Mathews No Cam HTX Review

Editors' review

On paper the No Cam HTX reads like a step backward from the bow it replaced: 326 fps IBO against the HTR's 330, a shorter axle-to-axle, a lower brace. Put both on a chronograph, though, and the story flips - with the same arrow at the same draw and poundage, the HTX is the faster bow by 17 feet per second. That is the surprise at the center of Mathews' 2016 compact hunter, and it comes down to two things: the HTX is rated at its 29-inch maximum draw rather than 30, and its draw-force curve is tuned a little heavier up front, so it stores more energy. Everything that made the No Cam concept special is still here - the concentric-wheel draw, the straight nock travel, the dead-in-hand shot - now wrapped in a shorter, lighter, stiffer chassis borrowed from the Halon. Launched at $999, a hundred dollars under the HTR, it was the No Cam for hunters who wanted the same silence and accuracy in a handier package. It was also, by the admission of the people who shot it, the bow most likely to get overlooked next to its flashier flagship sibling.

Finish

The No Cam HTX arrived in five finishes built around Mathews' then-new Lost Camo XD as the standard pattern, a higher-contrast woodland scheme that carried a distinctive green cast owners singled out as sharp-looking. Lost Camo OT covered the open-terrain side, while Black, Tactical, and Stone gave the buyer the same muted, non-camo options the tactical crowd gravitated to on the HTR. The palette is practical rather than showy - no gimmick prints, just five coherent ways to outfit a working hunting bow. The dip coatings wore well in the field, and the solid and tactical options in particular kept their look after a season of pack and stand abuse. It is a lineup that reads as purpose-built gear, which suits a bow aimed squarely at the treestand.

Riser

The biggest visible change from the HTR lives in the riser. Where the original No Cam used a single less-reflexed bar, the HTX adopts the Dual Bridged Riser lifted from the Halon platform - think of it as the Halon's stability engineering applied to the No Cam's straight-tracking geometry. It is thicker and wider through the middle, with the bridged cross-section cutouts that give the bow its lateral rigidity and, just as importantly, soak up vibration before it reaches the hand. Owners noticed the difference immediately: even with a light target arrow the HTX sits dead in the hand at the shot, a level of quiet that the wider, stiffer riser deserves much of the credit for. That same rigidity underpins the accuracy, keeping the concentric wheels honest at full draw. In my experience this bridged-riser generation is where Mathews' hunting bows started feeling genuinely inert on the shot, and the HTX is an early, clear example of it.

Grip

The HTX carries the Flatback Grip, a squared-off back panel that seats the web of the hand against a flat reference plane rather than a rounded swell. The intent is repeatability - a flat back is harder to torque inconsistently, so the hand returns to the same place shot after shot. It runs narrow and low-torque, in keeping with the accuracy-first personality of the whole No Cam line, and shooters coming off the HTR's Focus Grip will find the hand position familiar even though the shape is different. It fills the palm a little more squarely than the older grip, which some hands prefer in cold weather. As with any Mathews grip of the era, aftermarket and side-plate options exist for shooters who want a different feel, but most owners left it stock.

Limbs

The HTX runs narrower quad limbs than the Halon, a deliberate choice that trades some of the flagship's raw thrust for the balanced, stable feel the No Cam system is built around. Draw weight comes in 50, 60, and 70-pound peaks, each backing down about ten pounds, which brackets the bow squarely in adult hunting territory. Paired with twin Harmonic Stabilizers and dampers, the limbs contribute to the bow's most-praised trait - how little is left buzzing after the arrow leaves. The parallel geometry cancels limb travel against itself, so the shot finishes flat and quiet rather than jumping. It is the same limb philosophy Mathews proved across its hunting line, so durability is a settled question rather than a leap of faith.

Eccentric System

This is where the HTX earns its keep and springs its surprise. It uses the same No Cam ST Technology as the HTR - two circular, concentric string tracks instead of eccentric cams, keeping the string a constant distance from the center of rotation so the nock travels dead straight with nothing to time or sync. What changed is the tuning. Mathews rated the HTX's IBO at up to 326 fps at 65% let-off, 323 at 75%, and 317 at 85%, and because the bow tops out at a 29-inch draw, that IBO is measured at 29 inches rather than the 30 used for the HTR. Combined with a draw-force curve weighted a little more toward the front, the result is more stored energy than the raw numbers suggest. On a chronograph the payoff is concrete: owners clocked 302 fps at a 27.5-inch draw, 70 pounds, and a 340-grain arrow - 17 fps faster than the HTR on the identical setup - and readings ranged from the low 270s with a heavy 375-grain shaft up to 327 fps with a lighter 320-grain arrow at 29 inches. Let-off is set by swappable RockMods across 65, 75, and 85%. The first time I pulled it after shooting the HTR, the extra front-end weight was noticeable, but so was the speed on the target - this is a No Cam that finally answers the one complaint people had about the first one.

