem pretty solid?

JR Gettler: 41:26

It seems super simple and solid. So excited for it. Um, there are colorways that they do. You can cerakote so many options. You can do the cams, the limbs, limb pockets, different riser colors, limb colors, they have so much configurations. Um, plus their string systems. I mean, they're running the ABB platinum string still as an awesome string system.

Zakk Plocica: 41:44

What's the price point on those?

JR Gettler: 41:45

Those go for 200 bucks.

Zakk Plocica: 41:46

No, no, no. What's the price point of the bows?

JR Gettler: 41:48

Oh, uh 1499.

Zakk Plocica: 41:50

So it's in line, it's in line with an aluminum bow.

JR Gettler: 41:52

Yeah, I think it was 1499 is the MSRP on them.

Zakk Plocica: 41:55

So, I mean, that I mean, that's a huge value that you get, right? If you're looking at like end user, like consumer buying a new bow, the value that you get with. So, Prime, you get strings for life, right? They have their SHIELD program.

Speaker 1: 42:06

Shield.

Zakk Plocica: 42:08

Great, great, um, great offering from Prime. Expedition offers the ABB strings, which is their platinum series string, which have a two-year warranty, which is a fantastic aftermarket string that comes on a stock on your bow. Uh, and then they've introduced this new tuning um capability that you've talked about. So, like it really checks all the boxes, I think, for like a bow hunter, an end user. Um, yeah.

JR Gettler: 42:29

Um, another thing that they added too that I've I just remembered is quarter-inch draw length adjustments. So you can get that just like a Hoyt. Um, there's like three different mods that you have to have, which comes with all the mods, it comes with all the shims. So it's it's a it's a great bow. Um, I'm excited for us to get ours in and so we can do our videos, and I think it should be a great bow for the year. Yeah, it really should.

Zakk Plocica: 42:47

I I think so too. And it's like as a dealer, it's important for us again to get those into people's hands and let people check them out because everybody sees Hoyt Matthews, and you may have missed the marketing memo for some of these other brands, and you get behind them and shoot them, and you're like, okay, top contender for sure, and you can stack it up against the other ones and make a well-informed decision versus just going with what your buddy told you or you know the Instagram post you saw. It's important to get your hands on all of them and really check them out because they all offer something different, and they have changed this year. Like, like we talked about valleys, draw cycles, um, grips, all those things come into play and matter for people and really determine you know the direction you're gonna go because Matthews, I think, have they had their draw cycle and valley have changed dramatically from the lift X to the ARC. It did. Uh, it's way less forgiving. But the draw cycle is honestly very impressive, but the valley, the standard mod is just still, like I said, it's pretty eye-opening.

JR Gettler: 43:39

Yes, it is.

Zakk Plocica: 43:40

It's like the same thing as like the um the ascend uh the bow tech price point bow. Yes, but yeah, on performance. On performance, no, sir.

JR Gettler: 43:49

Yeah, that no sir. No valley on that thing at all.

Zakk Plocica: 43:52

I thought might as well be shooting a trad bow. Yeah, you draw it back and you're holding if it's 70 pounds, you're holding 68 is what it feels. Not really, but yeah, you know, it's it's not forgiving whatsoever. That bow will run away from you. 100%. Yeah, dude. Wild stuff, man. So when we talk about aluminum bows, I mean PSC has their aluminum bow in the lineup, the decree. I really like the decree, especially with the new FDS Cam. I just think that FDS Cam that they introduced on all the bows just dramatically improved the performance of the bows and the feel of the bows and carrying it onto the decree in their aluminum line. Fantastic. I wish PSC would do more with their aluminum. Um, but you know, they're they've put pretty much the majority of their eggs in the uh the carbon line, that basket, right? You know, that's their their emphasis. They're a target carbon bow brand is what they really focus on. But they have a slept-on aluminum bow, which is the decree uh 31 and a half inch axle to axle bow. The the IBO on it's like 347, so it's smoking fast. Uh again, it's a perfect ATA length, I think, for most bow hunters. And it's a little bit heavier. I think it's in line with most of your aluminum bows. They're right at 4.25 to 4.5 pounds for most of them. Um, obviously, Matthew's a little bit on the lighter end. But when we lock when we talk about aluminum bows, there's a lot of really great options this year. There is. Um, you know, and a lot of different ATA options. ARC, you've got the ARC 30, the ARC33, or 34, excuse me. Hoyt, you've got the AX329, the AX33 33, you've got the PSE decree, the 31 and a half, then you've got the um, well, they're they're more of a hybrid.

JR Gettler: 45:35

The divide.

