Mathews V3X 29 Review

Editors' review

Mathews spent 2021 fielding one persistent complaint about the compact V3 27: the draw cycle was too aggressive for a lot of shooters. The V3X 29 is the answer. Rather than build another 27-inch bow, Mathews stretched the platform two inches to 29 inches axle-to-axle, tuned the Crosscentric cam, and wrapped the whole thing in an integrated accessory system that is the real headline of the 2022 line. The Bridge-Lock riser swallows a dovetail sight through its center, the new LowPro quiver tucks tighter than anything before it, and the Stay Afield System turns a broken string in the backcountry from a hunt-ender into a ten-minute field fix. The result is a compact, treestand-friendly flagship that keeps the class-leading silence Mathews is known for but shoots noticeably friendlier than the bow it grew out of. It is built for the mobile hunter who wants a short, quiet, fast rig - and who is ready to run their whole setup down the centerline of the bow.

Finish

The V3X 29 ships in eight standard finishes plus full custom options. Two are solid colors - Black and the new-for-2022 Granite - and six are camo patterns: First Lite Specter, Under Armour Forest All-Season, Realtree Edge, Green Ambush, GORE OPTIFADE Subalpine, and GORE OPTIFADE Elevated II. The solid Black and Granite suit the shooter who wants a clean, understated bow, and Granite in particular gives the long riser a muted, modern look that photographs well. The camo spread covers open western terrain through eastern timber, so the finish can be matched to the country you actually hunt. For buyers who want to go further, Mathews' Bow Builder program lets you mix riser and limb colors and accents to match a kit. Anodizing across the V3X generation is even and wears well. It is a broad palette for a flagship, with more solid-color latitude than most competitors offer at this tier.

Riser

The V3X 29 is built on Mathews' extended bridged riser, machined so long that on this 29-inch bow the riser measures close to the axle-to-axle length itself - the geometry that lets a short bow hold like a longer one. What is genuinely new for 2022 is what the riser does with your sight. The Bridge-Lock system accepts a dovetail sight straight through a machined channel in the riser, locked with a single set screw, eliminating the external mounting bracket entirely and pulling that weight into the centerline of the bow for cleaner balance and less vibration. Mathews partnered with Axcel on a matching dovetail sight, and Axcel, Spot Hogg, and HHA dovetails drop in; a conventional side-mount hole is still there for anyone running a different brand. Cable control comes from an angled roller guard that keeps the strings clear for a smooth pull, and the integrated dovetail rest mount indexes a compatible rest to the back of the riser with one repeatable connection. In my experience the Bridge-Lock channel is the kind of upgrade you underestimate until you mount a sight and realize the front of the bow suddenly has nothing hanging off its side. It is a riser designed to make a compact bow shoot like a centered one.

Grip

The V3X 29 carries Mathews' slim, rubberized textured grip - a narrow panel seated centered in the riser to promote a low-torque, repeatable hand. It is warm to the touch in cold weather, which matters more than it sounds on a November treestand morning, and the slim profile suits medium and smaller hands while giving torque-sensitive shooters less material to steer the bow off line. That sensitivity cuts both ways: a slim Mathews grip rewards a relaxed, consistent hand and will show you a bad one, so a shooter coming off a chunky rubber grip should spend a session learning to let the bow sit rather than squeeze it. Grip preference is deeply personal - some owners love this panel, others swap it - and Mathews' side plates and third-party grips fit the platform if you want more fill or a different texture. Drawing it, I found the centered placement made it easy to return to the same reference shot after shot, which is exactly what a short, aim-sensitive bow needs. For most hunters the factory grip is all it will ask for.

Limbs

The V3X 29 runs Mathews' beyond-parallel limbs - solid, non-split limbs that sit well past parallel at rest and curl inward at full draw, canceling much of the recoil before it can reach your hand. That geometry is a big reason the bow finishes so still and dead. Peak draw weight is offered in 60, 65, 70, and 75-pound options, and rather than backing weight off with limb bolts the way most brands do, Mathews sets peak weight through the cam module - you shoot at the top of the limb's range and change the module to change poundage. Keeping the limbs in their efficient window is part of why real-world speeds stay strong even a few pounds down from peak. The beyond-parallel design has a long, proven track record across the Triax, VXR, and V3 lineage, so durability here is a settled question rather than an open one. It is a mature limb system doing exactly what it was refined to do: store energy and give none of it back to the shooter's hand.

Eccentric System

The heart of the bow is the Crosscentric cam with Switchweight technology, lightly redesigned for 2022 but built on the same module logic as the V3. A single module governs three things at once - draw length, let-off, and peak draw weight - so a dealer reconfigures fit and poundage by swapping one small part instead of re-limbing the bow. Let-off is offered at 80% or 85%, with 85% modules stocked as standard for maximum holding relief on a bow you may sit at full draw waiting on an animal. The IBO rating (the industry chronograph standard at a fixed 30-inch, 70-pound, 350-grain setup) is 340 fps, and unlike a lot of marketing numbers this one carries into the field: the V3X 29 delivered 326 fps with a mid-weight arrow at 30 inches and 70 pounds, 301 fps with a 400-grain shaft at a real 28-inch draw, and 284 fps with a heavy 477-grain hunting arrow. Those are strong numbers for a 29-inch bow, and they land a touch ahead of the longer V3X 33, which trades a few fps for its extra brace height and length. Draw-length changes still run through Mathews' top-hat system on the axle rather than a tool-free module rotation, so a draw change is a dealer job. For a hunter who wants real speed without stepping up to a 33-inch bow, this cam is the sweet spot of the platform.

