Outdoor Life 2026 Bow of the Year — Full Breakdown & My Take

A bow hardly anyone is talking about just took the top spot, and it didn’t win on hype, sponsorship, or a spec-sheet race. We walk through Outdoor Life’s 2026 Bow Of The Year results and explain what actually matters when seven flagship hunting bows get pushed through a three-day test with three different shooters and 50-yard accuracy on the scoreboard.

We break down the full methodology, from the close-range feel scoring (draw cycle, back wall, grip, post-shot feel, and features) to the long-range grouping that decides the final winner. Then we unpack the real-world takeaways for bowhunters: why raw speed like the PSE Sicario’s numbers can come with a forgiveness cost, why ultra-light bows can feel jumpy until you add weight, and why details like valley feel and grip repeatability can make or break your confidence under pressure.

The biggest theme is shootability. We talk Hoyt’s standout grip and back wall, Mathews ARC 34’s smooth draw cycle and grip swap conversation, Darton’s push toward tuning without a bow press, and the Elite Varos features that helped it separate when groups got tight at 50 yards. If you’re searching “best hunting bow 2026,” “Outdoor Life bow test,” or “bow of the year,” this is the grounded breakdown that helps you walk into a pro shop with a smarter plan.

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Transcript

Why This Bow Test Matters

Zakk Plocica 0:00

Outdoor Life just dropped their 2026 bow of the year. Seven bows, over three days, over a thousand arrows. So today we're gonna break all of that down and give you guys my actual take on it. And we're not just gonna recap it, right? So welcome back to the Archery Project, guys. I'm your host, Zach Placea. Some of you guys may know, I have a company called Extreme Outfitters, one of the fastest growing archery shops and suppliers in the country. We provide archery equipment for archers across the nation. So if you ever need anything archer related, it doesn't matter what it is, we probably carry it. Head over to the website, extremoutfitters.com, use the code ArcheryProject and save on your purchase. Now, getting into this, right? Outdoor life bow of the year for 2026. Uh, I think this is probably one of the more legitimate bow tests any publications run, right? They do a really good job of this, right? They have real shooters, they have multiple shooters, uh, a real methodology on how they score and judge these bows, lots of arrows downrange. It's not just a you know, a recap of the specs of the bow, shot a couple times, and voila, you've got a winner. It's very um in-depth. They do a very good job of it, and it's they do as best of a can uh as best they can as being non-biased going into this. So I think you get pretty good results on it. Um, like every year, right? And they say this is the tightest race ever. And I would agree, um, we my shop extreme outfitters carries pretty much every one of these bows that they've tested. So I've shot and am familiar with almost all of these bows, but there is one that I have zero experience with. Turns out that bow's the winner, interesting enough. Um, so going into it the final day, there was basically three bows that were tied for like bow of the year on that final day. Um, and you know, we'll we'll really break that down and discuss that. Um, you know, but at the end of the day, just remember like these tests, still, while yes, one bow may win bow of the year, it's still when we talk about archery and bow, it's a personal thing, right? So you still need to remember, I would not go out and just buy a bow based off this test. Um, I would still encourage you to go and test the bows yourself and see which bow is right for you. So let's get into it, like how the test actually works, right? Again, seven bows. You have the Elite Varos, the Matthews Arc 34, the the Alpha, the Hoyt Alpha AX33, the PSE Sicario, the Expedition Next Lite 33, the Botec Alliance 30, which I thought is weird. It's like they always have all these long ATA bows, and then there's a random short bow in there. I figured they would have gone with like the Alliance 33 versus the 30, but I don't know how they choose the bows. Maybe the bows are just sent based off the manufacturer, whichever one they want tested. But again, Botec Alliance 30, the shortest bow out of all the bows they tested. And then the Dart, the Darton Tri-Tech 33. You'll notice there's one bow brand missing. It's Prime, which surprised me because Prime's Divide series, I feel, is pretty strong and they're very good shooting bows. So I was very surprised whenever I did not see it in the lineup for bow of the year or bows tested. Uh, when you look at it, they've got three different shooters. So you got PJ Riley. I actually just talked to PJ the other day about this a little bit because there was some pushback for this actual test, interesting enough. Then you've got Alex Robinson, who is the outdoor live editor, and then you've got Connor Coughlin, who works at Lancaster Archery in the e-commerce department. So you've got different skill levels, different preferences, and that's what matters when it comes to testing, right? It's not just professional archers or one dude, it's a handful of different individuals with different skill sets, different capabilities that come together and determine the overall winner and the order of how these bows are ranked. So they do a really good job with it. When you get into the testing, day one, they start off with what they call the five-foot test. And essentially, it's like how every other shop does it. You know, you go through and you just shoot the bows up close, right? Every shooter shoots every single bow, and they get scored between a one and a five is a scoring, and you they score on draw cycle, back wall, grip, post shot feel, and then the features that the bow offers. So that's tuning, different integrations and whatnot when we talk about features. So nobody scores these bows until everyone has shot everything. So this eliminates any of the first impression biases, right? Like when you go in and you shoot a bow and you're like, oh, this bow's amazing, but you don't have anything to compare it to. They shoot all the bows, then they start the actual scoring process. Pretty good, pretty intuitive. Um, I like the way they do it. Um, and then day two moves into the accuracy testing. So they've got five shot groups at 50 yards. So there's three groups per bow per shooter, and they're looking for which bow, you know, essentially groups the best at distance, right? We do something similar with the bow wars, whenever we put one or two bows against each other and we look at our 30-yard grouping, it's just seeing how well these group bows group against each other. Um, and it's regardless of individual preferences or their shooting style. So they they measure the groups, they compare them, and then boom, you get an answer into you know how each of these bows group based off three different individuals. Uh, and then day three is the final shootoff with the top three bows. So they get two more groups per bow per shooter. So that's in 30 extra arrows per bow for score, and then that's when things get decided. Pretty good, pretty um, pretty involved. It's a three-day testing process, which I think is fantastic. It's not just a one and done. Uh, so it does take a little bit of time, and like I said, I think they do a good job with it. Now, when we get into like how the bows are set up, the speed test is done at 60 pounds. They're shooting a 389 grain arrow. The draw lengths are set at 29 and a half inches. Um, so you're not looking at IBO specs, right? 