Athens Convixtion Review

Editors' review

A 30-inch hunting bow usually asks you to trade forgiveness for maneuverability: a short axle-to-axle frame is easy to carry and swing in a treestand, but a compact bow tends to punish a loose hand. The Athens Convixtion refuses that trade. It pairs a compact 30-inch axle-to-axle (ATA, the tip-to-tip cam distance) with a tall 7-inch brace height and a featherlight 3.8-pound mass, so it carries and maneuvers like the short bow it is while holding as steadily as something bigger. From Athens' early-2010s hunting lineup, it runs the EV2x Extreme Velocity Duo two-cam system for a 335 fps IBO rating (the industry-standard speed measured at a fixed 30-inch, 70-pound, 350-grain setup) - genuinely quick for a bow this forgiving. What separates it from a factory-line bow is how it was built: Athens hand-made each one to the buyer, with a cam cut for that shooter's exact draw length. This is a review of a discontinued bow that still turns up on the used market, and it is worth understanding why the shooters who tracked one down tend to keep it.

Finish

The standard Convixtion shipped at the lower of its two price points in one of two looks. The first was a blacked-out build: an all-black powdercoated riser and black limbs, dressed with orange limb decals, orange medallions, and gray-and-orange strings with gray serving and matching limb jax - an understated bow with just enough orange to keep it from looking plain. The second standard option wrapped the whole bow in Next Vista Camo at the same price. Buyers who wanted a specific concealment pattern stepped up to the camo tier, which covered the riser and limbs in Predator Brown Deception, Bonehead Skulls, Bonehead Web, or Pink Next Vista, with neutral decals and medallions. Powdercoat over a machined riser is a durable, matte finish that resists the scuffs a hunting bow collects in a pack and a stand, and Athens' small-shop fit and finish is a trait owners single out - even the blacked-out base bow reads as a deliberately finished piece rather than a parts-bin assembly. Offering a stealthy solid black alongside full camo was the right call for a bow meant to disappear in the timber.

Riser

The Convixtion is built on a machined aluminum riser with deep, purposeful cutouts, including a distinctive knife-edge section drilled with a row of holes that trims mass without giving up rigidity - part of how a 30-inch hunting bow lands at just 3.8 pounds. The geometry is compact hunting-first, but Athens tuned the balance to hold still rather than to feel twitchy. The house hardware lives here: the Anchor string stop that meets the string just off the shot to kill oscillation, plus SS stabilizer and string-stop inserts machined into the riser and a Bowjax dampening system to soak up what little buzz remains. The practical payoff is that the riser arrives already quiet - no aftermarket string suppressor is required to settle the shot. In my experience with short, light risers, the risk is a nervous bow that magnifies a bad hand, but the Convixtion sidesteps that by pairing the compact frame with a tall brace and a steady mass distribution. The machining is clean and the cutout work is as much about weight and looks as it is about the brand's fit-and-finish reputation. It reads as a hunting riser first, then quietly does the forgiveness work a longer target riser would.

Grip

The grip is a two-piece laminated wood grip - a thin, minimal profile rather than a filled rubber wrap. It is deliberately low-volume: there is not much grip material to speak of, which is exactly what a torque-conscious shooter wants, because a narrow grip indexes the hand the same way each draw and gives torque nowhere to hide. Owners who have shot Athens bows across several years consistently rate the grip highly, and the wood laminate is warmer to the touch in cold weather than bare aluminum or hard rubber - a small but real advantage on a frozen November morning. Because it is slim laminated wood rather than a bulky pad, it sheds hand torque well and rewards a relaxed, repeatable hand position. A shooter used to a chunky filled grip may want to shoot it first, since the Convixtion's grip asks the hand to do the indexing rather than filling the palm. It is a small part of the bow that contributes an outsized share of the forgiveness the compact frame is known for.

Limbs

The Convixtion uses solid limbs seated in rear-pivot limb pockets, a straightforward and durable arrangement that keeps the pocket-to-riser interface tight and the tune stable through a season. Draw weight spans 40 to 70 pounds in 10-pound brackets, so a buyer selects a limb-weight range at purchase and fine-tunes within it - 40 pounds is comfortable for a lighter-draw or youth-transition hunter, while 70 pounds is full whitetail-and-larger hunting weight. On a 30-inch platform, storing that peak weight efficiently is what lets the bow reach a 335 IBO number without an aggressive, punishing limb. Solid limbs on a compact hunting bow prioritize reliability and a settled feel over the last few feet per second a split-limb design might chase, which fits the Convixtion's forgiving character. The rear-pivot pockets and sealed cam bearings speak to a bow meant to hold tune rather than drift. It is a limb design Athens carried across its early-2010s bows - refined rather than experimental.