Zakk Plocica: 45:35

The divide. You got all the ATA langues.

JR Gettler: 45:37

31, 33, 35, 37.

Zakk Plocica: 45:40

But what do you think about, I mean, as far as aluminum bows this go go this year, out of all the ones you've shot, I mean, what's your who do you have your eye on?

JR Gettler: 45:48

Would we include um expedition in that? Because I mean, that's not aluminum, that's Magnite, but it's still in the price point.

Zakk Plocica: 45:54

It's in the price point. So I would assume I would I would categorize that as aluminum because we're looking more price point than I guess.

JR Gettler: 46:00

Yeah. Um, I was actually really impressed with the expedition. You know, I'm shooting that currently. Um, the AX333, I was very impressed with that. Uh the Divide 33. So I I typically like a little bit longer axle axle. I'm a little bit longer drawing too. So um I like that a lot. But the the decree, when we had that last year, um, even the evolve and the um oh, what was the other one? Um the Fordis. Yeah, the Fordis. I was very impressed with their aluminum bows, honestly, very impressed with them, especially the decree. It was a 31 and a half inch axle axle bow. It's gonna be great for just about anybody in the market to be able to shoot it, and it should be a great performing, great shooting bow. And yeah, I've said it in multiple videos. I think that's like one of the most up on bows, and it did really well in the ultra life testing.

Zakk Plocica: 46:42

Well, that's what I was gonna say. It was the most accurate platform out of all the bows tested last year for was that 2025? Yes, yeah, the 2025 test. The decree was the number one when it came to accuracy, and that goes back to I think their full draw stability and just how well those bows perform. And it's a sh on the shorter side, a 31 and a half inch ATA, it outperformed 35s.

JR Gettler: 47:01

Yeah, but it's what it was six and a half inch brace height. So with with their effective brace height, it was like seven and a half almost or seven and a quarter. Yep. So it's yeah, it it makes sense.

Zakk Plocica: 47:12

Yeah, it does. So I mean, what do you what do you think? I mean, what do you I mean, top, top two, top three bows, how do you how do you stack them up a little bit-wise? Overall.

JR Gettler: 47:22

Overall, I would say the AX333, I would probably call that number one. Um, I want to shoot the expedition more because I only got to do a few shots with that, but that was right up there. I'd say probably number two, number three, and then it'd be right there with the Fordest, I think. The Fordest? Or I'm sorry, the the decree. The decree, yeah.

Zakk Plocica: 47:39

Well, what do you think about the arc?

JR Gettler: 47:41

I like it, but I'm not a fan of the valley.

Zakk Plocica: 47:43

So that's my biggest drawback from it this year is the valley of that bow. But I mean, when you put the SWX Z mod on it, it does make it so much better. So and I think that puts it up as a top contender. Uh, you know, Kevin dueling, he he just bought the Arc 34 today, actually. Uh, he really, really likes it. Um, did he and but he's a target guy too. Yeah. So he's all about, you know, he likes holding a little bit more weight on the back half. And I mean, what can you say about the target guys?

JR Gettler: 48:10

I mean, most of my stuff now is 80%, like my expedition, that's an 80% cam. Um, I I haven't moved my Levitate yet, but I normally have that at either 85 or 80, typically 85. Um, so I'm used to holding a little bit more weight. It's just that valley is super super. It's super short, so short. Um, but I do love Matthews as well. They're they're it is so hard to ping what would be number one. You know, that's that's where we say it all the time is like you need to come into a bow shop, especially if you can come here, try out all the bows and see what you like. But yeah, just for my my impression so far this year, I would say honestly, I put the AX333 first, and then it'd be a toss between the decree and the expedition.

Zakk Plocica: 48:50

There you go. Okay, I like it. I do, man. Yeah, and based off the bows that we've seen now. Um I always gravitate towards the shorter bows, man. I've got the 33s, I like my 30, my Mach 33, but dude, I go back and pick up my Mach 30, and I'm like, dude, I can't miss with this thing.

JR Gettler: 49:07

You shoot that really well.

Zakk Plocica: 49:08

I shoot it really, really good, man. And it just it feels really good. The string angle for 28 and a half inches, a 30-inch bow is awesome. Yeah.

JR Gettler: 49:15

Um, especially if your focus is more hunting, you know. It's bow hunting specific, dude. Yeah, yeah, it's it's a no-brainer for you.