70 pounds, 30 inches with a 350 grain arrow. It's closer to an actual hunting arrow weight. Um I personally would probably bumped up over 400 grains between 420 and 450 to get an average of you know a true hunting weight, which I think is what we see predominantly going out of the shop somewhere between those weight ranges, but irrelevant. Um, there's consistency amongst their testing. Uh from there, uh, we look at the the thing that really changed with each of them is the stabilizer configuration. They set the bow up based off how they feel, they felt, right? When we talk about stabilizers just to get the bow to hold better for the grouping side of things, but they ran Excel products through the entire testing. So all the bows had an Excel driver site. The stabilizers they used were the Excel antler ridge, front and back bars if they decided to run a back wall back bar. Um, so they had a baseline when it came to accessories, just very consistent across the testing side of things. Um, so again, seven bows were shot, right? And I was a little surprised. So everyone knows, right? That's there's no surprise here. The Elite Varros was the winner. I think it took everybody by surprise, including myself. Um, because I'll be honest, we sell all of these bows except what we will be having, it looks like Darton coming in. And I have shot a Darton bow, shot it a couple weeks ago, phenomenal. Um, but there's been zero demand for elite bows for what I've seen. And uh I think that stands the demand has not really been there from what I saw across the different social channels. Uh so I found it kind of interesting, right? And that's what's kind of cool about this because you know, uh some of the bows don't have the same marketing hype, but they outperform the bows that do have the marketing hype. So this is a really good test and it brings things to light. I think it goes does a good job of bringing these bows back to um talking points for for everybody across the industry. Um, and you know, Elite, like I said, it just hasn't been a big demand for what I've seen. Like we have not, I haven't had really anybody come in my shop. We sell a lot of bows. I have all the different manufacturers for the most part. And Elite has not been one that's talked about or requested really, you know, handful here and there, but nothing we've really seen. And the same thing I look at across the social channels, like there, it's not a big talking point. But hopefully this will bring it to um bring a little bit more attention around it, and you know, we'll see some more discussion around it. And that's again, that's a great thing. These bows are based off how they're performed, not the marketing behind it. So pretty cool. So first bow, the PSE Sicario. Um, you know, this bow, it was the fastest bow out of any of the bows they tested. No surprise there. Uh 305 feet per second at 60 pounds with a 389-grain arrow. It was 20 feet per second faster than the next closest bow in the test. So it absolutely smoked every bow when we talk about speed. Um, and I think it was the fastest bow they've ever tested. You know, the Sicario is just that. It is a speed bow. I did not think personally that the Sicario would win bow of the year. Um, while there's a ton of hype behind it, the bow does shoot good. It's the craziest speed bow you'll ever shoot. It's a it is a harder bow to shoot for most people. If you're not a really good shooter, it's just gonna be a less forgiving bow. The easiest speed bow you'll ever shoot, but when you stack it next to like a Mach 33, a Mach 35, an ARC 34, any of the longer ATA bows, it's gonna be more difficult to shoot. The wow factor is there when we talk about speed. Um, but as far as shootability, it's gonna be a little bit less easier bow to shoot, right? It's got a five and like a quarter inch brace height. Um, but the thing about it is, you know, when we talk about it, it doesn't draw like a speed bow, it doesn't shoot like a speed bow, um, but it's still a speed bow. It's gonna be harder to shoot. Uh, they said it is stiffer than any of the other bows as far as draw cycle goes, uh, but it's not harsh. Um, you know, and I again I think this is all personal interpretation on these different things, right? Um, I I've shot the Sicario at 58 pounds. I shot the CEO of PSE's Sicario before they were leased, and it was 58 pounds, and I felt like I could have ripped the limbs off of it. I think the FDS cam just has an incredible draw cycle across the board for any of the PSE bows um and any bows in general. I think it is one of the um smoother drawing bows. Not the smoothest, but incredibly smooth nonetheless. Um, you know, again, the fastest bow. So the great thing about that, uh, it does give you the ability to shoot a heavier arrow faster. That's the cool thing about it, right? Um you can shoot, you can add weight to your arrow and still get really good speeds out of it. Um, and I think that's a better argument for the scicario than just raw speed itself. The fact that it allows you to shoot a heavier arrow faster, you know, better penetration, better, better kinetic energy on those, you know, gives you more margin of error essentially when you're hunting. When we talk about those marginal shots. So that's the the scicario. Next, we move into the expedition next light. It was the lightest bow that they tested. So 3.7 pounds with that 33-inch ATA, it's that magnesium riser. Um they said it had some vibration and jump out of the hand, uh, just bare bow. But once they got the stabilizers on it, it virtually removed all of that, which I would agree. Um, you know, anytime you look at a bow that's super light, you're gonna have, I think, for the most part, a little bit more feedback. It just the the bow doesn't absorb the energy as well. But as soon as you start stacking accessories on it, it really starts to minimize any vibration that you get. And I think now looking at all the bows, like your flagship bows, post shot feel is pretty good on just about all of them. I would say bare bow even. And then as soon as you add any of your accessories, it's virtually gone. Um, the what do we look at it? So if you're they were talking about if you're a backcountry hunter because it's so light, it might be a great option for you because though it's so light. Um the trade-off with it being such a light bow is it just doesn't settle on target as well and hold as well. You have to add weight in order to do that. So you can fix that, but out of the um right out of the box, you know, bare bow, it's gonna be a little bit more difficult to shoot. And I find that true as well. You know, I'm a carbon bow guy for the last couple of years, and I find that when my bows are extremely light, I have a harder time shooting them. When I add weight to them or I shoot an aluminum bow that's a little bit heavier, the bow just holds on target better. It's just easier to shoot. Um, so while a great bow, a light bow is fantastic, it