Mathews Lift 29.5 Review
from $900
Pros
- Sub-4-pound aluminum flagship - 3.99 lb bare, lighter than many carbon bows, without the carbon price
- Class-leading Mathews silence and a snappy, low-decay shot - multiple owners call it one of the quietest bows they have shot
- Genuinely fast for a compact rig - real chronograph readings of 329-330 fps with a 350-grain arrow at 30 inches and 70 pounds
- SwitchWeight-X modules cover 55 to 80 pounds and 24.5 to 30 inches of draw in fine steps, all set without a press
- Long skeletonized riser holds steady and points like a longer bow, opening it to short-draw hunters down to 24.5 inches
Cons
- Some early 2024 units cracked an RPD limb, usually on the 80-pound mod - no recall, but Mathews' transferable pass-down warranty replaces the full limb set even on used bows and says it is resolved on current production; check the limbs on any used buy
- The short 29.5-inch chassis is a touch livelier in the hand than the longer Lift 33 - shooters chasing the absolute deadest hold may prefer the 33 or a small amount of rear stabilizer weight
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Editors' review
Mathews built the 2024 Lift 29.5 around one number that sounds impossible for an aluminum bow: 3.99 pounds. This is a full flagship - quiet, fast, tunable to 80 pounds - that weighs less than many carbon rigs and costs hundreds less than them. To get there Mathews redesigned almost every part: a deeply skeletonized riser, a new more aggressive SwitchWeight-X cam, shorter RPD limbs with the axle mounted on top instead of run through them, and new MATCH bowstrings. The result is a compact 29.5-inch hunter that carries the class-leading Mathews silence, holds far steadier than its axle-to-axle length suggests, and drops to a 24.5-inch draw that opens it to shorter-draw shooters. It is the bow that launched Mathews' lightweight, sub-$1,500 do-everything platform - the one the 2025 Lift X would later evolve. If you want the lightest quiet flagship you can hang a full hunting kit on and still hike all day, this is where that story starts.
Finish
The Lift 29.5 ships in a wide menu of finishes: solid options beyond black plus a broad spread of camo. Solid options are Black, Green Ambush, Granite, and the new-for-2024 Earth, a muted textured tan that suits the skeletonized riser and photographs beautifully in the field. The camo side covers Realtree Edge, First Lite Specter, GORE OPTIFADE Elevated II and Subalpine, and the new Mossy Oak Bottomland, so the finish can be matched from open western country to eastern timber and hardwood bottoms. The textured anodizing wears well; owners running the Earth finish for months report it can pick up faint hairline scratches early but nothing that stays permanent, which is typical for a working hunting bow. Mathews' custom Bow Builder program extends the palette further for buyers who want to match riser, limb, and accent colors to a kit. It is a broad, tasteful spread for a flagship, heavier on real hunting camo than on flashy solids.Riser
The Lift 29.5 rides an aggressively skeletonized aluminum riser, and the skeletonizing is the whole point - the large machined cutouts are how Mathews pulled nearly half a pound out of the previous generation while keeping the frame stiff. It is a long riser relative to the 29.5-inch axle-to-axle length, and that geometry is why a short bow like this holds so steady on target: the limbs sit close to parallel with the riser, and owners consistently note it aims like a longer rig than its numbers suggest. The riser is machined a touch straighter, with slightly less deflex than the prior model, which nudges the bow toward a little more forgiveness at the same 6-inch brace height. It carries Mathews' integrated accessory ecosystem - the Bridge-Lock channel that mounts a dovetail sight and a Bridge-Lock stabilizer straight into the riser, plus the rear dovetail mount that indexes the Integrate rest to the back of the riser. In my experience the Bridge-Lock channel is the kind of feature you underestimate until you drop a sight in and realize the front of the bow has nothing hanging off its side. It is a riser engineered to make a light, compact bow feel centered and planted.Grip