Eccentric System

The heart of the Convixtion is the EV2x Extreme Velocity Duo, a dual-cam (two-cam) system, one cam top and bottom, tuned to blend hunting speed with a clean draw. Its defining trait is the draw-length-specific cam: rather than a rotating module, each Convixtion ships with a cam cut for the shooter's exact draw length, anywhere from 24.5 to 29.5 inches in half-inch steps - the bow is spec'd to you, not adjusted to you. Let-off is adjustable from 65 to 80 percent (the percentage the holding weight drops to at full draw), so a shooter can dial a shorter, snappier valley for a punchy release or a longer, relaxed hold for slow, deliberate stand shots. Solid-wall draw stops give a firm, defined back wall with no creep - the trait owners repeat most, describing the wall as brick-solid at full draw. On the chronograph the bow is rated at 335 fps IBO, but the real-world numbers with hunting arrows tell the useful story: one hands-on test clocked 286.3 fps with a heavy 408-grain arrow at 29 inches and 70 pounds, and an owner measured 304 fps with a lighter 385-grain arrow at the same draw - a realistic 286-to-304 fps window depending on arrow weight. Sealed cam bearings keep grit out and help the two cams stay in time across a season. Two round cams on a compact riser is an older, proven recipe, and here it produces exactly what shooters praise: a smooth, controllable draw into a wall you can trust. The trade for the draw-length-specific cam is that changing your draw later means a new cam rather than a quick twist of a module - a reason to set your exact draw at the point of order.

Draw Cycle/Shootability

Drawing the Convixtion, the first thing that registers is how little the compact frame fights back - the pull is smooth and even from the break to the wall, without the sharp hump a short, fast bow often builds. When the cam reaches the stop, it hits a firm, repeatable wall with no creep; in my experience a solid draw stop like this is what lets a hunter anchor the same way on every shot, and owners are unanimous that the Convixtion's wall is brick-solid at full draw. The valley is comfortable enough at the higher let-off setting to hold on an animal that is taking its time. At the release, the bow sits dead in the hand - the Anchor string stop and Bowjax hardware absorb the shot so completely that shooters describe zero hand shock, and the report is notably quiet. That combination of a firm wall, a dead-in-hand release, and a hushed shot is what turns a light 30-inch bow into one you can hold steady, and it is why one owner reported nickel-sized groups at 20 and 30 yards after only a handful of arrows. The 7-inch brace does quiet work here too, giving the shot enough forgiveness that a slightly imperfect hand still flies true. There is nothing nervous about it; the Convixtion asks only that you execute the shot and gets out of the way.

Usage Scenarios

Picture an October treestand at first light: a whitetail hunter with the Convixtion set to 65 pounds and 75-percent let-off holds at full draw through a long, slow approach, the light bow easy on the arm and the firm wall keeping the anchor honest until the shot presents. The 3.8-pound mass and 30-inch length make it easy to raise, swing, and hold in tight stand quarters or a cramped ground blind, and the camo finish handles concealment. The 24.5-to-29.5-inch draw range covers short-draw and average-draw shooters - the sweet spot for many hunters - while the 40-to-70-pound span means the same bow suits a lighter-draw or younger hunter at the bottom and a full whitetail-and-larger setup at the top. It is a hunting bow at heart, most at home inside 40 yards on whitetail, hogs, and similar game, though its forgiveness makes it pleasant for stump-shooting and backyard practice between seasons. A shooter with a draw longer than 29.5 inches, or one who wants a longer, faster platform, is a better fit for the Convixtion's bigger sibling, the Athens Afflixtion, which stretches to a 35-inch axle-to-axle. But for the hunter who values a light, quiet, forgiving bow that maneuvers in tight cover, the Convixtion is squarely in its element.