can be a little bit harder for you to hold on target. The shootability, I mean, as far as like holding, is just a little bit less. It's a little bit harder. That's why stabilizers are so important. But I will say as you get into longer ATA bows, that becomes less apparent. And a prime example, my Mach 35, I shot it at TAC without stabilizers because the stabilizers I wanted, I was sold out of. And it shot phenomenal out to distance, but I know once I put bars on that thing, that thing is gonna hold like a rock. So Expedition, the X Lite again, another fantastic bow. From there, we move into the uh Botec Alliance of 30. Um it didn't make the final cut. Um, you know, there wasn't anything spectacular said about it, right? Um they said there were no, you know, losers among the seven bows, but it just with the competition, it just nothing really stood out, nothing really wild about the bow. Um, which says a lot about where the industry is currently, right? There's so much technology that if you're not, if you don't have something that kind of jumps out, you kind of get lost in in the masses. So the bowtek alliance, I think, is a fantastic bow. When we talk about tuning capability, like they have the deadlock tuning system. They were one of the first to have it out there with the you know pressless tuning. I think the Bowtek Alliance is a fantastic shooting bow. I personally would have opted for the Alliance 33 to put up uh in competition against these guys because it does come with a lot of really great features. The deadlock tuning system, uh, and then your flip uh flip disc technology, whether you want to run on comfort or performance, is combined into one mod, so you don't got to buy anything extra. The BoTek Alliance, I think, is a pretty slept-on bow and fantastic bow, but it didn't make it to the finals. There's really not a lot covered on it. Um, so is what it is. Moving from there, the Dart, the Darton Tri-Tech 33. I didn't understand all the hype behind the Darton bows initially. I didn't. I was like, what's so what's so great about these bows? And then I went and shot one at Total Archer Challenge in Tennessee, and I get it. I get it, guys. Like the tuning capability that these things provide is phenomenal. And the biggest thing that surprised me was the draw cycle on this bow. I shot the tri Tri-Tech 33 at 87 pounds, and it is like I'll put it up there as one of the best drawing high poundage bows on the market. Like it was incredible. I don't know speed-wise at those poundage because I didn't get to do that, but as far as like just hold, feel the bow and the features that it offers, unbelievable. Darton has done a really, really good job. Um, again, it didn't make the final cut though. Um, one of the big things about the Darton bow is it is one of only two bows that you can do virtually all of your tuning without a press. So I think that's honestly that's the direction everything's going, right? The more you can do without a press, the better. The better it is for shop, the better it is if you're a DIY guy tuning stuff yourself. So it's one of the only two bows that can do it. You can adjust the timing of the bow without a press, you can move the cams without a or um adjust for your left and right tears without a press. It's super cool. But whoops, it did not make the final cut um as far as top three. So again, another great option, but it just wasn't there. From there, we move to the Hoyt Alpha AX33. This bow is an absolute banger. Um, Hoyt, I think aluminum bows are just awesome. Um, I like them better than their carbon bows. Personally, I think they hold on target extremely well. They're just a very forgiving and they're incredibly durable. Like when you look at Hoyt, Hoyt has a 1500 dry fire test that their bows have to go through before they make it to market. It includes the AX90, right? They had to up the hardware on that bow just to keep it intact. So Hoyt shoots really well and incredibly durable. Um, this bow won best grip and best back wall in the tests, which I don't think that's a surprise. Hoyt grips are they're great, man. Very repeatable. The vital point grip, I think, is what it's called, just a good feeling grip. Uh, and the back wall, you know, I think all the bows really have a pretty solid back wall, but they voted the AX33 as the best back wall. So pretty interesting. The big thing with the new Hoyt's this year is their XCS tuning system. Uh, it's again very intuitive and very fast. It's very easy to adjust your tears based off their XTS tuning system, left and right adjustments. Very fast, very easy. Um, let's see, it put up speeds with those arrows at 285 feet per second. And let me see if I have notes here for actual overall speeds. Um, yeah, so I'll give you the rundown of speeds before I go down to the last couple bows. So when we look at arrow speeds, again, 60 pounds, 389 grain arrow, 29 and a half inch draw length, the PSC Sicario again, 305 feet per second, 20 feet per second faster than all the other bows. The Elite Varos, 285.8 feet per second, the Hoyt Alpha AX33, 285.6 feet per second, the Matthews Arc 34 with the Z mod, 284.1 feet per second. So that means if you go with their standard mod, you're gonna get more speed out of it. It's gonna be in the 290s. The Expedition Next Lite 33, 280.3 feet per second, the BoTe Alliance 30, 280.5 feet per second, and then Darton Tri-Tech 33, 278.2 feet per second. So the Darton was the slowest out of the all the bows. Um, your Matthews Arc, your Hoyt AX3, and the Elite Varos were all within like one foot per second difference. So they're right on top of each other. So speed wise, very close. Sicario, a whole nother level, and then you've got the the Alliance and the the Darton, which really were much slower. So maybe that's why Darton's draw cycle is so good. And I don't know if they shot, I'm gonna assume they shot the Botec on comfort, is what I would assume. You know, obviously, so if you go from comfort to performance, you're gonna gain 10 feet per second. So it's gonna put it up there in the 290 feet per second. So those were your speeds for all the bows. Okay, going back into it, the Matthews Arc 34. Um they said PJ in particularly compared it to drawing a recurve. Um, this is the the draw, the draw cycle can conversation. So just even pressure the whole way through, no spot where you feel where you're you're powering through it, right? It's just very consistent draw cycle, and I can attest to that. I would say the Matthews Z mods are fantastic when it comes to draw cycle. Um, but one of the things I noticed that they didn't test or talk about from all the notes I got is the actual valley. The problem for me with the Matthews bow is the valley is so short, even with the Z mod. And that's personal preference, right? Everyone likes a bow difference, but it's worth noting, I think, uh, the different valleys of the bow. I mean, I I in all of our videos, Extreme Outfitters, I make sure we test the valley because I know people want to hear about it, but I don't have any notes on them testing it. And I don't remember seeing in the video them talking about the valley at all. But I will say the Matthews Arc has one of the least forgiving valleys, makes letting the bow down very, very easy, but you're holding weight, you know, you you just can't relax on