The Lift 29.5 keeps Mathews' Engage grip unchanged from the prior year - a narrow rubberized panel seated in the center of the riser to promote a low-torque, repeatable hand, and it is warm to the touch on a cold morning. The narrow width suits medium and smaller hands and gives torque-sensitive shooters less material to steer the bow off line. Grip preference is deeply personal here: some owners find the rounded back of the panel lets the hand roll depending on how much wrist they give it and would prefer a flatter surface, and the Engage grip is a recurring "swap it or love it" point across the Mathews lineup. The upside is that it is easy to change - Mathews side plates and third-party grips fit the platform if you want more fill, a flatter back, or a different texture. A useful touch for 2024 is that the grip is ShotSense-compatible: a sensor drops in underneath it to track how you hold and torque the bow. A shooter coming off a chunky rubber grip should spend a session learning to let this one sit rather than squeeze it.Limbs
The Lift 29.5 runs Mathews' RPD (Resistance Phase Damping) limbs - the original Lift limb, built so each half is effectively two pieces with a rubber damper bonded between them, an eight-piece limb that soaks up post-shot vibration and helps make the shot as dead and quiet as it is. For 2024 the limbs are shorter and slightly thinner than the previous generation, and the axle now mounts on top of the limb rather than running through it, which Mathews says maximizes the working surface of the limb, saves weight, and adds stability. The redesigned limb pockets seat into the riser directly. The SwitchWeight-X modules take the draw weight from 55 to 80 pounds in 5-pound steps, a wider and finer range than the prior 60-to-75 spread, so a single limb set covers everything from a lighter pull to a full 80-pound setup. One honest note for used buyers: a portion of early 2024 Lifts, most often on the 80-pound mod, showed limb splintering - Mathews' response, covered in the Cons and the summary, is an indefinite transferable warranty rather than a recall, and the company reports the issue resolved on current production. Pressing this bow requires Mathews' press fingers because of the top-axle design, worth knowing if you tune your own gear.Eccentric System
The heart of the Lift 29.5 is the SwitchWeight-X cam, a more aggressive, oval-ish evolution of Mathews' SwitchWeight system that trades a hair of draw comfort for real speed. It carries an IBO rating (the industry-standard chronograph figure at a fixed setup) of up to 348 fps, eight faster than the bow it replaced, and Mathews measures that at 80 percent let-off and 70 pounds. On the range, at the more common 85-percent, 70-pound setup, real chronograph readings land where you would expect: 329 to 330 fps with a 350-grain arrow at 30 inches, 323 fps at 29 inches, and 317 fps at 28 inches, with a 28.5-inch, 80-pound setup pushing a 447-grain hunting arrow to 309 fps. Step up to true hunting arrow weight and it still moves - 293 fps with a 450-to-455-grain arrow at 70 pounds, and 262 fps with a heavy 530-grain shaft. The SwitchWeight-X modules set draw length from 24.5 to 30 inches in half-inch steps and let-off at 80 or 85 percent, all without a bow press, so one cam covers a wide fit range. Let-off (the percentage of peak weight the holding weight drops to at full draw) at 85 percent keeps the hold light while the aggressive cam profile does the speed work. The cam runs a deep track that helps the string stay seated, and the modules changed for this generation, so older SwitchWeight mods will not carry over. For a compact aluminum bow, this is a genuinely quick cam that reads its speed honestly on a chronograph.Draw Cycle/Shootability
The Lift 29.5 draws stiff but smooth, and that word order matters - the cam is aggressive, so you feel weight through the pull, but it stays consistent from the front of the draw straight into the valley without a big hump to roll over. There is a slight stack at the start on the short 29.5, a touch heavier right off the peg than the longer Lift 33, and it eases into a firm, rock-solid back wall that locks in with no dump even at 85 percent let-off. The valley is short: as soon as you ease off, the bow wants to ride home, so this is a rig that keeps you honest and rewards staying engaged on the wall rather than relaxing into a soft valley - a characteristic pull-through shooters will love and softer-pull shooters can tame by dropping a couple of pounds off peak. The let-down is easy and quiet, which matters more than it sounds when you have to bring a drawn bow down slowly on a stand. Then comes the part nobody argues about: this is a strikingly quiet bow, one of the quietest in more than one owner's lineup at a measured 95 decibels, with a snappy, low-decay shot signature rather than a drawn-out thump. Post-shot it settles fast and dead in the hand; the short 29.5 chassis is a shade livelier than the longer 33, and a hair of hand shock is detectable to a sensitive shooter, but it never crosses into louder-or-buzzier-than-previous-Mathews territory, and a touch of rear stabilizer weight settles it completely. Drawing and shooting this bow, the thing you keep noticing is how much steady, quiet performance Mathews packed into a frame this light. Shoot one before you buy - the short valley and firm wall are the character of this bow, and how you feel about them is personal.Usage Scenarios