Zakk Plocica: 49:21

Yeah, I really, really like that bow. Um, but when we talk about aluminum bows, man, so I've just been messing with the decree a little bit. Um, and I shot the Hoit bow, and I think the Hoit bow is awesome too. I would agree with you. Uh, they're 29 um and 33 both feel really, really good. Um haven't shot the Expedition, so I have no input as far as that goes. The arc, I really like the Matthews bows, and like I said, I'm not a Matthews Bow guy, just based off everything, like the system that you can build out with them. Yeah, but again, it comes down to the valley, it's just really short. And for me as a bow hunter, it's you know, it's it's a little too short. I would definitely run the SWXZ mod on it. Um but that dude, it yeah, I'm with you, man. It's it's a very, very difficult decision. Um I really like the draw cycle on the decree, the FDS cam a lot. Um I like the durability side that the aluminum bows that Hoyt brings, their tuning system's pretty uh interesting to me. Uh I'll definitely have to play with it more. Um dude, I don't know, man. It's like it's tough. That's a very, very, very tough. I mean, I'm the one asking the question now. I've got myself stumped. I don't know. You could go any way with any other man. It's it's uh when it comes to accessory options, like Matthews wins.

JR Gettler: 50:42

100%.

Zakk Plocica: 50:42

Matthews wins. I think Hoyt is a pretty close second. Yeah, like their accessories that they've come come out with. So their ghost stick 2.0, fantastic. You have to be able to fold fold your ghosts or stow them easily, and they do a fantastic job with that as a bow hunter. So nothing's in the way, right? Right. Something that's fixed on there, pain in the ass, like as a bow hunter, not as someone that does 3D or something. So I think their ghost sticks are awesome. All of their integrated low profile stuff, they've got really great stabilizer options. Their new stabilizers they came out with are super nice. Um, you know, we talk about accessories. Prime came out with their new uh trail tri lights, trail light kickstand.

JR Gettler: 51:21

Yeah, trail light, yeah. Trail light kickstand. So it's a pretty cool something like that.

Zakk Plocica: 51:24

Yeah, it's a it's a cool uh accessory.

JR Gettler: 51:27

They have their new super light quivers, it's uh a little bit more redesigned. Um they don't have any stabilizers. Um expedition has new a new a new lineup of accessories. They have their um kickstand that is actually uses um MLOC system. It's built into the bottom of the riser. Um, they're gonna have their own quiver stabilizer. Um, I don't they have a back bar everything too, I think, as well. So they've got a whole new accessory lineup for Expedition. Um yeah, I'm curious about Botech. I am too.

Zakk Plocica: 51:57

So aluminum bows, back to it. Sorry, we got off track, guys. Hoyt, I mean, did it just did a really good job this year, I think. Um they just they shoot very, very well. The tuning system's great on them. They're you know they're durable. And then decree. I encourage you to go. If you haven't shot the PSE decree, you're missing out too. The FTS TM on that bow, it's you get really good speeds out of it. It's a little bit heavier, but the bow holds really great. They've got a great grip. Um, Hoyt has a great grip too. So those are my one and two. Probably the Hoyt. Probably the AX3. If I was gonna shoot it, I'd probably run the AX329. Um a little bit shorter than I would typically run. Yeah, probably the AX329 in between the decree that 31 and a half would be my my one and two uh that I would probably go for. Um but what about when we talk about your premium bow? So we move over to like your top-of-the-line price point, so carbons or a carbon hybrid mix, however you want to look at it. Uh obviously we have Hoyt with their RX10 series. We've got PSE who dominates as far as like carbon options. They've got a Mach 30, a Mach 33, a Mach 35, and a Sicario. Lots of options from them. Then you've got Prime with their new form, their divide series 31s, 33s, 35, 37s. Um I mean, those are our top premium bows, right? They're top three.

JR Gettler: 53:17

Yeah.

Zakk Plocica: 53:17

That covers everything. Yeah, because we don't know anything from BoTech if they've got a carbon bow or not this year.

JR Gettler: 53:22

Yeah, I'm very curious on that too. Yeah. Now the talking point.

Zakk Plocica: 53:26

We'll see. I'm bombed because we're supposed to be doing all 2026 bows, and they're not all here yet. So we've got most of them, but unfortunately, BoTech is still, you know, we'll know more after ATA. Yeah, we'll do a follow-up.

JR Gettler: 53:34

They have what the Carbon X and then um they have the Carbon One. Yeah, the Carbon One, Carbon 1X. That's what it was. Um so going to top of the line premiums, um I would have to throw PSE at on honestly at the top. That the in my opinion, there's no question. For me, it'd be a toss between the scary and the Mach 33. I've been really gravitating towards the Sicario. Um, I called it in one of our videos in the past. I think it's it's a very good contender for a boat of the year.