Draw Cycle/Shootability

This is where the V3X 29 makes its case as the friendlier bow. Where the old V3 27 built weight abruptly and drew hard enough to divide opinion, the 29 rolls up more smoothly and turns over into the valley with a cleaner, more predictable transition - one shop that openly disliked the 27's cycle called the 29 considerably better, and I read it the same way. It is still a Crosscentric, so it is honest about what it is: the front end builds firm, the cam turns over with a defined dump into the valley, and it ends against a rock-hard cable-stop wall that feels every bit as solid as a limb stop. Shooters who like to pull through the shot and lean into a wall will love it; anyone wanting a butter-soft pull can fit the 80% module or shoot a couple pounds under peak, which noticeably softens the late hump. And the more you shoot it, the more that turnover becomes muscle memory rather than a surprise. Then comes the part nobody argues about: at around 93 decibels this was the quietest bow in more than one shooter's lineup, and the beyond-parallel limbs plus the harmonic damper leave the riser stone dead the instant the arrow is gone. The one honest quirk is balance - the long riser gives the bow a slightly top-heavy feel that a rear stabilizer or a little low riser weight settles quickly. Draw one before you buy: the wall and the turnover are the character of this bow, and how you feel about them is personal.

Usage Scenarios

The V3X 29 is built for the hunter who moves. Picture a mobile whitetail hunter slipping into a tight treestand set in thick timber, where a 33-inch bow would clip branches on the draw - the 29-inch V3X tucks in, comes to full draw clean, and the tucked-in LowPro quiver means nothing snags on the climb. It is equally at home for the western hunter covering steep country with the bow strapped to a pack, where the Stay Afield System is genuine insurance: a broken string or a nicked peep miles from the truck becomes a field repair instead of a ruined trip. Ground-blind hunters gain the same maneuvering room in a cramped hub. With real speeds north of 300 fps using a heavy hunting arrow, it carries the energy for whitetail, mule deer, antelope, and black bear at typical bowhunting ranges, and a well-tuned 70-pound setup handles elk. Its 25.5-inch draw floor also opens it to shorter-draw shooters who want a true flagship - a segment the longer V3X 33 shuts out at 27 inches. It is less suited to the shooter who wants a dedicated long-axle target bow or the steadiest possible hold for mixed 3D and hunting; that archer should look at the V3X 33. For everyone hunting tight country who still wants flagship silence and speed, this is the tool.

Mathews V3X 29 vs Hoyt Ventum Pro 30, Bowtech SR350

Bow	Mathews V3X 29	Hoyt Ventum Pro 30	Bowtech SR350
Version	2023	2022	2023
Picture
Brace Height	6 "	6 "	6 "
AtA Length	29 "	30 "	33 "
Draw Length	25.5 " - 30 "	25 " - 30 "	25 " - 30 "
Draw Weight	50 lbs - 75 lbs	40 lbs - 80 lbs	40 lbs - 70 lbs
IBO Speed	340 fps	342 fps	350 fps
Weight	4.47 lbs	4.45 lbs	4.4 lbs
Let-Off	80 or 85%	80% or 85%	85 / 87%
Where to buy Best prices online	$509.24 to $2000 Compare prices	$999.99 to $1000 Compare prices	$600 to $2250 Compare prices
	compare more bows

At the compact end of the 2022 flagship class, the V3X 29's natural cross-shops are the Hoyt Ventum Pro 30 and the Bowtech SR350. All three are premium aluminum hunting bows in the same price neighborhood - the Hoyt Ventum Pro 30 near $1,249 and the Bowtech SR350 at $1,299, with the V3X 29 launching just under both. On paper the V3X 29 and the Hoyt Ventum Pro 30 are near twins: both carry a 6-inch brace height, both sit within a couple fps on IBO at 340 and 342, and both run 80% or 85% let-off, but the Hoyt is an inch longer axle-to-axle and leans on its Picatinny-style HBX accessory system rather than an in-riser sight channel. The Bowtech SR350 comes at it from the speed angle: its 350 fps rating and DeadLock cam make it the fastest and easiest-to-lock-in-tune of the three, but it does that on a longer 33-inch chassis, so it gives up the V3X 29's maneuverability. Against both, the Mathews' headline advantages are its class-leading quiet and the integrated Bridge-Lock and LowPro system that pulls the sight and quiver into the centerline. The decision comes down to priorities: the V3X 29 for the hunter who wants the quietest, most compact flagship with a centered accessory kit, the Hoyt Ventum Pro 30 for the one who wants a slightly longer chassis and Hoyt's rail-based system, and the Bowtech SR350 for the one chasing maximum speed and lock-in tuning.

Summary

The Mathews V3X 29 is the compact half of the 2022 V3X platform, and it fixes the one thing that divided shooters on its predecessor: the draw. At $1,199 launch MSRP it lands in the heart of the flagship class and earns the spot with a real 326 fps at 30 inches, one of the quietest shots on the market at around 93 decibels, and a smoother, more usable Crosscentric cycle than the old V3 27 ever offered. What sets it apart from the competition is the integrated accessory system - the Bridge-Lock riser that hides a dovetail sight through its center, the LowPro quiver that tucks in tight, and the Stay Afield System that lets you rescue a broken string miles from the truck. The draw still turns over into a firm, rock-solid wall, which pull-through shooters will love and softer-pull shooters can tune down with the 80% module, and the long riser's slightly top-heavy feel settles with a touch of rear weight. In my experience it is the kind of bow you stop fighting after a session and simply trust to be quiet, fast, and repeatable. An excellent bow for the mobile hunter who works tight timber, treestands, and steep western country, and a strong pick for shorter-draw shooters thanks to its 25.5-inch floor. Buyers who want a longer, steadier hold for mixed hunting and 3D should also look at its sibling the Mathews V3X 33, and those chasing maximum speed should weigh the Bowtech SR350.