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Last Updated on November 1, 2024 by Paul Clayton
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Hoyt vs. Mathews Bows: Which One You Should Choose?
When choosing a high-quality bow, the debate often centers around two industry-leading brands: Hoyt and Mathews. This comparison aims to provide comprehensive insights into the distinguishing features of both brands.
- Hoyt is known for cutting-edge technology and innovative designs.
- Strong reputation for quality and durability among professionals.
- Highly customizable for personalized draw length and weight.
- Mathews focuses on simplicity, smoothness, and comfort.
- Known for lighter weight, and exceptional balance in bows.
When you are in the field of archery, it becomes crucial to buy excellent archery equipment. You should know what style of archery is best suited for you.
You not only carry the archery bows for the entire season, but they also determine whether you will succeed.
Selecting the best bow is equally important as choosing your significant other. As the relationship between partners needs to be long-lasting and robust, the same goes for the archers and their relationship with the bow. Only then will it work for a long time.
Mathews and Hoyt are two well-known brands of archery in the market, competing for your allegiance and business. However, you cannot differentiate between them without enough knowledge.
Both equipment display the definition of excellence in archery. In this article, we will show how to differentiate Hoyt and Mathews.
1. Which One Has a Rich History? Hoyt
What is important to you, the wisdom that a company gained from years of error and trial, or a new frame of mind that is more beneficial than following an old tradition?
The consumer generally trusts the company, which has been around for a long time. That is because the number of years translates into their experience, and you know, there is no better teacher than experience.
It will not be the same for every other person. For some, understanding a company’s origin can help them choose the right archery brand. Selecting a bow that aligns with their moral principles ensures their loyalty and longevity with the brand.
For decades, Mathews and Hoyt have been the pride of the archery community. They have been well-known household names for archery bows.
Let us discuss the origin of Hoyt and Mathews to understand how the company came into being and how it became the top brand of archery bows.
Hoyt Origin
When hard work and patience combine, the motive to progress and succeed gets even more substantial. That is what happened with Hoyt. With a long history of origin and till now, Hoyt has gained success in the archery field.
Established in 1942, Hoyt is among the oldest and most respected businesses in the field of archery bows.
It was founded by Earl Hoyt Jr. Earl and his father, Earl Hoyt Sr. designed hand-made bows before the company was known as the Hoyt Archery Company.
As far as history goes, Earl Hoyt Sr. started the company in 1931 by producing cedar arrows and wooden bows. Hoyt created the best recurve bows with new technology. Due to the overflowing business, the company also survived the Great Depression.
Later, Earl Jr. saw the opportunity to take their business forward. He insisted his father start an archery business, and from there, the company took off. More employees were recruited to meet the demand for the bows.
After that, Earl Jr., the founder of Hoyt Archery, and his wife, Ann Hoyt, became the top names in the archery business.
With a century of experience, the company has gained immense knowledge about the bow business. The company was later included in the Archery Hall of Fame.
Mathews Origin
You can find the same passion for bows in Mathews Archery Inc. as in Hoyt. Junior to Hoyt Archery, Mathews Archery Inc. is equally respected as the Hoyt.
Matt McPherson, the founder of Mathew Archery Inc., built the equipment for his friends and family.
Matt McPherson decided to turn his hobby of making bows into a profession when he established McPherson Archery in 1970.
Later, Matt traded the McPherson Archery in 1989. In 1992, McPherson established the biggest bow manufacturing company in the world: Mathews Archery Inc.
Now, more than 400 people in different faculties are employed in the company. According to Matt, their success lies greatly in their commitment to satisfy and help existing customers:
According to Matt McPherson, new companies direct their products to attract new and relative customers while keeping their regular customers at bay.
Mathews Archery believes in making regular customers a loyal part of their family. They aim to satisfy their customers with their services.
Mathews’s history is not like Hoyt’s; they still managed to gain success in just 27 years. Mathews is the only company manufacturing bows that made it to the list of Inc.’s Top 500 fastest-growing companies in 1999.
2. Who Offers The Best Innovations? Both Hoyt And Mathews
Hoyt and Mathews compete in innovation. They work to bring creativity and new innovative ideas to the market.
It is time to discuss the innovations of Hoyt and Mathews.
Innovations By Hoyt
While being in business for so long, Hoyt Archery has significantly contributed to the archery field. Earl Hoyt Jr. made a crucial contribution, and now his company is following in his footsteps.
Earl Jr. and his father mastered the blueprint for recurve bows after five years of starting the company. They introduced the designs for limbs of exact length and dynamically balanced limbs for recurve bows.
Later, more new designs came into being—for example, the full-pistol grip, deflex-reflex bow design, the semi-pistol grip, and stabilizer.
