Mathews TRX 36 Review

Editors' review

Mathews expanded its TRX target series for 2020 in both directions at once, adding a 36-inch and a 40-inch platform on either side of the outgoing 38. The TRX 36 is the fast one of the pair: it keeps a speed-oriented 6.5-inch brace height (the gap from grip to string, where a shorter number trades a little forgiveness for velocity) and posts up to 334 fps IBO - the industry-standard speed rating measured at a fixed 30-inch, 70-pound, 350-grain setup. Step up from the shorter TRX 34 and you gain two inches of axle-to-axle length (the bow's tip-to-tip measurement), and with it a steadier, more planted hold on the line, without giving up the speed class or the smooth C3X draw. What makes this more than a paper-puncher is how quiet it is: the same 3D Damping Mathews runs on its Triax and Vertex hunters lives here too, so the shot settles dead in the hand and the bow can quietly cross over to a treestand. For 2020 the riser also gained a caged, bridged section above the grip like the hunting bows, which lowers the center of gravity and stiffens the whole platform. This is the target archer's fast, stable 36-incher that also knows how to hunt.

Finish

The TRX 36 comes in a target-oriented palette rather than the camo-first lineup of Mathews' hunting bows: Black, Blue, Red, and Stone, the last a clean white. Limbs and risers can be mixed and matched, so a shooter can build a two-tone look that stands out on the line or keep it uniform for a clean tournament appearance. The Stone/white build is the one seen most at launch, and it holds up notably well - one owner put thousands of arrows through a white bow and found the finish still unmarked afterward. The anodized coating is the same durable treatment Mathews runs across its premium line, shrugging off the knocks of case travel and range stands better than paint. Both right- and left-hand builds are offered, so the color choice is not gated to one hand. For a bow that will spend as much time on a stabilizer-heavy target setup as it does in a case between shoots, the finish choices lean practical and clean rather than flashy.

Riser

The riser is where the TRX 36 makes its biggest leap over the prior TRX 38. Mathews bridged and caged the section above the grip the same way it does on its hunting bows - the earlier TRX 38, 7, and 8 left that area solid - which pulls mass off the top hand, drops the center of gravity, and stiffens the whole structure. Handling it, what stands out is how rigid the platform feels: it is an extremely stiff riser, and pulling weight off the top means you can add it back down low on the stabilizers where it actually helps you aim. The geometry also carries a touch more reflex than the 38, which is where the shorter 6.5-inch brace and the extra speed come from. Mathews widened the area around the sight and rest mounts slightly to trim vibration further, and beefed up the stabilizer bushings so a target archer can hang a heavy front-and-back bar setup without complaint. It is a long, true-center bridged riser with no built-in flex to fight, so the bow does not torque under a fistful of stabilizer weight. The result is a chassis that sits still and lets the pin park where you point it.

Grip

The TRX 36 wears Mathews' Engage grip, a slim synthetic side-plate design with a flat back and lightly defined edges meant to index the hand the same way shot after shot. On a target bow that repeatability is currency - the more consistently the hand loads the grip, the tighter the groups, and the defined edges make it easy to feel when a hand is out of place. In practice, though, the grip is also the one part of this bow owners change most often. Mathews has long wrestled with grip comfort, and some shooters find the Engage's back profile a touch round, enough to roll the hand and throw a left or right miss if placement drifts. The fix is common and cheap: order the flat side-plate option, or pop the rubber grip off and shoot narrow, flat aftermarket inserts right against the riser. Nearly everyone shooting one competitively runs a flatter setup, and if the bare side plates feel too thin, a tennis-grip wrap bulks them back up. Either way it is a preference call with an easy remedy, not a defect - the grip that indexes best is the one your hand already trusts.

Limbs

The TRX 36 runs Mathews' Parallel Quad limbs - four split limbs set nearly parallel so their motion largely cancels at the shot, which is a big part of why the bow finishes so quiet and dead. The limbs come in three draw-weight modules spanning 40 to 70 pounds, with peak weights of 50, 60, and 70, so a shooter can spec the bow to a comfortable holding load rather than muscling a fixed 70. For a target archer shooting hundreds of arrows a session, that choice matters - a 60-pound peak under deep let-off is far kinder to the shoulder over a long tournament than a maxed-out 70. Adjusting peak weight within a module is the usual limb-bolt turn, no press required for small changes. The near-parallel geometry stores energy efficiently enough to keep the bow genuinely quick off a target-length draw, which is notable given how smooth it draws. Across the TRX line this limb design has a long, dependable track record.