Versions

The Convixtion was sold as a single model in two finish-based price points at launch. The standard tier, at $799, covered either the all-black powdercoat build (black riser and limbs, orange decals and medallions, gray-and-orange strings) or an all Next Vista Camo dip. The camo tier, at $875, covered the full-coverage patterns - Predator Brown Deception, Bonehead Skulls, Bonehead Web, or Pink Next Vista - with neutral decals and medallions. Mechanically the two tiers are identical; the $76 step buys the camo finish, not different hardware, geometry, or speed. Draw-weight bracket (40 to 70 pounds, in 10-pound modules) and the draw-length-specific cam (24.5 to 29.5 inches) were specified at order rather than sold as separate SKUs. There was no ready-to-hunt accessory package; this was a bare bow bought through an Athens dealer and set up to the shooter.

Athens Convixtion vs Mathews Creed, Bowtech Experience

Bow	Athens Convixtion	Mathews Creed	Bowtech Experience
Version	2015	2014	2015
Picture
Brace Height	7 "	7 "	7 "
AtA Length	30 "	30 "	32 "
Draw Length	24.5 " - 29.5 "	26.5 " - 29.5 "	26.5 " - 31 "
Draw Weight	40 lbs - 70 lbs	50 lbs - 70 lbs	40 lbs - 70 lbs
IBO Speed	335 fps	328 fps	335 fps
Weight	3.8 lbs	3.85 lbs	4.2 lbs
Let-Off	65% - 80%	80%	80%
Where to buy Best prices online	$600 Compare prices	$399 to $700 Compare prices	$500 to $750 Compare prices
	compare more bows

The Convixtion sits in the sweet spot of the early-2010s compact-hunter class, and the comparison is really about size, speed, and how the bow is built. The Mathews Creed is the closest match on paper - the same 30-inch axle-to-axle and the same forgiving 7-inch brace, from a major brand at a similar tier. The Mathews Creed is a touch slower at 328 fps IBO and, like the Convixtion, is prized for a smooth draw and near-zero hand shock; the Convixtion answers with a hair more rated speed, a lighter 3.8-pound mass, and the hand-built, custom-shop character - each bow made to order, one at a time - that a factory-line Creed does not match. The Bowtech Experience pulls in the other direction on size: it matches the Convixtion's 335 fps IBO and 7-inch brace and shares the identical 40-to-70-pound draw range, but on a longer 32-inch frame that adds a little mass and a little more on-target stability at the cost of some maneuverability. Against the Bowtech Experience, the Convixtion delivers the same speed in a more compact, lighter package - the same performance you can swing more easily in a treestand. All three are forgiving 7-inch-brace hunting bows, so none is a wrong choice. The decision comes down to priorities: the Mathews Creed for the buyer who wants a major-brand compact hunter with the widest service network, the Bowtech Experience for the shooter who wants that speed on a longer, steadier frame, and the Athens Convixtion for the hunter who wants the lightest, most maneuverable of the three, hand-built to their exact draw.

Summary

The Athens Convixtion is a compact 30-inch, 335 fps IBO hunting bow from Athens' early-2010s lineup, launched at $799 for the standard black or Next Vista finish and $875 for full camo. Its case rests on a combination that is hard to find in one bow: the carry-and-swing ease of a short 3.8-pound frame with the mistake-tolerant hold of a tall 7-inch brace, wrapped in custom-shop fit and finish. It draws smoothly to a brick-solid wall, sits dead in the hand at the shot thanks to the Anchor string stop and Bowjax hardware, and stays quiet without any add-on suppressor - the reasons its forgiveness translates into tight groups so quickly. Real-world speed lands in a realistic 286-to-304 fps window with hunting arrows, and the adjustable 65-to-80-percent let-off lets a shooter tune the valley to their style. What stays with me about this bow is that each one was hand-built to its owner, with a cam cut for their exact draw - a level of personalization the factory lines of the era did not match. Because it is discontinued, it is a used-market find today, but a well-kept one restrung by any pro shop is a lot of light, quiet, forgiving hunting bow. It is an excellent choice for the treestand and blind hunter who wants a maneuverable, forgiving bow inside 40 yards, and it is particularly strong at holding steady in tight quarters. Buyers who want a major-brand compact hunter should also look at the Mathews Creed, while those who want the same speed on a longer, steadier frame should look at the Bowtech Experience.