the bow whatsoever. So, and again, not a deal breaker, it's just a different feel. Again, very personal preference. Um, so he was talking about with the Z mod, you know, how well of a how good of a job it did for the draw cycle. And like again, I agree with him on it. Um, again, it's set at 60 pounds. He guessed it was 50 pounds. It's just very, very easy to draw. And then the other big note for the the Matthews bows was just how light of a bow is it is, right? It's a 34-inch axle to axle bow that's aluminum, and it comes in at 4.3 pounds, so incredibly light. I mean, it's as light, if not lighter, than your carbon bows, it's right there. Um, I think the it's it's obviously the um Expedition Next Light beat it by you know it was 3.7 pounds, but it's still it's an aluminum bow, uh 34 inches, so it's an inch longer, and it's 4.3 pounds. So awesome. Again, 284 uh feet per second with the Z mod. Uh and like I said, if you go to those standard mods, you it's a little bit stiffer, you do get more performance out of it. So you'll be in the 290s with that. Um, and again, the the valley is less forgiving, so you really got to hold on to that bad boy. But again, not a bad thing. It does, I think, probably helps most people shoot a little bit better because you gotta stay, um, you got to stay focused on what you're doing and you can't relax when allow that arrow to creep a little bit. So you gotta stay in it. Um, their biggest problem with the bow, surprise, surprise, was the grip, right? I don't think this is anything new. Everyone hates the Matthews grips, the factory engage grip. It's just, I mean, that's is what it is. But Matthews has done a really good job with giving you other grip options within their lineup, right? They've got the taper, the contour, and the engage. Everyone hated apparently the engage grip. So they all um they all swapped it for the Ultra View UV B reel grip uh before the final day, and they agreed that it was worth changing and um that the rounded style grip is just a miss on the manufacturer. And I don't, I don't think uh, and it's again, it's not a deal breaker, it's an easy fix. Uh, you can literally there's a ton of Matthews grips to choose from. The B reel grip, I think, is probably the most popular because it's squared off and Very repeatable. The problem with the engage grip is it feels like for me too, it wants to roll in your hand a little bit. So it's a little bit harder to um shoot repeatably. And I think it's easier to induce hand torque with that style grip. Um, again, that's just me. Uh, but I think these guys have similar opinions on it. And then finally, the Elite Varos. This bow is not on our radar whatsoever. Um, you know, I don't know if that's good or bad. Uh, but you know, it came to a sub as a surprise to me. Uh, it's and I didn't know anything about it. I actually had to go in and do a little bit of, you know, watching and reading on it here this over this weekend. So it's again, it's a 32-inch axle to axle bow. So it's a little bit shorter than some of the other bows, right? Majority of the other bows were 33s and 34s. Um, it's a heavy bow, though. It's 4.75 pounds, which I could see why it holds on target so well. We know for the most part, a heavier bow just holds on target really well. It's just more stable and aims well. Um, it had the most features of any bow in the test, which they've got really great tuning system. And like I said, so I'm speaking from just reading. I've never shot this bow. This is the only bow that I have not personally shot and not played with. So I'm going based off what I see. How well the tuning system works, I don't know. It looks like it works great, but I haven't personally tuned one, so I couldn't give you true um feedback on that. But from what they said, it's fantastic. You got all your different tuning options in it, um, your different features that it offers. I think it's like all the other bows, right? It's got your integration, your pick mouth for your IM, and then for your IMS RS, all of that. But the big thing is the tuning features on the bow, how intuitive they are and how well they work. You know, again, a bow that doesn't require a press to do any tuning on it, from timing to, you know, adjusting for your left and right tears. You can do it all on the bow without going back to a press, putting it, twisting anything up, changing anything, shimming the cams. You don't have to do it with the bow. So pretty intuitive, pretty cool. Uh, and I think that's where we're headed with pretty much all the bows. Um, the only time you're gonna need to press really is to change the strings. So they said this bow had the best post-shot feel, um, the best accuracy numbers, most consistency, and it was the winner. Um, so let's dig into why it is the winner in this next session, in this next section, right? So the final three. Three bows after three days, three bows made the cut for top three bows. Um, going into day three, PJ liked the Matthews Arc 34, Alex liked the Hoyt Alpha AX33, and Connor liked the Elite. Um, so there were three different shooters and three different picks, and that's how close these bows were, right? Everyone kind of had their own preferences going into this, what felt better. Um, but the groups didn't lie, right? So the accuracy numbers are what decided the winner of the bow of uh bow of the year. The elite averaged just under three inches across all three shooters at 50 yards. The Hoyt and Matthews both average around three and a half, so it was close. But the Hoyt, three different shooters averaged almost a half inch smaller group or tighter group than the other bows, which is impressive. I mean, you can't deny that. I mean, that's three different guys, and that's an average amongst all these bows, and it just held and shot tighter than any of the other bows. Um, you know, and I think half inch may sound kind of small, but if you're an archer, you know it's not. I mean, it's at hunting distances, the further you shoot, the easier the bow is to shoot. That's what you want. The bow is gonna you're gonna be more accurate at distance. Um, and as you know, things start to open up at distance, you that's when you have your misses. If you're shooting, you know, animals, you know, at those further distances, prong horn, whatever you're hunting, you want something that's gonna shoot well under pressure and shoot easily and feel like you just can't miss with. And apparently the elite varos is that bow. So it also had um, so moving to individual category winners into the final. So the Hoit won the back wall, the Matthews won as far as draw cycle goes, which again that's personal, I think, in my opinion. Uh, and then the elite won post-shot feel, and surprising. I I kind of want to shoot this bow at this point just to see my opinion on it. Um I don't know. I think um it's interesting. I did not see the elite being the winner for this. I just didn't more solely based off the public demand, right? No one's talking about these bows, right? Um and the public has a say in a lot of this, right? I I'll get into my my thoughts here shortly. But you know, on on pure fuel preferences, the the bows were all over the place. Um, again, the accuracy numbers are what decided it. Um let's see. Okay, this was one this was interesting to me as well. So the the let off. When