Eccentric System

The TRX 36 is built on Mathews' C3X Crosscentric cam, the same eccentric that runs the whole 2020-2021 TRX family - the 34, 36, 38 G2, and 40 - with mods that interchange across the line. For 2020 the cam picked up two real upgrades: enlarged AVS ball-bearings on bigger axles for a more stable, durable rotation, and a reshaped cam profile that produces a notably solid back wall. That wall is the headline feel here - it stops so firmly it almost mimics a limb-stop bow, giving the shooter a definite place to pull into. The let-off system offers two mods, and only two: the aggressive 70V and the maxed-out 80% (let-off being the percentage of peak weight your holding weight drops to at full draw, so an 80% mod on a 70-pound bow leaves you holding about 14 pounds). The 70V snaps into a short, demanding valley for the shooter who wants the pin to fight to stay centered; the 80% floats a deeper, more relaxed valley for a shooter who prefers to settle. Speed tops out at 334 fps IBO with the 80% mod and 330 with the 70V - and unusually, the higher-let-off mod is the faster one here, the reverse of the usual rule, which is simply how Mathews tuned it. Real chronograph numbers land where you would expect once you leave the IBO test setup: at 60 pounds with a 350-grain arrow the bow reads right around 290-292 fps, and a lighter 370-grain shaft at a 30-inch draw still clears 300 fps, with owners expecting well over that at the full 70 pounds. One tuning note worth knowing: the C3X is aggressive in how it loads the arrow, so shooters coming off an older Mathews should expect to run a stiffer or shorter shaft than that generation needed.

Draw Cycle/Shootability

Pulling the TRX 36 is the antithesis of a speed-hunting bow. Where an aggressive hunting cam builds a sharp hump you have to break over, the C3X ramps up cleanly and hands you the valley without a fight - the draw is smooth and linear, with no dump-off at the back, and to my hand it is the kind of pull a target archer can repeat cleanly on the tenth end of the day as easily as the first. Which valley and wall you get is set by the mod: the 70V gives a short, alert valley that asks you to keep pulling hard, while the 80% opens a deeper, more forgiving hold. Behind either one the back wall is genuinely firm - solid enough that it almost feels like a limb-stop bow, a real wall to pull into rather than a slope. Then there is the shot itself, and this is where the bow earns its keep: at release it is quiet and dead in the hand, with almost no vibration or feedback reaching the grip, the same hushed signature Mathews built into its quietest hunters. On target it holds rock-steady - among the steadiest bows I have set a pin against - and the low center of gravity from the caged riser keeps it planted through the shot. A shorter-brace target bow can feel busy at release; this one simply settles and goes quiet. For the archer who wants speed without giving up a calm, dead shot, the TRX 36 threads that needle.

Usage Scenarios

The TRX 36 is happiest on a target line. Indoor Vegas rounds, outdoor field and known-distance, and 3D clubs are its native ground - the planted hold and quiet, dead shot are exactly what stack arrows in the middle end after end. The speed matters most on a long-range 3D or field course: with a light target arrow the bow keeps enough velocity to hold a flatter sight tape at 80 and 100 yards, where a slower bow's sight runs out of room. Picture a 3D shooter who wants one bow for spring club shoots and summer marked-distance courses - the TRX 36 has the speed for the long shots and the stability for the close ones. It is also a natural for the archer stepping up from the shorter TRX 34 who wants a steadier, more forgiving hold and can carry the extra two inches of axle-to-axle length. And because it shoots so quietly with real speed on tap, the same bow will happily wear a hunting sight and quiver and sit in a treestand - a longer-axle crossover that hunts as capably as it competes. It is not a compact woods hunter and won't out-maneuver a short hunting flagship in tight cover, but for the archer who wants one accurate, quiet bow to cover 3D, field, and a fall season, that breadth is the whole point.

