Hoyt Alphaburner Review
from $290
Pros
- Measured chronograph speed lands right next to the 340 IBO claim - 338.9 fps at 70 lb, 30-inch draw, 350-grain arrow, one of the fastest hunting rigs of its year
- Long 34 3/4-inch axle-to-axle builds a stable, settled shooting platform that most short speed bows give up
- The one-piece 180 grip resists hand torque well at full draw and stays comfortable in cold weather
- Excellent fit and finish - tight machining tolerances and a near-flawless anodized finish across the pockets and eccentrics
Cons
- Short valley and low let-off make it want to creep forward - shooters who like to relax on the wall should plan to stay actively engaged on the back wall
- Some post-shot jump and light riser buzz come with the speed - buyers stepping off a flagship-quiet bow may want to run a front stabilizer, which modestly trimmed the noise in testing
- Changing draw length means a new cam and string, not a quick module swap - on the used market especially, confirm the bow already matches your draw length before buying
Video
content from YouTube
Editors' review
Most speed bows of 2010 chased velocity by going short and steep; the AlphaBurner went the other way. This was the first time Hoyt bolted its tournament-proven Spiral X Cam & 1/2 onto a hunting bow, and paired it with XT2000 split limbs on a long 34 3/4-inch axle-to-axle (the distance between the two cam axles) riser. The result is Hoyt's 2010 speed offering - a bow rated at 340 fps IBO (the industry-standard speed rating measured at a fixed 30-inch, 70-pound, 350-grain setup) that still holds like a target rig. It is aggressive where it counts and stable where you aim. This is a bow for the speed-first hunter who wants a flat arrow and a long, forgiving platform, and who is willing to stay honest on a demanding cam to get both. If you came up shooting a Spiral cam on the target line, the draw will feel like home.
Finish
The AlphaBurner's signature look is the Half & Half treatment: Realtree APG HD camo on the limbs set against a matte-black riser, a split that suits a hunter who moves between a treestand and a ground blind without committing the whole bow to one palette. Hoyt also offered it in full Realtree APG HD camo for shooters who want the bow to disappear top to bottom, and in an all-black Black Out for those who prefer a solid, no-pattern finish. The camo film is crisp and highly detailed, and the anodized riser components carry a clean, even coating. It is a restrained finish menu by modern standards, but each option is purposeful rather than decorative. The Half & Half in particular has aged as the version most closely associated with this model.Riser
The riser is built on Hoyt's Total Engineering Concept - a bridged aluminum design with sweeping lines front and back where the bridge flows into the top and bottom of the bow. The long 34 3/4-inch axle-to-axle is the defining geometric choice here: where the Bowtech and Mathews speed bows of the era ran two to three inches shorter, Hoyt kept the AlphaBurner long to preserve a stable, forgiving frame under a fast cam. Pro-Lock limb pockets anchor the limbs with positive containment and alignment, which is what keeps a high-energy bow shooting consistently shot to shot. The reflexed geometry stores the energy that feeds the speed, and the machined cutouts trim mass without giving up rigidity. It is a purpose-built hunting chassis rather than a stripped speed frame, and that intent shows in how planted it feels at full draw.Grip
The AlphaBurner shares the 180 grip with its stablemate the Maxxis - a one-piece synthetic grip that replaced the older laminate design. The switch to synthetic buys two things a hunter actually notices: it stays warmer against the hand in cold weather, and it damps a measure of vibration that a wood-laminate grip transmits. Drawing the bow, I found the grip genuinely resists the small involuntary hand torque that creeps into a shot - lean on it at full draw and it pushes back, then settles the bow neatly back to center when you relax the pressure. The profile is smooth and comfortable without funneling the hand into a single rigid position. For a fast bow, where torque translates straight into a miss, that torque resistance is one of the more valuable things about the platform.Limbs
The AlphaBurner runs XT2000 parallel split limbs, the same limb family Hoyt proved across its target and hunting lines, positioned nearly parallel so the top and bottom cancel much of each other's recoil at the shot. The bow is offered in peak weights up to 80 pounds, with modules covering roughly a 40-to-80-pound spread depending on the cam, which gives it the headroom a heavy-poundage western or big-game hunter wants. Draw weight adjusts through the limb bolts within a module's range, while the parallel split design keeps the working stress spread across four limb tips rather than two. Hoyt listed the bow at 4.3 pounds, though an independent evaluation put a test sample at 4.8 pounds bare - on the heavier side for its class, and that mass is part of what lets the long riser sit still at the shot rather than something to apologize for. The Pro-Lock pockets tie the limbs to the riser with tight, repeatable alignment. Across Hoyt's lineup this limb-and-pocket combination earned a reputation for holding tune, which matters more on a high-energy bow than on a mild one.Eccentric System
