Bowtech The Legend Review

Editors' review

The Legend is the rarest kind of tribute bow: one that gives up nothing to be a tribute. Underneath the Kryptek Typhon finish, the red-white-and-blue strings, and the Chris Kyle limb graphics sits Bowtech's full 2015 Prodigy flagship - the same OverDrive Binary cams, the same PowerShift technology, the same aluminum Center Pivot Extreme riser - sold at the same price as the standard bow, with a donation to the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation on every purchase. Bowtech built it to honor the Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle; Taya Kyle received the first bow in the series, CK 0001. What makes it worth a hunter's attention rather than just a collector's is that the Prodigy underneath was one of 2015's genuinely versatile hunting flagships - a bow that could be a speed rig one weekend and an easy-drawing all-day companion the next, without a trip to the pro shop between. The headline is PowerShift's PowerDisc3, which lets a single bow behave like three. For a buyer who wants a hunting bow with a story on the limb and no compromise in the hand, that combination is unusual.

Finish

On The Legend the finish is not an afterthought - it is the entire reason the bow exists as its own model. It shipped in a commemorative-exclusive Kryptek Typhon pattern, a dark, broken-up camo unique to this edition (the standard Prodigy offered Kryptek Highlander, BlackOps, Mossy Oak Break-Up Country, and Realtree Xtra Green instead). Woven through it are red, white, and blue bowstrings, a detail you notice from across a range. The limbs and riser carry the tribute graphics: the Chris Kyle name, an "In God We Trust" stamp, a Navy SEAL emblem, and eagle motifs, each bow wearing a special-edition serial number. It arrived in a distinctive red Bowtech box with a commemorative dog tag and a matching hat. Because the coating and hardware are otherwise the standard Prodigy's, the finish is the one place The Legend and its donor bow diverge - and it is a deliberate, unmistakable identity rather than a camo pattern chosen to disappear.

Riser

The Legend is built on Bowtech's Center Pivot Extreme riser, a deflexed aluminum design - not the carbon chassis some of Bowtech's other 2015 bows used - which is part of why this bow weighs a substantial 4.2 pounds and hangs so steady on target. The deflexed geometry moves the grip back toward the string, lengthening the effective riser and settling the bow into a forgiving hold that owners consistently compare to a much longer bow; one described it as aiming like a 40-inch rig with no left-right wander. The riser carries Bowtech's FLX-Guard, a flexing cable guard that pulls the cables clear of the arrow while cancelling the sideways torque a fixed guard feeds into the riser at the shot - a real contributor to how calmly the bow releases. It is a center-shot layout, which simplifies tuning. The whole package is machined aluminum flagship hardware, the same the standard Prodigy shipped on, with the tribute graphics laid over it rather than any change to the structure underneath.

Grip

The grip is Bowtech's slim side-plate design of the era, mounted low and direct to the riser so the hand sits near the centerline where torque is easiest to keep out of the shot. Reception was split among owners: some found the slimmer profile more comfortable than the blockier grips on other bows of the period, while others rated it merely average and reached for an aftermarket replacement. That is an easy swap - the grip is a bolt-on part - so it is more a matter of personal hand fit than a flaw in the bow. What most owners agree on is that the hold is repeatable, which is a large part of why this bow aims as steadily as it does. For cold-weather hunting the side plates are warm enough to shoot bare-handed rather than fighting a glove.

Limbs

The Legend runs Bowtech's CarbonCore limbs in a near-parallel layout, so at the shot the top and bottom limbs drive back against each other and cancel much of the shock and noise before it reaches the hand - the mechanical reason owners keep calling this bow dead in the hand. Draw weight comes in three peak modules - 50, 60, and 70 pounds - each adjustable ten pounds down from its peak, covering an effective range from 40 up to a full 70-pound hunting setup. Note that despite what a few dealer listings claimed at the time, the platform tops out at 70 pounds, not 80. Draw length is set at the cams rather than the limbs, so limb weight is dialed once for the shooter and left alone. Parallel limb designs like this have a long, quiet reliability record across Bowtech's lineup, holding tune season to season, and the CarbonCore construction keeps the limbs light without giving up the energy storage that gets this bow to a 343-fps rating.