Zakk Plocica: 54:06

Based solely based off the performance that you get, the capability that it offers and the shootability within that platform. Somebody was like, oh, they said shootability, they lost me. Like, that's what we're talking about. Shootability. Like, how well does that boat hold? How well does it shoot when you know at distance? That's what we talk about with shootability. Um that that boat, I think, just what you get for it's just a very, very impressive, it's a machine.

JR Gettler: 54:28

It is. Yeah, the only downside to that is it maxes at 30 inches. So that's the only downside to it. Um, but yeah, that man, that's that's a hard boat to beat. It really is. Um, and I have multiple accounts of people that are shooting at distance and grouping extremely well. So I think that's gonna be number one, at least for me. Um number two, I would have to say the divide 33, and then third, I'd probably do like the R10.

Zakk Plocica: 54:55

Dang. Prime moving it up, buddy. I think so too. So for me, I'm still on that Mach 30, dude. I I would do it. Um, like both of my, I have a Mach 30 and a Mach 33. Both of mine have EC2 cams on them. Um, you know, and one of the big questions everybody is like, can you get the FDS cam for the new bows? You can now. So they've got a package. You can buy the F, you can upgrade your bow to the FDS cam now. You got to get um cams, mods, string and cables. Yep. You can buy the full kit, or you can buy just the cams and the mods and get whatever custom strings you want from your favorite bow manufacturer. You can do any of that. So you can definitely buy it now and upgrade your bow from the EC2 cam to the FDS cam. Is it work worth it? For me on the Mach 30, no. Um, performance is the same, in my opinion. Uh, you don't get a you don't get a speed increase. Um, I'm not gonna spend that amount of money to upgrade the EC2 cam of the Mach 30. Now the Mach 33 is a different story. The Mach 33 with the FTS cam is untouchable. You gain 10 to 12 feet a second, it's just as smooth. The bow pounds, man. Um so I would upgrade that bow. Um but looking at it as far as carbon bows, like the number one for me. I'm gonna stick with the my Mach 30. I I would stick with a Mach 30 uh or or a Mach 33 with the FDS cam because the Sicario it like I think that's a bow that somebody has to spend time behind, right? So if you're somebody that doesn't shoot a lot and you just pick the bow up, casually shoot, I don't think that's the bow for you, right? I think you need to, it's gonna require a little bit of basic fundamentals and shooting capability in order to shoot it well. It's a sh it's let's be it's a short brace height. It is it's still gonna make it more challenging to shoot than a Mach 33.

JR Gettler: 56:44

Right. Yeah, um, I know we've talked about it in the past and in past videos. Um, but yeah, I I I still would not recommend that bow for a brand new shooter. No, I wouldn't just with the just with the brace height. But I mean somebody that does shoot.

Zakk Plocica: 56:56

They're gonna slap their wrist their forearm with it, I think.

JR Gettler: 56:58

Yeah, I think so too. Especially, yeah, if you have if you have bad form, yeah, you're you can't grip a bow right, you're you're gonna be hurting yourself bad. Yeah, I agree. But yeah, I mean it's like if if you at least shoot and shoot quite a bit, 100% get the scary. That's what I would say. I agree.

Zakk Plocica: 57:13

Yeah, it's great. I mean, for me, I'm I'm gonna opt for that Mach 33 with the FDS camp. I I as a bow hunter, I want as forgiving of a setup as I can build. And that's from my arrow build to my bow build, right? And I understand I could gain more speed, and speed is not a final factor, it is a major factor for a lot of people, especially guys with shorter draw lengths. That's why a heavier poundage option or a bow that's a little bit faster is a great option for people that have shorter draw lengths or want to shoot a heavier arrow. Um, but for me, that speed is not justifiable for as far as like the forgiveness in a bow. Like, I would opt for that Mach 33 every time just because it's got a little bit longer brace height. It's got a longer dynamic brace height. Right. So everything is greater on the Mach 33 than the Sicario. Um and the the 33 for me just shoots really, really well. Um number two, uh, I I think would be like a Mach 33, then like a Sicario or excuse me, a Mach 30, Mach 33, Sicario would be my top, top ones. Uh, and then, dude, that Prime, the form, the divide series, not the the form, excuse me, the prime divide series, that 31 is a banger, dude. That 31 shoots really, really well, and so does that 33 with the six-inch brace heights. Um, I think that should be a top contender as well. And I think a lot of people need to get those bows in their hands and feel them because prime did a really, really good job with those bows.

JR Gettler: 58:32

Yep, I I agree.