Anyone who uses a recurve bow must pay their gratitude to Hoyt Archery for designing and producing modern recurve whistles and bells.
Innovations By Mathews
Mathews Archery is no less innovative than Hoyt Archery. Many compound bow archers are indebted to Mathews Archery for their success and innovative contribution to the archery community.
From the beginning, Matt McPherson tried to bring new technologies into the brand. Matt introduced Inner Cam under his cam technology when the brand name was still Mathews.
Soon, McPherson became involved in the compound bow’s let-off technology. This involvement increased production from the standard 50 percent to approximately 75 percent.
While launching his company as Mathew Archery, Matt used one of his other innovations in cam technology, the Solocam, or single cam.
The Solo cam improved the aiding accuracy, decreasing shock, noise, and vibration in the bow frame and locking in synchronization when firing.
This video has been included to clarify the topic. Credit goes to Bowmar Bowhunting
3. Who Offers The Most Variety? Hoyt
You already know the answer to this question. The one that offers the range for the best price is the one that provides the best variety. The reason is that they are the longest in the archery industry. They have a massive collection of bows of every type you want.
Hoyt is a centralized shop for an archer’s family who are not in the same archery field and require purchasing different bow sizes. They would not have to run from shop to shop to find the perfect size. Hoyt has it all in its store.
If you are looking for bows somewhere that offer a large variety, you will find something here that is the best match for you. They will have an endless combination of brace heights, draw weights, bow lengths, and cam styles.
On the other hand, Mathews provides recurve bows, both for target shooting and hunting. With minimum variety, if you are choosing from Mathews, there is a chance that the bow you select might not be the best match for you.
4. Who Offers The Best Price? Hoyt
If you are searching for a bow, you must have a budget in your mind. It would help if you were prepared to hear unexpected prices while looking for the best bows on the market.
For the category of the best price range, the champion was selected from various price ranges, as you would not want to visit a dealer who is great at bargain deals or midway prices.
Hoyt perfectly fit all the categories and caters to customers with low, medium, and high budgets. However, if you are searching for a cheap bow, none of the companies can provide it.
It would help if you were looking at Bowtech or Diamond for cheaper bows.
At Mathews and Hoyt, you will mostly find luxury bows that cost you more than $1,000. Hoyt offers some compound bows below $500 and some nearly $2,000.
If you are searching for cheap bows at Mathews, you will not find anything below $800. Nonetheless, if you are ready to spend extra money on quality, it is your decision
5. Who Has The Attractive And Elegant Design? Hoyt
If you are unfamiliar with the bows, you cannot differentiate between their designs. You must practice with bows every day to identify whether the bow has a cutting edge or is sleek.
Certain other archery manufacturing companies do not pay particular attention to the aesthetics and design of the bow. According to them, customers choose quality over appearance.
Hoyt stood out in the crowd with its beautiful-looking bows. Hoyt aligned its bows with aesthetics and created the best designs, which not only attracted customers but also increased its production.
In many Hollywood movies, Hoyt bows were selected as a weapon for many film characters. Such movie characters and movies include Hawkeye in The Avengers and The Hunger Games by Katniss Everdeen.
Returning to the discussion on the best design bow from Hoyt’s collection, we have the Buffalo bow, a takedown recurve.
The Buffalo Bow is numbered in the first place due to its unique features, and many film producers take notice of this particular bow.
The bow’s seven and a half-inch brace height is the reason for its powerful profile. Moreover, the variety of draw weights allowed the actors to adjust the bow according to their ability. Another thing is its versatility.
It won’t matter whether you are right-handed or left-handed; you can easily manage the bow for target shooting and hunting.
Another of the best-looking bowls that brought fame to Hoyt Archery is Game Master II. In the movie Avengers: Age of Ultron, Hawkeye switched from Buffalo Bow to Game Master II, which is also a recurve bow.
Now, other brands are following the path set by Hoyt archery by making aesthetically designed bows. Hoyt remained the first bow company to dominate the film industry with its thoughtful designs.
6. Which One Is The Best Bow For Target Practise? Hoyt
For any competing archer, Hoyt has been the first choice. Recurve bows are widely used in target shooting, and Hoyt is a famous manufacturer. No other company can make recurve bows like Hoyt.
Olympians Jon William and Doreen Wilbur used the recurve bows made by Earl Hoyt Jr. in 1972. The best part is that both of them won gold medals in their respective categories.
The recurve bow that the Olympians used was known as a Pro Medalist. After that, Hoyt began investing more time making target bows of Olympic caliber, such as All-Purpose Pro and Pro-Olympian.
Now, many award-winning Olympian’s first choices are Hoyt limbs and risers.
The well-known and widely purchased Hoyt risers in the market are GMX and Prodigy RX. On the other side are the limbs, where Quattro is well-known.