Eccentric System

This is where The Legend earns its keep. It runs Bowtech's OverDrive Binary cams, a binary system that slaves the top and bottom cams directly to each other so they self-correct their timing and keep nock travel straight - what the shooter feels as a consistent, repeatable release, and what a careful tuner can fine-tune at the yokes. Draw length adjusts from 25 to 30.5 inches through rotating modules in half-inch steps, no press and no new cams required. The published IBO speed (the industry chronograph rating at a fixed 30-inch, 70-pound, 350-grain setup) is 343 fps; in the real world on the Performance setting, independent chronograph testing put it around 309 fps with a 385-grain arrow at 70 pounds, with Outdoor Life measuring 323 fps on their own setup - quick numbers for a bow this smooth. The signature feature is PowerShift's PowerDisc3: a three-position disc on each cam - Performance, Classic, and Comfort - that reshapes the draw-force curve without changing peak weight. Performance stores the most energy for the fastest, firmest draw; Comfort slopes the weight off after the peak into a wide, soft valley for the smoothest, quietest shot; Classic splits the difference. Changing settings takes an Allen wrench and a few seconds per cam, no press. Let-off is 80% (the holding weight drops to a fifth of peak at full draw), and the trade-off between the settings is honest and small - roughly four to six fps per step - which is why reviewers of the day dismissed the gimmick charge outright.

Draw Cycle/Shootability

Drawing The Legend is the part that turns skeptics. On the Comfort setting the weight builds gently, rolls over the peak without a hard hump, and drops into a deep, defined valley behind a back wall that feels like a wall, not a slope - I understand why owners reach for the word smoothest when they describe it. Flip the same bow to Performance and the draw turns aggressive and purposeful, the valley shortens, and the arrow leaves noticeably faster; it becomes a different bow without a single part being swapped. At the shot both settings are strikingly quiet - independent testing clocked it at 59.1 decibels - and the parallel limbs, FLX-Guard, and deflexed riser combine for a release that settles fast in the hand rather than jumping. Most owners call it dead in the hand; one test noted a slight residual buzz that a stabilizer tames, which squares with a bow this light being honest about the last few percent of vibration. What stays with me is the composure of the hold: for a 32-inch hunting bow it sits on target with a steadiness that flatters the shooter. It is not a modern sub-60-decibel flagship, but for 2015 it shot quieter and steadier than most of what shared the rack with it.

Usage Scenarios

The Prodigy underneath The Legend was built to be a do-everything hunting bow, and the tribute dress does not change that. Set it to Performance and it reaches across a food plot with authority, fast enough and flat enough for open-country whitetail or a quartering mule deer. Set it to Comfort and it becomes the bow you draw slowly on a cold, cramped ground-blind morning when an easy pull matters more than a few feet per second - or the bow you shoot all day at a 3D club shoot without wearing out your bow arm. The 25-to-30.5-inch draw range and 40-to-70-pound span cover most adult hunters, and the steady 32-inch hold rewards a treestand shooter taking a longer poke. Picture a hunter who sights in on Performance for the fall, then switches to Comfort in the off-season to log easy repetitions at the range - one bow, two jobs, no pro-shop visit. Where The Legend adds something the standard Prodigy cannot is on the wall afterward: it is equally a hunting tool and a keepsake, and plenty of owners bought it to shoot a few seasons and then retire it, serial number intact, as the tribute it was built to be.