we talk about the elite draw cycle, um, out of the box, the elite was runs at 90% let off. I don't think anyone I know likes shooting a bow at 90% let off because of how it dumps into the back wall. Um so initially, all three shooters scored the draw cycle lower because of the big dump at the end um into the holding, you know, the back side of the bow. Uh, but they can't, but the elite camp system does let you dial it back uh without a press. You can change the let off without a press. They dropped it to 80 uh from 90 to 80, and it instantly changed the feel of the bow, right? Smoother draw cycle, better aiming. The bow held better. There was no dump into the back wall. I'm assuming it changed the value of the bow, make the bow a little bit easier to let down, versus like 90% trying to have to force that thing down. Um, so again, 90% might sound great because you're holding weight on the left, the the back half of the bow, but I don't think it makes you a better shooter. I actually think it makes you probably a little of a worse shooter because you can relax relax a little bit too much, um, and then your shot just isn't as as good. Um so keep that in consideration. Being able to adjust the let off on a bow is is big. Uh, you know, the PSE bows from from me, dude, when they used to come at 90%, I hated them. Like I thought 90% was terrible, but now they've changed with the FTS cam and uh you have 70 to 85%. So you got a lot of different let off options within that. I personally, if you have a bow that's that high of a let off, 90%, I would instantly go down to 80 to 85%. Personally, um, and then let's talk about forgiveness. Uh, so they said forgiveness was a separator that kept everyone coming back, right? So we had multiple shooters that um noted that lazy shots, shots where they didn't do everything perfectly still grouped well with the elite. So that's what you want, man. Like a bow hunting rig, you want to be forgiving. Whenever you're not perfect, you can still hit what you're aiming at and be accurate and consistent with it. Uh and PJ said directly, he says, you could get a little lazy and the stare the arrow still went where you wanted it to. And again, for bow hunters, uh, you're not always going to be perfect, especially when you're you're hunting, man. You got all that pressure, awkward footing, weird angles, um, weird positions in your tree stand. I think forgiveness matters more than anything in the field. And that's when we talk about your bow and your arrow build, right? You need to consider your arrow, right? The from the diameter to the veins you run on it, to the head that you put on it. You want something that's forgiving so that when you're not perfect, the bow still hits its mark. That's critical. Um, so elite's features. Here's a little bit more on them. So they have the Picatini mount option up site up front for your site. Um, they have Picatini rails top and bottom for their rack accessories. Kind of cool. So they have their set system for cameling, so no bow press, just a bolt. And then they have a uh timing system that requires no bow press. Only two bows in the test with no pressing tuning, right? No press tuning, the elite and the darton. So pretty cool. Two bows that um are kind of obviously a little more slept on. Darton's been pretty popular this year, but I just haven't seen a lot of them except for when I went to Total Archer Challenge, but not a lot of crust coming through our shop, um, which I'm hoping that changes because I'm planning on hopefully bringing them in here soon. Um, so if you're somebody who does your own tuning, or if you own a shop, right, and you want efficiency with tuning and getting bows out of the shops, right? You don't want to have to fight a bow. You want to be able to, you know, tune the bow, make the adjustments. Once you know the bow's setup and square, right? Everything's leveled as it should be. You're shooting your correct arrow. You can just do your all adjustments right there in front of your paper tuner. Dude, that's a that's a dream for a shop or somebody doing it themselves, right? You don't got to constantly go back, cover your steps back, put it in a press, press it, make your changes. You don't got to do that anymore. So this is pretty intuitive, and I think it's uh fantastic. Um, the biggest knock for the elite was the actual grip because it's slippery. Uh, they said the design and shape was really good. Um, and apparently the design had a lot of input from your target archers, which if anybody knows accuracy, it's target archers. So they had a lot of input with the grip. Um, but they said the finish just kind of lets you down because it's slick, and uh, you know, I think like anyone else, there's a pretty easy solution. PJ stated it. Um, you can use some kind of grip tape on the back half. It's a very cheap fix on, you know, a$1,200 bow. Um, it works grow works great to accommodate it. They said that maybe it's a little ridiculous, but it does work. And I think, I mean, most of your bows, you're gonna put some kind of grip tape or some kind of grip enhancement on the bow just to make the grip a little bit less slick as a bow hunter. It's not a big deal. Um, the speed, the elite, and the hoyt both hit 285, the Matthews hit 284 with the Z mods, so essentially identical across the bow board. There was really no speed differentiator between any of them, so that was not a factor. And I think that's a sweet spot, man. Um, not overly fast. 280s to two two nine mid 290s is a sweet spot for tuning a bow. So they hit the mark there with that 60 pounds, 29.5 inches, 389 grain arrow. So um, my take on all of this again. I was surprised just based off the public's hype for the bows this year. I had in my top three, I figured we were gonna have a Darton Tri-Tech 33, an ARC 34, and then honestly, the Sicario because of the hype behind it. Now, I would not name it bow the Sicario Bow of the Year just because of the shooting. It is more difficult to shoot, man. I mean, if you want a bow of the year, the Mach 33, it was the winner last year. It's obviously not gonna be the winner again, but that that bow really covered everything. But when you look at that the top two, you know, the Arc 34 and the Darton Tri-Tech, I thought those were gonna be neck and neck when it came to bow of the year. Um, but clearly, man, the grouping, it just wasn't there with the Darton. Um, and even the Matthews Arc 34 just didn't group as well as the Elite. So, and that was the final thing. So, it's a really great test, man. Um, they do a really good job with it. PJ and the guys, uh, I think it's pretty as unbiased as you can potentially get. Obviously, there's going to be some biases within within it, but they do a really good job with it, man. I think it's honest, and um, they're not telling you to go out and buy this bow. And I can assure you, there's no money behind it when it comes to um which bow they choose. And that was stated from some of the guys that tested it. There's there's no money involved, right? They get the bows, they test the bows, they give their honest feedback. That's it. That's how it wins. It's a really great system. They think they do a good job, they really cover it as far as testing goes. Um, the only thing I would like to see different is the value of each of the bows, maybe