Hoyt is the first choice of many target shooters because Hoyt offers an extensive collection of target bows compared to the other archery bow manufacturing companies.
7. Which One Offers The Best Bow For Hunting? Mathews
You can either be a target shooter or a bowhunter. You cannot overlap the two groups in archery. However, during the off-season, some might replace the others.
If you recognize yourself as a bowhunter, you will most likely search for the best bow for hunting available in the market. Target bows and hunting bows have different designs. That is why manufacturers label their produced bows to differentiate from one another.
Between compound and recurve bows, recurve bows are designed mainly for hunting. However, many bowhunters choose compound bows over recurve bows. Mathews Archery’s Vertex is one compound bow that is quite popular among many bowhunters.
Vertix has been rated on the best compound bows list by Outdoor Life. Also, Will Brantley scored Vertix as excellent, very good, and good in the below-mentioned categories:
- Forgiveness and Accuracy
- Noise
- Handling
- Speed
- Draw Cycle
- Value
- Handling
- Vibration
- Finish and Fit
Mathews maximizes efficiency and power by using Crosscentric Cam Technology and offers the bow’s perfect weight and length to meet the bowhunter’s needs.
Anyone who shot with Mathews’s bow has reported the best shooting experience and appreciated the high quality of the bows.
With 3D Dampening Technology, Vertix has been praised as a powerful bow among other Mathews bows. As a result, the Vertix is appreciated as a noiseless and vibration-free bow.
8. Which One Offers The Fastest Speed Bow? Both Mathews And Hoyt
Every other manufacturer is racing to make the fastest bow in the market. Archers have a huge demand for Speed Bows. According to experts, many present-day compound bows can reach 360 ft. in one second. Isn’t this great for archers in competition?
Hoyt and Mathews have already won the race, while other manufacturers still make and produce the fastest bow.
But how will you determine the speed of the bow? The International Bowhunting Organization (IBO) has set some rules and regulations to test bow speed. There is a systematized test that can rate the speed of the bow.
The IBO sets the conditions under which the bows are kept when tested for speed. Those conditions include:
- A draw length of 30-inch
- 70 pounds of draw weight
- 350-grain arrow
The bows under these factors are tested in a controlled testing faculty. You cannot test them in reality. Also, the factors refer to the speed with which the arrow travels after it is released.
Therefore, you cannot precisely tell the authenticity of the advertised speed of the compound bow. Most bows have a wide range of draw lengths and weights.
Here, we will discuss one example of each of Mathews’ and Hoyt’s fastest bows while considering the above factors.
Z1S By Hoyt
The Z1S by Hoyt is engineered for archers seeking maximized speed tailored to their draw length. It features a 33″ axle-to-axle for enhanced stability and a forgiving shot experience.
It boasts an innovative Integrated In-Line Accessory System, complemented by the included Short Stop stabilizer for improved balance and vibration reduction.
- Maximized speed for personalized draw lengths
- 33″ axle-to-axle for a stable and forgiving platform
- Integrated In-Line Accessory System with Short Stop stabilizer
- Adjustable draw lengths from 25-30 inches
With impressive specifications like 350 fps speed, a weight of 4.7 pounds, and adjustable draw lengths ranging from 25-30 inches, the Z1S stands out for its performance and adaptability.
Monster Safari By Mathews
Like Carbon Rx-3 Turbo, Monster Safari is mainly designed for hunting with an astonishing speed of 350 ft. in one second. If you have to select between the two bows, you must look at other factors such as axle-to-axle length, price, or weight.
Let us look at the fantastic features of Monster Safari, which makes it better as compared to Turbo:
- 8 pounds
- Axle-to-axle- 33 inch
- Brace height of 6 inch
- 70-85 lbs draw weight
- Draw Length of 25.5-31 inch
The best method for choosing between the two is to test both bows and select the one that feels comfortable.
9. Which Bow Has The Lightest Weight? Hoyt
What is the crucial feature to look for in a bow? For an archer, it is the weight of the compound bow. A speed or a fast bow is considered good only when comfortable lifting it.
It is difficult to find an exceptionally lightweight and fast bow if you search the market. But you do not have to look further when you have Hoyt’s lightest and fastest bow.
It is time to provide information about the lightweight Hoyt and Mathews bow.
Eclipse By Hoyt
The Eclipse by Hoyt redefines the compact bow experience with its unique draw and hold capabilities. It is specifically engineered for women bowhunters and ensures speed, comfort, and shootability.
It showcases Hoyt’s premier technologies in a fully loaded design that maximizes feet per second for any given draw length without compromising the integrity of a full-sized bow.
The Eclipse is a versatile and efficient hunting tool with specifications including a 314 fps speed, a lightweight frame of 3.7 pounds, and a 29″ axle-to-axle length.