Zakk Plocica: 58:34

Yeah, and then the RX 10 series for me is just not enough um justification to go from like if you had an RX9 to an RX10, in my personal opinion, for me. Now, if you have an older series, maybe an RX7, RX 8 going to an RX 10 makes more sense. It's just there wasn't enough. And that tuning, like once the bow's tuned, like you don't really have to tune these bows a lot. So that's where it comes into it's like my bow's already tuned as an RX9, I'm not gaining any more performance out of it. Why would I go to the the RX 10 if the bow's set up and tuned? Unless you're somebody that likes to tinker. Right. That's where the selling point is.

JR Gettler: 59:07

Um arrow weights or arrow setups a lot, then 100%, yeah, definitely get it.

Zakk Plocica: 59:11

Uh yeah, I think that's gonna be a little bit harder sell. Um, but I mean, if you're somebody that's just looking to upgrade bows and the durability factor is a thing, the RX10's like pretty untouchable.

JR Gettler: 59:21

Yeah, that is the most indestructible bow on the market, I think. Absolutely.

Zakk Plocica: 59:24

Uh I uh their draw cycle, I think, is probably the worst out of any of the bows. Um, it's not bad by any means. Um, with the RX 10 Ultra, especially, it's not bad, it's just it it's it's not as enjoyable. Yeah, it feels it kind of dumps. It feels different. It does. It kind of to me, it kind of dumps. Like I shot the Sicario beside the RX 10 Ultra, and the Sicario was night and day smoother than the RX 10 Ultra. Um, but once you get it back and draw the bow, the valley in the the RX 10 Ultra is very forgiving. Oh, yeah, yeah. It feels really good, the bow shoots really. Good, the post shot feel is fantastic on it. Uh, it's definitely a bow you can hold for a long time.

JR Gettler: 1:00:04

Yeah. Um, and I've noticed that like the the post shot sound that you get, the feedback, it sounds different this year on the RX 10 Ultra than it did on the RX9 or 8. You know, it had it had more of a look more of like a pop to it before. Now it's it sounds more just subtle.

Zakk Plocica: 1:00:20

Yeah, it dude, all the bows are quiet too. So we were outside shooting today and they were shooting like they shot a Mach 33 and a decree. And I was I was for like when you're listening to it, like we shoot them inside, it sounds different. But like whenever you're outside listening to someone else's bow, how quiet the bows are, they're also quiet. Matthews are like crazy quiet. Yeah, like I think they have the quietest bows. I think the the Hoyt bows, like post shot, they sound they're it's a little different sound. I like the sound of a Hoyt bow when it goes off. No, I do too. It's pretty, it's unique. Um, and again, they're quiet. There's no feedback in really any of the bows this year, especially like your flagship bows. Yes. As far as like feedback, hand shock, the most hand shock I think you get is out of the scicario. Um, and it's not bad.

JR Gettler: 1:01:03

But yeah, but once you have it fully set up, like I shot Taylor's in it, it felt great.

Zakk Plocica: 1:01:07

Yeah, we're talking about bear bow, nothing on it. There's a little bit of vibration or feedback from the scicario uh compared to any of the other bows, but it's not bad. Yeah. You put bars on it, you put a sight on it and a quiver, dude, it's dead.

JR Gettler: 1:01:19

Yeah. Um, he's got, I think he's got a front bar and then uh the Accuar tree, the SOS system on it, the Hunter Elite. He's got that on there, and it it feels it feels great.

Zakk Plocica: 1:01:27

Dude, so I I've gone this year and I've stripped all the bars off all my bows. Uh as far as like bow hunting, they would just piss me off. Like, yeah, but the only thing that I do like um that I've still got on my Mach 30 is I've got that SOS Hunter Elite system. That's like the only thing I run on there. If that bow holds really good, still shoots really good, and there's nothing hanging off that bow except for that one little piece.

JR Gettler: 1:01:48

Yeah, I'm I'm kind of getting the same way too, because like you know, bow hunting, you you essentially want to be as close as you can. So typically 30 yards and in. For that, I don't think you really need a stabilizer. But I mean, I I just typically leave my 12-inch bar on because I do like to shoot a lot of distance as well. So I'm just kind of lazy sometimes. Just leave it on.

Zakk Plocica: 1:02:03

Yeah, no, I don't blame you, man. I think um you got to figure out what works, and it's it's dude, and there's one thing I know with bow hunting, nothing is permanent, right? Every year there's changing, it's evolving as you kind of develop. Um, and how your hunting style or your shooting style or whatever kind of evolves, nothing's set in stone. So, one thing I've noticed with all the guys, like even from trail camera strategies to hunting strategies to the way they shoot their bow to the accessories on them, they'll change every year. Yep. I and we're guilty of it. So I don't think anything is ever set in stone. I think it's something you're constantly going to be changing and evolving and building off of based off whatever it is you're doing um and the style of hunting you do. I know every year there's something I change, you know, we see the trends. Um and it's just individual preferences, right?