Versions

The TRX 36 is sold as a single bow model configured to the buyer rather than as separate package tiers. The choices are: draw-weight module (peaks of 50, 60, or 70 pounds across a 40-to-70-pound span), let-off mod (70V or 80% - the two-mod system on the 2020 bow, with no 75% option), finish (Black, Blue, Red, or Stone), and hand (right or left). Launch MSRP was $1,849, and unlike a Ready-to-Hunt bow that is the bare bow - the target rest, sight, scope, and stabilizers that define a competition setup are chosen and priced separately. Mathews' QAD Integrate dovetail rest mount lets a target rest lock to the riser without a burger-hole bolt for a micro-adjustable attachment, and is the natural companion but a separate purchase. Inside the Mathews line, the shorter TRX 34 (2021) drops the draw floor lower for short-draw shooters, while the TRX 38 G2 and TRX 40 stretch the platform longer for maximum on-the-line stability.

Mathews TRX 36 vs Invicta 37 SVX, Citation 36

Bow	Mathews TRX 36	Hoyt Invicta 37 SVX	PSE Citation 36
Version	2023	2022	2022 SE
Picture
Brace Height	6.5 "	7 "	7.25 "
AtA Length	36 "	37.25 "	36 "
Draw Length	24 " - 30.5 "	23.5 " - 30 "	26.5 " - 32 "
Draw Weight	40 lbs - 70 lbs	30 lbs - 70 lbs	40 lbs - 60 lbs
IBO Speed	330 fps - 334 fps	330 fps	316 fps - 326 fps
Weight	4.66 lbs	4.7 lbs	4.9 lbs
Let-Off	70% & 80%	65%	65% - 75%
Where to buy Best prices online	$1200 Compare prices	$675 to $800 Compare prices	$650 to $999.99 Compare prices
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At $1,849 launch, the TRX 36 lands squarely among the premium target/3D bows, and the two most natural cross-shops are the Hoyt Invicta 37 SVX and the PSE Citation 36. The Hoyt Invicta 37 SVX stakes out a different philosophy: a longer 37.25-inch platform, a more forgiving 7-inch brace height, and a classic 65% let-off that leaves the pure target archer more holding weight to steer against, at a $1,899 price that carries a small premium over the Mathews. Where the TRX leans on a firm wall, deep-let-off mods, and a dead-in-hand shot, the Invicta leans on axle length and a deliberate, heavier hold - it is the steadier bow on a windy outdoor line, while the TRX 36 is the faster, more compact one that also quiets down to hunt. The PSE Citation 36 is the closer twin on paper: an identical 36-inch axle-to-axle length and the same $1,849 price, so the money is a wash. The Citation trades speed for forgiveness with a longer 7.25-inch brace and a lower 316-to-326 fps IBO, but answers back with a broader 65-to-75% let-off range that gives a shooter more hold options than the Mathews' two mods. Against both, the TRX 36's edge is its quiet, low-shock shot and its higher IBO speed off that short brace; the trade is a shorter brace height that asks a bit more of the shooter's form. The decision comes down to priorities: the TRX 36 for the archer who wants speed and a dead-quiet shot in a do-it-all target-and-hunting rig, the Invicta 37 SVX for maximum bar-length stability and a heavier classic hold, the Citation 36 for the shooter who wants more let-off flexibility and a more forgiving brace at the same price.

Summary

The Mathews TRX 36 is the fast, stable middle of the 2020 TRX target line - a 36-inch bow that pairs a 334 fps IBO speed rating with the smooth, linear C3X draw and the dead-in-hand shot that is the Mathews signature. Launched at $1,849 as a bare bow, it asks the buyer to add a rest, sight, and stabilizers on top, the way any competition rig does. What I keep coming back to is how quiet and planted it feels for a bow this quick - the caged riser and 3D Damping give it a stillness at the shot you expect from a hunting flagship, not a speed-brace target bow. The two-mod let-off lets a shooter pick between an aggressive 70V wall and a relaxed 80% valley, both backing up against a back wall firm enough to feel like limb stops. Real chronograph readings land around 290 fps at 60 pounds with a target arrow and climb past 300 with lighter shafts or full weight, so there is genuine speed on tap for long 3D and field shots. The Engage grip is the one part most competitive owners swap for flatter side plates, an easy and expected fix. An excellent bow for 3D and field archers who want speed and a rock-steady, quiet shot in one platform, and it is particularly strong as a longer-axle crossover for the archer juggling target seasons and fall hunting. Buyers who want maximum on-the-line stability should also look at the Hoyt Invicta 37 SVX, and those who want more let-off flexibility and a more forgiving brace at the same price should look at the PSE Citation 36.