The Lift 29.5 is built for the hunter who covers ground and hates carrying weight. Picture a western hunter grinding up a steep ridge with the bow strapped to a pack all day - at 3.99 pounds it is the rig you stop noticing on the climb, and it comes to full draw clean when a shot finally sets up. It is equally at home for the mobile whitetail hunter slipping into a tight treestand in thick timber, where the 29.5-inch length tucks in and a 33-inch bow would clip branches on the draw. With real speeds in the low-to-mid 320s using a mid-weight arrow and 293 fps with a heavy 450-grain hunting shaft, it carries the energy for whitetail, mule deer, antelope, and black bear at typical bowhunting ranges, and a well-tuned 70-or-80-pound setup handles elk. The 24.5-inch draw floor opens it to shorter-draw adults and teenagers in transition who want a true flagship rather than a youth bow, a segment the longer Lift 33 shuts out at its 26-inch floor. It doubles capably for backyard practice and casual 3D, though a shooter who wants a dedicated long-axle target bow with the steadiest possible hold for spot leagues should look at a longer 33-inch chassis. For the all-day, all-season hunter who wants flagship silence and speed in the lightest package Mathews had built to that point, this is the tool.Versions
The Lift 29.5 is sold as a single model at a $1,329 launch MSRP, with the variation between SKUs being finish only - the finish options are covered in the Finish section, and every finish carries the same price. It is a bow-only flagship, not a ready-to-hunt package, so a sight, rest, quiver, and stabilizer are chosen separately; the Bridge-Lock riser and rear dovetail mount make Mathews' own integrated accessories the cleanest fit. Buyers weighing the family should note the two length options: this 29.5-inch model, and the longer Mathews Lift 33 at a $1,429 launch MSRP, which trades a little maneuverability for a 6.5-inch brace, a slightly steadier hold, and a longer 26-to-31.5-inch draw range. For 2025 Mathews evolved this platform into the Lift X, which added press-free Limb Shift tuning, ARC7 limbs, and the BOND grip - a step-up successor for buyers who want the newer tuning system, while the original Lift remains the lighter-on-the-wallet way into the platform.Mathews Lift 29.5 vs Hoyt Ventum Pro 30, Bowtech SR350
| Bow | Mathews Lift 29.5 | Hoyt Ventum Pro 30 | Bowtech SR350 |
| Version | 2024 | 2022 | 2023 |
| Picture |  |  |  |
| Brace Height | 6 " | 6 " | 6 " |
| AtA Length | 29.5 " | 30 " | 33 " |
| Draw Length | 24.5 " - 30 " | 25 " - 30 " | 25 " - 30 " |
| Draw Weight | 45 lbs - 80 lbs | 40 lbs - 80 lbs | 40 lbs - 70 lbs |
| IBO Speed | 348 fps | 342 fps | 350 fps |
| Weight | 3.99 lbs | 4.45 lbs | 4.4 lbs |
| Let-Off | 80% or 85% | 80% or 85% | 85 / 87% |
| Where to buy Best prices online | |||
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At the compact end of the premium aluminum hunting class, the Lift 29.5's natural cross-shops are the Hoyt Ventum Pro 30 and the Bowtech SR350, all three within eighty dollars of each other at launch - the Hoyt Ventum Pro 30 at $1,249, the Bowtech SR350 at $1,299, and the Lift 29.5 at $1,329. On paper the Lift 29.5 and the Hoyt Ventum Pro 30 are near twins: both carry a 6-inch brace height, both sit within a few fps on IBO at 348 and 342, and both hunt at compact axle-to-axle lengths, but the Hoyt runs an inch longer, leans on its rail-based accessory system, and reaches down to a 40-pound floor for lighter-draw shooters, while the Lift answers with its sub-4-pound weight and Mathews' class-leading quiet. The Bowtech SR350 comes at it from the speed and tuning angle: its 350 fps IBO 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 Lift's maneuverability and its weight advantage. Against both, the Lift 29.5's headline is that 3.99-pound aluminum frame paired with a genuinely quiet shot - no other bow here is as light. The decision comes down to priorities: the Lift 29.5 for the hunter who wants the lightest, quietest compact flagship with a short-draw floor, the Hoyt Ventum Pro 30 for the one who wants a slightly longer chassis, a rail-based kit, and a lighter draw-weight option, and the Bowtech SR350 for the one chasing maximum speed and lock-in tuning on a longer bow.