JR Gettler: 1:02:54

It is, yeah. Um, I've even yeah, I've noticed it with myself too. Like I bought an index release for when I went to Ohio because I knew it's gonna be super cold. I'm like, I don't want to bring my hands out trying to get my hinge, so I'm like, I'm gonna get an index release just in case. Yeah.

Zakk Plocica: 1:03:06

I and then same thing with like stands, like lock-ons is kind of becoming a big thing again. Where it was saddle hunting the last couple years, hybrid options now that you know constantly changing. Everybody's kind of looking for that secret thing, whether it's with a bow or accessories or whatnot. And then at the end of the day, there is no secret, it comes down to the individual and their capability out in the woods. Um, but you know, quality equipment is definitely key uh and something that you can really trust and rely on. And one thing we have seen over the past, I would say, two or three years is just the durability side of the reliability that the bows have. Obviously, things happen and things can happen with any of the bows, whether it's a D Lamb or a Splinter or something like that. Uh, but we have seen the bows have been pretty um reliable uh across the board, I would say, with with the bows that we've sold. I mean, the lift had their issue with their limbs, but they fixed it, dude, like that. Uh, and they owned it. And so far, I mean, from then we really haven't seen any other like catastrophic consistent issues.

JR Gettler: 1:04:07

No, yeah. We've had uh, like I said, I think it was one lift X were a limb delaminated. Yeah. And they took care of it, you know. Super simple. Super fast.

Zakk Plocica: 1:04:15

So yeah, I would say when it comes to the bows this year, you definitely like we we say every you need to go shoot them, and they all really do offer something unique. Uh, I mean, if you have it's worth making the drive to shoot these different bows. And now with the tuning side that all of them are starting to offer, um, you know, most if it it's it's worth taking the time to learn to do it. Yeah, like because you can fix a lot of your own errors or a lot a lot of your own issues once you've dial in your form and technique. Right. Um, so it's cool, man. Hoyt did a fantastic job with the XTS tuning system. I'm really eager to see how that performs as we get more into the year because obviously we need more feedback and more people behind the bows to really understand uh and see how well it does, but there's no doubt in my mind it's gonna do well. Yeah. Um, Hoyt is just, I mean, it's a killer brand. Yeah, it's a legacy brand. They've been around forever.

JR Gettler: 1:05:02

Yep, they've always been a performing brand, they've always been reliable.

Zakk Plocica: 1:05:05

Yep. And then, you know, Matthews with their limbshift technology. I mean, that tuning system's awesome. Yeah. I'm I'm curious what BoTec, if they're gonna carry the deadlock light into the flagship bows, or if it's gonna be something different to the original deadlock um technology, which is honestly tough to beat. It is. So those are like when it comes to tuning-wise, your best tuning boat or easiest tuning bows, in my opinion, is gonna be like a Botec and a Matthews, and then it looks like potentially a Hoyt, and then you know, you've got your PSEs and primes, well, then Expedition with their new system as well. So all the Bows now really got great systems, but your top like four, like in there when we're not talking about Darton, like Dart and Darton's Darton's not really on my radar. Yeah, um, I mean, obviously, there's a lot of people that really like them. Um, it's just not been a demand for us here. Uh, but like when we talk about like tuning capability, like self-tuning, you can do it yourself without all the tools. You're looking at Matthews, Botec, Hoyt, uh, for the most part, and then the expedition bows.

JR Gettler: 1:06:03

Yeah. Um, I mean, I guess we could throw in elite too, but it's another brand we don't carry, but they have another easy tuning system as well. So um they're I think they're kind of slept on too, but yeah, unfortunately, they're not really asked for here, and we've never been able to carry them either.

Zakk Plocica: 1:06:18

Yeah, yeah, we haven't. I actually talked to one of the reps in uh TAC. Yeah. Um, we'll see it. Yeah, like you said, we just haven't had the demand for them. Um, and you know, we're all about as carrying many as brands as possible, so it might be a brand we bring in in the future, uh, depending on you know what we see. Right. Uh it'll definitely see. But I mean, lots of great options, man. Matthews again crushes it with the accessory line. Uh Hoyt crushes it as far as durability goes. Performance, you're not going to outperform the PSE bows. Like they are performance-driven machines that's in the name, performance-driven. That's what they do.

JR Gettler: 1:06:52

Um is definitely creeping up there. We had a slump with them, or I don't know if they've had a slump, but uh, they're definitely back on the radar, I think.