Draw Cycle/Shootability

For all the talk of added speed, the HTX still draws like a No Cam, which is to say there is almost nothing to it. The concentric wheels pull the weight up in a smooth, continuous motion with no hump to fight and no valley to fall into, just a clean pull into a firm, dead back wall - several owners who had shot every new 2016 bow called this the smoothest of the lot. The one honest caveat is that the ramp is a shade heavier off the front than the outgoing HTR; a shooter babying a sore shoulder will feel that first inch, though the same shooters generally found they could still hold 70 pounds more easily on the HTX than on a comparable cam bow. The shot itself is the headline: dead in the hand, no meaningful vibration, and quiet enough that owners describe the bow as simply going still after the release. Drawing and firing it back to back with a fast hybrid-cam flagship, what stands out is how undramatic the whole cycle feels - smooth in, solid wall, quiet out, with none of the noise or jump you brace for. It is a bow that rewards a patient, aim-and-squeeze shooter.

Usage Scenarios

The No Cam HTX is a compact hunting bow first, and its natural habitat is close quarters. Picture a whitetail hunter tucked into a tight treestand with limited room to maneuver, or working a cramped ground blind where a 32-inch bow keeps catching the frame - the HTX's 30-inch length and sub-four-pound mass make it easy to twist and settle for the shot. Once drawn, the No Cam smoothness and the dead-quiet release do the same job they do on the HTR: the deer never hears it coming. It suits short-to-mid-range hunting of whitetail, hogs, and black bear cleanly, and the added real-world speed over the HTR gives a touch more margin on a quartering shot. Off-season 3D and backyard practice are comfortable too, since the straight nock travel and stable riser reward deliberate aiming. Where the HTX asks for honesty is draw length: at a 29-inch ceiling it simply does not fit a 30-inch-plus shooter, and a hunter chasing maximum speed for open-country work will still be happier on the faster Halon.

Mathews No Cam HTX vs Hoyt Nitrum 30, Elite Impulse 31

Bow	Mathews No Cam HTX	Hoyt Nitrum 30	Elite Impulse 31
Version	2017	2016	2018
Picture
Brace Height	6.125 "	6.75 "	31 "
AtA Length	30 "	30 "	6 "
Draw Length	23.5 " - 28.5 "	24 " - 30 "	26 " - 30 "
Draw Weight	40 lbs - 70 lbs	30 lbs - 80 lbs	30 lbs - 80 lbs
IBO Speed	326 fps	332 fps	300 fps - 340 fps
Weight	3.99 lbs	3.9 lbs	4.2 lbs
Let-Off	65%, 75%, 85%	75%	75% - 90%
Where to buy Best prices online	$499.99 to $625 Compare prices	$397.9 to $850 Compare prices	$60 to $550 Compare prices
	compare more bows

The No Cam HTX landed in a crowded field of compact hunting flagships all clustered near $999, which makes the cross-shop straightforward. The Hoyt Nitrum 30 matches the HTX's 30-inch axle-to-axle exactly and its near-$999 price, but comes at the target from Hoyt's usual angle - an aluminum flagship built for speed and premium feel, with a slightly faster 332 IBO and a more conventional cam that trades a bit of the HTX's dead-smooth draw for velocity. The Elite Impulse 31 is the fastest of the three at 340-plus IBO and, at a $999 launch, brings Elite's signature smooth draw and precise draw-weight tuning in a marginally longer 31-inch frame. Against both, the HTX's calling cards are the No Cam concentric draw and how thoroughly the bridged riser kills the shot - neither rival is quite as inert in the hand, though both give up little and both are faster on paper. The decision comes down to priorities: the No Cam HTX for the hunter who wants the quietest, smoothest-drawing compact of the three, the Hoyt Nitrum 30 for the buyer who wants Hoyt's speed and build in the same 30-inch package, and the Elite Impulse 31 for the shooter chasing the most speed and the finest draw-weight adjustment.

Summary

The Mathews No Cam HTX arrived in 2016 at $999 as the compact, quietly clever answer to the one knock against the No Cam HTR. It reads slower on the spec sheet - 326 fps IBO, a 30-inch frame, a 6 1/8-inch brace - yet on a chronograph it is the faster of the two, picking up 17 fps on the identical arrow and setup thanks to its 29-inch IBO rating and a more front-loaded draw. Everything that made the concept worth buying survived the redesign: the concentric-wheel draw that owners call the smoothest of its year, the straight nock travel, and a bridged-riser shot that dies in the hand with no vibration and almost no sound. At just under four pounds and two inches shorter than the HTR, it is the No Cam for the hunter who values maneuverability and silence over headline speed. What I keep coming back to is that this is the rare successor that fixed its predecessor's weakness without spoiling its strengths. It is an excellent bow for the compact-rig hunter working tight treestands and blinds, particularly strong where a short, quiet, dead-in-hand setup matters more than a flat long-range trajectory - its longer sibling, the No Cam HTR, remains the pick for 30-inch-draw shooters. Buyers who want more outright speed in the same 30-inch class should also look at the Hoyt Nitrum 30, while those prioritizing the finest draw-weight tuning should consider the Elite Impulse 31.