The Spiral X Cam & 1/2 is the heart of the AlphaBurner and the reason it exists. Hoyt took the hybrid cam system it had proven on the tournament line and tuned it aggressively for velocity, and the numbers back it up: rated 340 fps IBO, the bow was independently chronographed at 338.9 fps with a 350-grain arrow at 70 pounds and a 30-inch draw - essentially on top of the marketing claim, which is rare. Drop to heavier hunting arrows and it stays fast: 312 fps at 420 grains, 290 fps at 490 grains, and 278 fps at a heavy 540 grains. It stores about 4.77 foot-pounds of energy for every inch you draw it, and it runs a deliberately low let-off (the percentage the holding weight drops to at full draw) - Hoyt's tune chart lists 65 percent and independent testing measured the actual let-off near 67 percent, on the aggressive end for a hunting bow. Draw length is set by the cam size rather than a rotating module, so dialing in a specific length means fitting the correct cam - a press-shop job, not a backyard adjustment, which is the trade for the speed this system delivers. The payoff is a bow that banks near-peak weight through a long portion of the stroke and turns it straight into arrow velocity.Draw Cycle/Shootability
Pulling the AlphaBurner back, the character of a true speed bow is immediate: the cam ramps up quickly, though more smoothly than the "quite aggressive" label suggests, and then sits at or near peak weight through a long holding section. There is a small bump in weight just before the eccentrics roll over, and then a short but genuinely solid valley. That valley is the part I would flag for a new owner - relax even slightly and the bow wants to roll forward out of the pocket, so this rewards a shooter who stays firmly into the back wall (the hard stop at the end of the draw). The wall itself is defined and firm, not a slope. At the shot the bow shows a little jump and a slight forward rotation, with some residual vibration living in the riser for a moment after release. Measured noise sits around 89 decibels with a light 350-grain arrow and drops as arrow weight climbs, which is about average or a touch above for a bow moving arrows this fast - the price of admission for 340 fps. Adding a front stabilizer modestly trims that signature, and most hunters will want one anyway. What I keep coming back to is that this is a speed bow you have to shoot honestly; give it good form and it gives clean, fast arrows in return.Usage Scenarios
The AlphaBurner fits the hunter who puts arrow speed and flat trajectory at the top of the list. For the western spot-and-stalk shooter guessing yardage across a canyon, the fast arrow flattens the cost of a misjudged range and shortens the animal's reaction time. For the whitetail hunter in a treestand, the heavy-poundage headroom and deep kinetic energy - over 90 foot-pounds with midweight and heavy arrows - carry authority through bone at practical distances. The long 34 3/4-inch frame settles well for the deliberate shooter and the person who also flings arrows at a 3D course on the weekend. It is equally at home for the target archer moving into hunting who already loves the Spiral cam feel and wants that draw in the woods. Where it asks the most is of the shooter who wants a soft, relaxed hold: this is not the bow for someone who leans back into a deep valley and waits. Matched to a shooter with steady form who values speed over a forgiving draw, it is a genuinely capable hunting weapon.Versions
The AlphaBurner carried across two model years, 2010 and 2011, spec-identical between them - a straight carry-over rather than a redesign, so a 2010 and a 2011 bow shoot the same. Within a model year the meaningful choices are finish (Half & Half, full Realtree APG HD camo, or Black Out), draw-weight peak module (up to 80 pounds), and hand (right or left). There is no package-versus-bare distinction here the way modern ready-to-hunt kits split SKUs; the AlphaBurner was sold as a bare bow to be built up by the shooter or pro shop. Because draw length is cam-specific, the buyer specifies draw length at purchase rather than adjusting it later, which makes fit at the point of sale more important than on a rotating-module bow.Hoyt AlphaBurner vs Bowtech Destroyer 340, Mathews Monster
| Bow | Hoyt Alphaburner | Bowtech Destroyer 340 | Mathews Monster |
| Version | 2011 | 2011 | 2010 |
| Picture |  |  |  |
| Brace Height | 6 " | 7 " | 6 " |
| AtA Length | 34.75 " | 32.375 " | 33.5 " |
| Draw Length | 22 " - 30 " | 26 " - 31 " | 25 " - 30 " |
| Draw Weight | 40 lbs - 80 lbs | 40 lbs - 70 lbs | 40 lbs - 80 lbs |
| IBO Speed | 340 fps | 340 fps | 353 fps |
| Weight | 4.3 lbs | 3.9 lbs | 4.4 lbs |
| Let-Off | 65% | 80% effective | 80% |
| Where to buy Best prices online | |||
| compare more bows | |||
The three flagship speed bows of the 2010 season split cleanly on philosophy. The Bowtech Destroyer 340 matches the AlphaBurner's 340 IBO rating exactly but gets there on a shorter 32 3/8-inch frame with a taller 7-inch brace height (the distance from the string to the grip throat, where more is more forgiving) and an 80 percent let-off - a more relaxed, easier-holding bow that trades the AlphaBurner's long, planted platform for compactness and a softer wall. The Mathews Monster is the outright speed king of the group at 353 IBO, on a 33.5-inch frame with the same 6-inch brace as the Hoyt, but it too holds at 80 percent let-off rather than the AlphaBurner's roughly 65 percent. So the AlphaBurner's differentiators are its length and its demanding cam: it is the longest and most stable of the three to aim, and the one that most rewards an engaged, disciplined draw. All three launched as flagship-tier speed bows in the same price bracket, so the decision comes down to priorities: the Hoyt AlphaBurner for the shooter who wants a long, target-stable platform and will hold the wall, the Bowtech Destroyer 340 for the hunter who wants comparable speed with a more forgiving brace and softer let-off, and the Mathews Monster for the buyer who simply wants the highest number on the chronograph.