Zakk Plocica: 1:07:00

For this year, absolutely. They're up and coming, man. And then Expedition with the new Next Light series. Um, if we could get them in here, uh, there's just a lot of good options, man. Um, it's tough. I think they all stand out in some way. And like we said, I mean, Matthews as an overall machine, accessory-wise, they're top of the board. When it comes to durability-wise, you need robust. We've got Hoyt. When it comes to uh, like I said, the precision driven, just performance-wise PSE, those are your top three, I think. As of right now, what we see, those, in my opinion, are the top three brands.

JR Gettler: 1:07:35

I I definitely agree with you.

Zakk Plocica: 1:07:37

Prime and Prime and Expedition are they're there. I don't think they're to those other other those top three brands yet. We'll see what this year holds. And then I'm very curious again with BoTech. Um, I really want to see what BoTek comes out because I've always been a fan of their bows, man. They had some of the best draw cycles and again some of the best tuning capability. Um, but they just seem to fall a little behind uh as far as demand goes for us out here on the East Coast, particularly. So we'll see this year. Um I'm I'm I'm very curious because we have not seen anything, which is surprising.

JR Gettler: 1:08:09

Yeah, hopefully soon we'll be able to see the the bows soon. Yeah.

Zakk Plocica: 1:08:13

We shall see. We shall see. So you deter decided what bow you're gonna run this year.

JR Gettler: 1:08:17

I have not, um I'm honestly thinking it's gonna be a PSE. I'm thinking of Sicario, but Sicario, yeah. Um, I might do like what I was talking about, just put them all on a piece of paper and put them on a wheel somehow, spin it and shoot an arrow and just see I don't know. Yeah, that'd be exciting. It'd be an exciting video make.

Zakk Plocica: 1:08:35

It will. You know what? I wish they would come out with PSE is some grip options for people.

JR Gettler: 1:08:39

Yes.

Zakk Plocica: 1:08:39

Um I think that's what so PSE makes them misses the mark on accessories. That's where PSC really, really misses. They've got good stabilizers now and quivers. They've got to be. Yeah, the kill shock is awesome. Their two-piece quiver is fantastic. Um, but they meant like every bow needs leg limbs or some kind of stand, and PSC doesn't have it yet. Yeah, drives me insane. That's the one thing. PSC, yeah. We need some some kind of kickstand, and it needs to be removable or foldable or foldable. It's got to. Like if as a bow hunter, if you guys are gonna take it in the woods, you've got to be able to stow it.

JR Gettler: 1:09:12

Yeah, I know a couple guys that have bought the Go6 2.0s and put them on the PSEs. They have that lower stabilizer bushing, you can mount it in there. So I know a couple guys that have done that, dude.

Zakk Plocica: 1:09:21

You're hard pressed getting dudes that will mix brands.

JR Gettler: 1:09:24

Yes, I know.

Zakk Plocica: 1:09:24

That's like bow tech stabilizers, they're awesome. It's hard to put it on a different brand bow, though.

JR Gettler: 1:09:29

Yeah, yeah, I don't know. Some spray painting fixes that though. Yeah, yeah, I suppose. You paint it up, it doesn't matter.

Zakk Plocica: 1:09:35

Yeah, it doesn't matter. All the bows, yeah, that's it. Customize all the bows got great color options this year, dude. The the prime colorways are fantastic. Their um Brian really likes their sitco, their patterns look good.

JR Gettler: 1:09:47

They do, yeah. They they do a good job on their stuff. I I like Expedition a lot because there's so many options you can do, and everything's serious coded as well, so it's gonna hold up durability-wise, yeah.

Zakk Plocica: 1:09:55

Yeah, tough to beat. And then um, dude, the the prime so back to the prime, like their Morel colors, like their greens are sick looking with those carbon bars, they look so clean.

JR Gettler: 1:10:07

Yeah, Morel with the Morel scar, that's that's a sick dude, sick ammo.

Zakk Plocica: 1:10:11

Yeah, I don't know if they do the Morel scar anymore.

JR Gettler: 1:10:14

Um, yeah, I'm not sure. I know they they added a new one. It's um that osseo gear.

Zakk Plocica: 1:10:20

They have they have a pattern for yeah, they do have osseo. Oh, I bet that's pretty cool looking. Yeah, they don't have the Morel scar anymore. That's a bummer because that's a killer pattern. Yeah, that old tiger stripe kind of it's so cool looking. Yeah.

JR Gettler: 1:10:33

Yeah, I had that in the was it that was the um RVX RVX. Oh yeah. Did I have an RVX?

Zakk Plocica: 1:10:40

Dude, I've had a handful of Prime.