talked about a little bit discussed a little bit more. Um, but they do a good job. So if somebody walked in my shop and asked which one to buy, you know, I I could not, and I don't think any other shop owner would, would be like, this is bow of the year, this is the bow you need. Um it really comes down to what's important to you and what you what fits your needs uh and your application, right? Um if we talk about like draw draw cycle, like that's the biggest thing for you because maybe you got some shoulder issues or you just want to be able to shoot a bow a lot and not really struggle with it. Uh, you know, the Arc 34 is with the Z Mods, I think is you know a really great option. Um I also think the FDS cams on the PSE bows are worth considering as well. As and the Botec Alliance 33 on comfort, you know, those are really great drawing bows, in my opinion. And you know, again, even the Darton Tri-Tech 33 I thought was fantastic. And you know, I was told I'm not a good candidate for um draw cycle feel because of my background and physique, maybe. I don't know, but um, I personally think that those bows all draw very, very well. The thing with the R34 is just the valley, it's very it's a lot less forgiving. Um, you know, back wall, man. I was really surprised with this. I know the Hoits have a good back walls, um, right out of the box, zero complaints on them. Um it holds really well. I think the Hoyt does have a pretty good valley. I think they do a good job with it. It's a little bit more of a forgiving valley. Um, so if back wall is a major concern for you, like you just want something that's a rock solid, the Hoyt AX3 does a really good job with that. But I also think the next light does. The next light 33, I think, has a very, very good back wall. Um, it just holds really, really well, as does the bow that was not in here, the Prime Divide 33 with that six-inch brace height. I think that bow is um pretty slept on. Um, I've got one actually right behind me. I think it's a fantastic bow and it shoots really, really well. It holds on target extremely well. So I just I'm I'm curious as to why that bow wasn't in there because I think it could have been a in the, you know, at least in the conversation, because it is a fantastic bow. So I'm not sure why that wasn't. Um, but yeah, again, you know, the XTS tuning system with the Hoyt, it's a great new addition to the Hoyt bows. I think it makes tuning really, really good. Um and you know, back wall, Hoyt, next slide 33 for me, and then I think the the Prime Divide series, again, really good back walls. So this is uh the speed argument thing to me. Uh it's it's the speed is not really that while it's important for us to know the speeds, I just don't think it is with all the bows now. I don't even think it's really a concern because all the bows put up really good numbers, in my my opinion. I mean, within let's see, let me pull this back up. Um you know, 280 to 285 feet per second is the average for all of these different bows, right? Obviously Sicario's in a different level, it's in a league of its own. Um but any of these bows you get with speed is a factor, I don't think it's it's any of them is is a problem. Um that small of a difference of feet per second, you can manipulate all that with arrow weight, uh, in my opinion. You know, if you're shooting anywhere between a 400 and 450 grain arrow, and any of those weights, I think, will do just about anything you want to do, especially when we talk about whitetail. Um, those speeds are absolutely fine. You can get away with a little bit lighter arrow with a little bit more FOC to carry that energy. Uh, so I think the speed thing isn't really a big deal. But now, if you are the speed guy, though, the Sicario is going to be the bow for you. Like that bow pounds, there's no one within the competition that even comes close to the Sicario. So if that's it, I mean that's the bow for you. Um and again, I think it's all comes down to personal feel. I think you the best thing you can do as if when you're somebody that watches these style um uh reviews, I think it's it's really great because it gives you a basic understanding for each of the bows and kind of where they are kind of strong, right? Because you got three different opinions on it, which kind of come together and give you a kind of a an average. So it's really does give you a good idea based off what you're looking for. Uh, so it's great to look at. But at the end of the day, I think it's still worth walking into your pro shop and testing the bows for yourself versus picking one that you know Extreme Outfitters says is fantastic, or that uh outdoor life nominates bow of the year, or um, field and stream nominates bow of the year. Whatever it is, I think it's worth taking that information into consideration, but going to your shop and really determining what is what works in your eyes. Um, again, I just didn't see the Elite Varos being bow of the year. Um, I really honestly like it come down to it, like the Arc 34 I figured would have been bow of the year. Um one demand for it. Demand is crazy. I saw see more ARC 34s than anything I feel like. We know Matthews just outsells bows, like Matthews crushes it. Like they are the leader within the industry. No question. Especially when we talk about bow sales and marketing, they crush it and they have a cult following. They've done a fantastic job with it. So I really saw that being the bow of the year this year with the Arc 34 because of their limbshift technology, because of the ability to go from a Z mod or a standard mod, because of their integration system. I just feel like Matthews does a really good job. Catches if you can, right? They do a killer job with it. I mean, it's it's hard to deny them. Very, very hard. And then I saw I figured that the the Darton Tri-Tech would have been a little bit higher up there just because of the technology that Darton has. Pretty much every bow has like Darton patents on it. Like Darton is like the leader in technology, and now they're bringing these bows, you know, to light, and they're actually top contenders, big heavy hitters, you know, major players within the game at this point with their tuning um systems and just all the features that they offer. They do a really good job and uh they shoot really, really well. I'm surprised. Um, but you know, it is what it is, man. The elite varos crushed it. They it won it based solely, you know. The defining factor was the grouping at distance, and it was a half-inch difference, and it made the difference for them. I mean, so basically, all the bows are neck and neck at this point. You there's no bad bow within the 2026 lineup. I don't think there's any bad bow. All the bows just absolutely pound, it just really comes down to shooter preference. Um, yeah, it's um interesting, man. I um I just I was a little blindsided, as I think most people were. I saw some pretty funny comments and stuff from other people, but I have a couple other notes here. Let's look at um so the five-foot score. I'm gonna go recap a couple of these things. Uh, so when we look at we're gonna start from the elite and we'll go down. So when we talk about features, the elite scored a five, the back wall scored a four, the draw cycle scored a three, and I think that was with the at 90%, and that