LIFT 29.5 by Mathews
The 2024 LIFT 29.5 by Mathews is a lightweight yet heavy-hitting marvel in the hunting bow category, weighing just under 4 pounds.
This next-gen bow incorporates the groundbreaking SwitchWeight-X Cam, achieving blistering speeds of up to 348 FPS while maintaining an impressively quiet performance.
Enhanced with innovative RPD™ limbs, a novel top axle system for superior stability, and all-new MATCH™ bowstrings designed to prevent stretch, serving separation, and peep rotation, the LIFT 29.5 sets a new standard in bow engineering.
10. Which Bow Manufacturer Offers Most Accessories? Mathews
It is always beneficial to look for a company that can provide you with everything from the main product to its accessories. You do not have to purchase the accessories to match your bow from different shops.
Mathews Archery takes the lead in the category of the best accessories compared to Hoyt Archery. Hoyt does provide some satisfactory and complimentary gear.
However, they provide only two stabilizers, four miscellaneous add-ons, two bow quivers, and four rests.
Aside from offering a limited number of Hoyt accessories, Mathews got a little over the top in providing and adding more categories.
You might find many archers satisfied with the four categories Hoyt offers, but you should not underestimate the quality of Mathews.
Who Wins The Best Community Title? : Both Mathews And Hoyt
As far as the relationship analogy is concerned, you will build a professional partnership with people when you purchase a bow. Those people include both customers and the company.
Both Mathews and Hoyt do a very good job of sustaining their customers by building relationships and creating a community.
You want to ensure that you join a community worth your trust, loyalty, and support. Also, in return, the community should provide you with the same.
Whether you join Mathews or Hoyt, you join a company with good faith and knowledge. Both have a passion for archery, visible in their customer service and community building.
11. Which One Is Most Available In The Market?: Both Mathews And Hoyt
Whether you opt for Mathew or Hoyt, you will be presented with a variety of options. Mathews and Hoyt are two highly respected and top-quality brands, and archers always demand them.
Due to the high demand, it won’t be easy to get hold of one when you want it. You have to reach out to an authorized or authentic dealer.
Mathews and Hoyt align with well-known and trustworthy pro shops that employ qualified staff and include the right equipment.
They give the shop owner the authority to purchase and sell their bows to the customers. However, the availability of the Mathews and Hoyt bows depends entirely on your location.
For example, in New York, you can discover approximately 25 Mathews dealers and 41 Hoyt dealers within a hundred miles. However, in a secluded place like Rexburg, Idaho, there are approximately 4 Mathews and 5 Hoyt dealers within a hundred miles.
In the same way, it is very unlikely that the local shops will have a large selection of equipment, and many big stores will not display the high-end bows on their shelves.
Most likely, the pro shops should be the first place you should go to find these high-quality bow models. All in all, you must try out many different stores and contact various dealers to find the suitable model you are looking for.
12. Who Offers The Best Warranty? Both Mathews And Hoyt
The last but most important thing you need to consider before purchasing a new and high-quality bow is the company’s warranty policy. The warranty policy will help you determine the value of the company.
What if you get a broken or poor-quality bow and realize that it does not even provide a warranty? Fortunately, you will get a lifetime warranty on the bows purchased from Mathews and Hoyt.
The only concern is that the warranty period and its terms and conditions may vary from dealer to dealer, and it also depends on the conditions of the bow. It is still a safe option to purchase their bow compared to other bow brands.
Many customers were amazed by the compassionate and polite company representatives’ customer service. Moreover, once you become a customer, you will be surprised to receive even more benefits than you ever thought possible.
Are Expensive Bows More Accurate?
It’s crucial to note that while high-end bows may offer advanced features and fine-tuned adjustments for precision, their accuracy largely depends on the archer’s skill level.
The price tag of a bow doesn’t guarantee accuracy. An exceptional archer can perform tremendously using low-cost bows, whereas an inexperienced one may not achieve the desired results even with top-tier bows.
Thus, while expensive bows can enhance your shooting experience, they don’t necessarily guarantee accuracy. The archer’s proficiency plays a pivotal role in determining the accuracy of shots.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, the choice between Hoyt and Mathews bows comes from personal preference and specific archery needs.
Hoyt may be your preferred choice if you prioritize state-of-the-art technology, customization, and a strong reputation for quality and durability. Hoyt bows offer the advantage of personalizing draw length and weight, making them a professional favorite.
On the other hand, if simplicity, smoothness, and comfort rank higher on your list of priorities, Mathews bows should be your go-to.
They are known for their lighter weight and exceptional balance, making them comfortable to handle, especially for beginners or those who value ease of use.
Hence, the decision in the Hoyt vs. Mathews Bows debate largely depends on what you value more in your archery equipment—advanced customization options or smooth and comfortable handling.
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