JR Gettler: 1:10:42

It was either an R VX or a Plus. Or maybe it was a Revex.

Zakk Plocica: 1:10:45

It was a RevX too. Yeah, Justin's got it now. Yeah, I was just talking to him yesterday. Yeah, that's a killer bow. That was a really good bow. Dude, Prime's had a lot of good bows in the past, man. I hope they really get some recognition this year with the divide series.

JR Gettler: 1:10:58

Yeah, their Nexus was like one of the best ones, the Black Series. Those were their two best bows.

Zakk Plocica: 1:11:02

Black three, dude. They had a black three and a black one. Uh the 31 and the 33 were awesome bows. And then yeah, the RevX 2 was a great bow. Yeah, dude, they've had some bangers in the past. Absolutely. Okay, yeah. So looking back, like, so this is just a quick reference of the carbon bows. The Hoyt Carbon RX 10 Ultra, that carbon bow, 33 inch, 33 and a half inch ATA, it's four and a half pounds. Yeah, it's pretty heavy. The Pizzicario, 3.9. That's a 33-inch bow with 3.9 pounds. That's PSE's carbon bows are the lightest, the lightest bows there are. Yeah.

JR Gettler: 1:11:41

Um, but they're not gonna hold up to Hoyt's Destiny, I can guarantee you that. No. If you run that thing over, it's gonna be done. Yeah, I think it'll be done.

Zakk Plocica: 1:11:47

You're yeah, not even close, dude. And I mean, and there's a big IBO difference from the RX10 Ultra to the Sicario. The RX10's 340, the Sicario's 357.

JR Gettler: 1:11:56

Yeah, almost 20 feet. Wow.

Zakk Plocica: 1:12:00

Yeah, that's crazy, dude. Crazy. What else we got? What else is new with the any bows? Is there anything we missed? Lots of good options. You want the FDS cam to upgrade your bows, you can get them now. You can get them to your local dealer. So you can definitely upgrade to the FTS cam. It's gonna cost you a little bit of money, um, but it's definitely doable. And uh you can upgrade that Mach 30, Mach 33, Mach 35 to the FDS Cam and get that little bit more performance if you definitely would like to. It's it's it's on the market now. Yeah.

JR Gettler: 1:12:28

Um, I don't think we've missed anything else. Um, we talked about Exhibition's new accessories, their new tuning system, which I'm I'm excited for us to get them in. I I really am. Yeah, price point. So they have dropped the price point, price point with the phone.

Zakk Plocica: 1:12:41

On par with aluminum. Yep. So that that puts them competitive now. I mean, they're they're no longer the middleman where it was like, uh, it's a it's an in-between an aluminum and a carbon. It's like they're a premium lightweight bow, different material at aluminum price point. That's pretty big.

JR Gettler: 1:12:57

Yeah. Um, yeah, hoist new tuning system. I'm really excited for that. It should be an awesome system, super easy to tune, it sounds like. Um, Matthews, they still have all their stuff with all the new accessories that they've added. Yeah, I think we've hit everything.

Zakk Plocica: 1:13:15

Yeah, a lot of good options, guys. Uh, I I'm I'm curious, you know, what are you guys seeing? What are your thoughts? Um, you know, what direction are you guys gonna go when it comes to the bows this year? Are you holding out? Are you gonna wait for 2027 models to come out? Um, are you you know looking at some of the 2026 bows? You know, PSC has really been the talk. Um, I think Sicario's been the most talked-about bow that we've seen. And then once uh Matthew's released that ARC series, that's been pretty popular as well. You know, but surprisingly, Hoyt, the alpha the alpha AX3, dude, that's we've sold more of those than than any of the others, I think. So definitely surprising. So give us some feedback. You know, what are your thoughts? What are you guys seeing? What direction are you going? What's your bow of choice for 2026? Yeah, um, because there is a lot of really great options. You know, are you gonna hold out for bow techs or are you just itching to spend your money now? Yeah, I am very curious from you guys. That's it, guys. All right, that's it. We got to get back to work. As always, we appreciate you guys listening. If you ever need anything, bow hunting wise, archery-wise, you can always head out to our website, streamoutfitters.com, for all of your archery and bow hunting needs. We can ship it directly to you, custom build your arrows. We sell arrows individually, we do it all. So if you ever need anything, hit the website. Uh, and you know, we appreciate you guys listening. Drop some feedback, give us some, you know, your thoughts on the 2026 bows. Let us know where they stand in your eyes, how you rank them, who's leading the way this year. So that's it, guys. Appreciate you guys watching. Follow along. We will see you guys in the next episode of the Archery Project.