change when they went to 80%. The grips scored a 3.6 average, and the post shot was a five. So really good score. The total for that was a 20.6. Obviously, five, 10, 15, 20, 25. The highest you could score was 25, it scored a 20.6. The second place bow was the Hoyt. It scored a 20.2. Features was a three, back wall was a 4.6, the draw cycle was a 3.6, the grip was a five, so perfect for the grip, and the post-shot feel was a four. 20.2 was the total. Third place was the Matthews Arc 34. So features were a three, which I really thought the features would have been much higher than that. I'm really, really surprised because it is loaded with features, like I just said, and their limb shift technology, all of their bridge lock integration systems, their different module systems. I mean, you can change that bow from 55 to 80 pounds with the swap of a mod without doing a limb limb swap. So I don't know. I would have definitely scored their features like a five. Uh their back wall 4.3. I think they have a really great back wall. Their draw cycle, a five. I don't know if I would have scored it a five. Um, the Z mod is good, but I think there are some bows that have a little bit better draw cycle. Um, again, their grip was a three, which I think that's, you know, I'm surprised it scored that high. Everyone I talk to swaps a Matthews grip for either B real grip or changes from the engage. And then the post shot feel was a four. It scored a 19.3. I would have scored a little bit higher, I think. The Darton was your fourth place bow. The features were a four. Again, I really think Darton has really good features. I think four is pretty good. The back wall was a 2.6. I don't know. Um, the back wall felt good whenever I shoot it. I would probably need to shoot it again as a refresher, but they scored it a 2.6. The draw cycle was a 3.6. I thought the Darton Tri-Tech draw cycle was amazing. Um, their grip was a 3.3 and their post-shot feel was a three. I did shoot the bow loaded, um, not bare bow. So there was that. It scored a 16.5. PSE Sicario coming in at fifth. Um, features two. I don't think there's any surprise there. PSE lacks on the tuning system, which the Easy 220 shims um, their Easy 220 shim system is fantastic, but it requires a press. It's uh a little bit more, you know, it's not as premium of a system. It works great, don't get me wrong. I do like the system, but you can't, you can only macro tune it. You can't micro-tune it, right? You can't, you know, just those little bitty adjustments, you can't do it. You got to go back to the rest. So I can see why that's an issue. And then they don't have limb legs, and they don't have all the feature options that your other bows do. So I understand why it didn't score very high as far as features go. The back wall on the PSC bows, I think, is good. Um, I I like it. Uh the Sicario seems like it's got a pretty solid back wall as much as I've shot it. Um, the draw cycle on it, dude. I really was surprised at this. If they scored it at 2.6, I would have given the FDS cam draw cycle on the Sicario at 60 pounds like a four because the bow draws really good. Like I said, I shot it at 58 pounds and the draw cycle on it is awesome, man. The FDS cam system is amazing. You gain everything and you sacrifice nothing going to this cam, especially from the EC2 to the FDS. Cam and it just bangs, it pounds, it holds really, really well. Um, the design of it's really, really good. Your let off options are fantastic. I thought the draw cycle on this Sicario was fantastic. So, you know, that's my opinion, though. That would have been one of four. Uh, the grip, they get scored a 4.3. I think it's pretty good. I think PSCs have a really good grip, you know, with that carbon riser. And then the post shot feel was a three. I'm not gonna argue with that because that carbon bow, it's so fast and there's so much energy out of it. Obviously, that energy's got to go somewhere. And without bars on it, there is feedback from it. There is going to be hand shock on that bow. Uh, it doesn't have that same dead, um, dead feeling like some of the other bows that are either a little bit heavier and a little bit slower. So, with speed, you have to sacrifice somewhere. And it's not really in the draw cycle, in my opinion, there. It's in the post-shot feel with the vibration that comes along with it, but you kill it whenever you put bars on it and you start adding your accessories again. So, not a huge deal. Um, sixth place was the Expedition Next Lite 33 features score to two. Yeah, um, not really gonna argue with that. They, I think they've got a pretty cool tuning system. There's just not a big demand for, man, and I don't know why. They're really good shooting bows, really lightweight bows, different, kind of unique. Uh, their back wall was a 3.6. I think they have a really good back wall. I probably would have scored a little bit higher. Their draw cycle, 2.6. Again, I think their draw cycle is good, especially at those lower poundages, man. And that 33, I felt like it would have been a much higher score than 2.6 for draw cycle. Um, the grip, 2.3. Uh, I could see that it's kind of a thin grip. Um, not necessarily bad, but there's nothing special about it that really stands out. And post shot feel 3.3. Again, it's a it's a it's a light bow. It's the lightest bow. There's gonna be more vibration and feedback from that bow. And they said it kind of wants to jump out of your hand. I don't think they're wrong. So Expedition, great bows, um, but I can kind of see why it scored what it did. And then finally, the Botec Alliance 30. Again, I don't know why they did the 30, but is what it is. Features a three. I think the thing that really killed them is looking at it now, you know, as we've released all the bows in 2026, is all the features that these bows started to integrate into it. And then Botec took away, right? They took away a time lock. Is it a big deal to me? Absolutely not, but it's just a feature that you say you've got. You can micro adjust the tuning of the bow with their time lock system. They've got their deadlock, then they took away the time lock. I think it kind of shot them in the foot when everyone else is adding to when they're removing. So I don't necessarily know that it was the best thing. Um, again, feature-wise, I think it has probably one of my favorite tuning systems. The deadlock tuning system on it is just fantastic. Um, but feature-wise, yeah, there's nothing crazy that really stands out about it. Um I mean, they're good shooting bows. I mean, there is that, but there's nothing special about it, right? They don't have limb legs out yet. Their limb legs are coming. Um you know, they they've got their um, what do you call it? Their sight system. Why is it eluding me at this point? Basically, where you mount their sights on the inside of the riser. I just don't think it's taken off. No one's gonna use that. It's you're you're BoTec's not Matthews, right? Um they I don't think they can get away with you know that type of technology with Matthews with the bridge lock. Matthew shooters are Matthew shooters, man. They're hard to get them away from it. With the Botec going with that inline design with the sights um inside the riser, I just don't think it's taken off very well. It's not been a very big demand for