Versions

The Legend was sold as a single serial-numbered limited edition - one spec, one commemorative finish, no package or draw-weight variants beyond the standard 50/60/70-pound module choice every Prodigy offered. Each bow shipped in the Kryptek Typhon finish with red-white-and-blue strings, Chris Kyle limb and riser graphics, a unique serial number, a commemorative dog tag, and a matching hat, in a red Bowtech box. It carried a $1,099 launch retail price - the same as the standard 2015 Prodigy, with no collector upcharge - and Bowtech pledged a donation to the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation on every bow sold (the separate $24.99 commemorative hat sent 100% of its profit to the same foundation). Right- and left-hand builds were offered. A reported production run of 1,500 bows circulated among dealers at launch, but Bowtech never published an official total, so treat that figure as unconfirmed. Because it was a one-year edition, the bow is a used-market find today, and clean, low-serial examples command a premium over their original price.

Bowtech The Legend vs Elite Synergy, Mathews No Cam HTR

Bow	Bowtech The Legend	Elite Synergy	Mathews No Cam HTR
Version	2015	2016	2016
Picture
Brace Height	7 "	7.375 "	6.625 "
AtA Length	32 "	33.5 "	32 "
Draw Length	25 " - 30.5 "	27 " - 31 "	24 " - 30 "
Draw Weight	40 lbs - 70 lbs	50 lbs - 80 lbs	40 lbs - 70 lbs
IBO Speed	343 fps	293 fps - 335 fps	321 fps - 330 fps
Weight	4.2 lbs	4.4 lbs	4.14 lbs
Let-Off	80%	80%	65%, 75%, 85%
Where to buy Best prices online	$1250 to $1500 Compare prices	$449.99 to $900 Compare prices	$500 to $750 Compare prices
	compare more bows

Strip away the tribute finish and The Legend competes as a 2015 do-it-all hunting flagship, which puts it squarely against two other smooth 32-inch bows of the year. The Elite Synergy shares the exact geometry - 32-inch axle-to-axle, 7-inch brace - and built its reputation on the same pitch The Legend makes: a famously smooth draw and deep tunability for the shooter who wants to dial in rather than settle. Where The Legend answers with PowerShift's three switchable draw settings, the Elite Synergy delivers one exceptionally refined draw and Elite's draw-weight precision, at a comparable flagship price. The Mathews No Cam HTR is the other marquee smooth flagship of 2015, also 32 inches axle-to-axle, using Mathews' No Cam concentric wheels to chase the quietest, straightest-shooting release in the class - it trades a little of the Bowtech's top-end speed for Mathews' signature dead-in-the-hand calm, at a similar launch price. The decision comes down to priorities: PowerShift versatility and a bit more speed with The Legend, single-draw refinement and tuning precision with the Elite Synergy, or the quietest, smoothest shot of the three with the Mathews No Cam HTR. For a buyer who wants the same shooting character as The Legend without the collector angle, Bowtech's own RPM 360 was the in-house speed alternative that year.

Summary

The Legend is a genuine 2015 flagship in a Chris Kyle tribute dress - Bowtech's full Prodigy with OverDrive Binary cams, an aluminum Center Pivot Extreme riser, CarbonCore limbs, a 32-inch axle-to-axle geometry, 80% let-off, and a published 343-fps IBO that translated to real chronograph readings in the low 300s at hunting weights. Its defining feature is PowerShift's PowerDisc3, three switchable draw personalities in one bow, from a fast Performance setting to an effortless Comfort one, changed with an Allen wrench and no press; what stays with me is how steady it holds and how quiet it shoots for its era, measured at 59.1 decibels. It sold at the standard Prodigy's launch price with nothing removed for the tribute and a donation to the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation on every bow, which is what separates it from the usual special edition. It is an excellent bow for the hunter who wants a versatile, forgiving 2015 flagship that doubles as a keepsake - strong on a treestand, easy to live with at the range, and meaningful on the wall. Buyers who prize single-draw refinement and tuning precision should also look at the Elite Synergy; those who want the quietest, smoothest shot in the class should look at the Mathews No Cam HTR.