us, and it limits you moving forward. They do have the pinnacle Picatini mount that mounts into there to so you can run a pick-mounted site, but I just it leaves a lot to be desired. I think personally, the back wall on the bows, I think still feels really good though. So they scored it a 2.6. The draw cycle on the Botec, the Alliance 30. Yeah, it's a it's a shorter bow. If they would have done the 33, I think the draw cycle would have been much better. They scored it a 3.6. Um, and I'm assuming that's on comfort. I think Botec bows on comfort just draw really, really well. The grip they scored a two. I like the Botec grips, they're thin. Um, but again, there's nothing special about it. I think the grip tech, the grip lock technology that they offer is super cool, though. Like it allows you to change the pitch and the angle of the grip. So I would have scored that grip a little bit higher. Maybe it's because it's slick. I don't know. And then their post shot feel was a 2.6. Um, uh, yeah, I don't know. I think again, that's a that's a tough one to I guess when you shoot them all against each other, it scored the lowest um post shot, which is kind of surprising, but you know, it is what it is. Uh so that was their scoring for everything. Um, and then recap the final accuracy results for all seven bows. These are the actual group size. So we'll start with the the winner. This is a 45 shot average. So the elite varos had an average of 2.7 inch group at 50 yards. The Matthews Arc 34 was a 3.5. The Hoyt AX333 was a 3.6. The Darton Tri-Tech 33 was a 3.7. The PSC Sicario was 4 inches, which I can see because that is a harder bow to shoot with that brace. I don't care about the, you know, of course it's got the dynamic brace height, but it doesn't matter. There's still a long way for that arrow to travel before it leaves a string. And any insues within your shot are gonna be noticeable downrange. So PSC Sicario four inches, the Bow Tech Alliance 30, kind of unfair. It was a short bow. Um, so it's 4.2 inches. I think the Alliance 33 would have done better. And then you got the Expedition Next Light 33. It scored also a 4.2 inch group. So 4.2 for the Alliance 30 and next light 33. That was three different shooters. That was the average. So it tells you right there, man. I mean, the the elite varos was that much better grouping. 2.7 versus the second place average of 3.5. Now we go to the final shot average, right? The the three, the last day, the three bows, the the final three shot or the final grouping average at 50 yards. Starting with the varos, elite varos was 2.8 inches, so very close, 2.7, 2.8 on the third day. The Hoyt AX333 was 3.4, and then the Matthews Arc34 was 3.6. So there you have it, my friends. That's everything on it. Again, very surprising. Clearly, the Varos just shoots good. If you're somebody that prioritizes shootability over everything, looks like the Varos is going to be maybe the bow you need to consider and test out and see. It's um clearly it just pounds because that was over multiple days, and it shot the best out of the grouping for both days. So something to consider. So things when you consider when we talk about shootability in a bow is brace height, um, uh the overall length of the ATA of the bow, right? The shorter bows are obviously a little bit harder to shoot because they're a little bit more torque, a little bit easy to induce hand torque. The string angle is a little bit harsher. Um, brace height, and then of course, your dynamic brace height does help. PSE really harps on that. So worth considering. So if you're looking at if you're prioritizing shootability, man, look at those little bit longer bows, man. I I did put a podcast out last week about long ATA bows and how I'm probably not going back, man. I shot short bows forever. I went to a 33, then a 35. I'm pretty sold on that 33 to 35 inch ATA for a hybrid bow to do it all with. I like it. And it just makes my shooting that much better. So I'd consider that as well, based off application, right? What are you doing? What are your goals? Look into the future. Don't look right now. If you're somebody that bow hunts, but you also want to do total archers um challenge, consider that whenever you're buying your bow for 2026. So, gosh, man, allergies about to kill me. That is it, my friends. Give us some feedback. Let us know what are your thoughts on bow of the year 2026 from outdoor life? Like, what did you think? How did you feel about the testing? What is your thoughts on the winner, right? The elite varos. How did you think the other bows ranked? Put them in order in the comments for me. I'm curious, what how did you how would you rank these bows if you have experience with them? If you're just solely based off what you see, it's kind of hard for you. You don't have the shooting experience, but if you shot all of them, kind of rank them. Let me know. I'm curious as to what the community thinks about the results of this test. I think Outdoor Life did a fantastic job. Shout out to PJ Riley and the guys there. They always um do a fantastic job with a ton of experience, and they, you know, it gives you an idea of what to look for in each of these bows and where each of them shines. Not necessarily that they're the right bow for you, but you can now kind of pick them apart, go in with an open mind, shoot them yourself, see what works, and uh what your thoughts are on each of the bows. So, as always, guys, I think that's everything. I've covered everything that I want to cover with this. So, yeah, appreciate you guys following along, man. Give us some feedback. Let me know. Let me know your thoughts on all of this. It's a lot to take in. I encourage you, head over to the link, um, the outdoor life, watch either check out their video or read their article on it. I did both and a lot of great information, very insightful, uh, and very great. If you're looking at getting a new bow for 2026, if you need a new bow, you know where to go. Head over, come see us here in Jacksonville, North Carolina, Extreme Outfitters. We carry all of the bows. You want to test any of them, stop in the shop. You can shoot any bow you want and do your own 2026 of the year or bow of the year kind of review, real quick. Um, get them all in your hands. That's what I would encourage. If you need anything else archer related, head over to the website extremoutfitters.com. We ship every day. We ship across the nation. If you need archery equipment, you know where to go, man. Free cut and glue on all of your arrows. We sell arrows individually for all you guys that want to do testing like this, right? Like outdoor life does. You want to test your different arrows, different spines, different lengths, different builds. We sell them individually. You can get them individually. We'll even cut and glue them for free. Everything ordered within 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time ships the same day. Dude, we're getting stuff to you like that. You need it, hit the website, extremeoutfitters.com. Use the code ArcheryProject. It's going to save on all of your purchases. That's it. That's my that's the 2026 Bow of the Year review from yours one and only Zach Plise here at the Archery Project. Thanks for following along. We'll see you guys in the next episode of the Archery Project.