Mathews TRX 34 Review

Editors' review

Mathews built the TRX line for the target and 3D crowd, and for three seasons the choice ran 40, 38, and 36 inches axle-to-axle - plenty of bow for a tall adult, but a lot of riser to hold up if you draw short. The 2021 TRX 34 answers the archer everyone else skipped: it drops the draw length all the way to 23.5 inches while still spinning an arrow at up to 334 fps IBO (the industry-standard speed rating measured at a fixed 30-inch, 70-pound, 350-grain setup). At 34 inches axle-to-axle (the tip-to-tip length of the bow) it is the most maneuverable target rig Mathews had built to that point, yet it holds like something longer. Add quiver mounts and a hunting-rest option and it stops being a pure paper-puncher - this is a genuine crossover for the archer who wants one bow for spring 3D, summer league, and a fall treestand. It shares the same C3X cam and mod system as its bigger TRX siblings, so nothing about the way it draws or tunes feels like a compromise for the shorter frame. For a short-draw or younger target archer, it is one of the few bows that offers full-size performance without asking them to grow into it first.

Finish

The TRX 34 ships in a target-oriented palette rather than the camo-first lineup of Mathews' hunting bows: Black, Blue, Green Ambush, Red, and White, with white limbs available by special order. That spread covers both the archer who wants a clean, unbroken tournament look and the one who wants a splash of color on the shooting line to stand out. The Green Ambush option is the nod to the bow's hunting half, blending in when it leaves the range for the woods. The anodized riser finish is the same durable coating Mathews runs across its premium line, holding up to the knocks of case travel and range stands better than a painted surface. Right- and left-hand builds are offered, so the color choice is not gated to one hand. For a bow that will spend as much time on a stabilizer-heavy target setup as in a bow case between shoots, the finish choices lean practical and clean rather than flashy.

Riser

The heart of the TRX 34 is its long, bridged aluminum riser - a broad, twin-strut design with weight-relief cutouts milled through it to keep the mass sensible while the structure stays stiff. That stiffness is the whole point on a target bow: a riser that does not flex under a fistful of stabilizer weight is a riser that lets the pin sit still. Drawing it back, what I noticed first is how planted it feels at full draw, the kind of dead-steady hold you expect from a longer axle-to-axle bow, not a 34-inch one. Mathews reworked the geometry across the 2021 TRX bows and moved the front damping element out to the face of the riser, where it kills post-shot buzz closer to the source. The riser carries enlarged stabilizer bushings for the front-and-back bar setups target archers live by, plus quiver mounts top and bottom - the detail that quietly turns this into a hunting-capable bow. It is the same family of bridged risers that has anchored Mathews' target line for years, so the reliability story is well established.

Grip

The TRX 34 wears Mathews' Engage grip, a slim, flat-backed side-plate design meant to index the hand the same way shot after shot for repeatable, low-torque placement. On a target bow that repeatability is currency - the more consistently the hand loads the grip, the tighter the groups. In practice the Engage does its job for most shooters, but it is also the one part of this bow owners are quickest to change: some find its back profile a touch round and easier to torque than they would like, and the fix is cheap and common. Flat aftermarket side plates, or a full replacement grip, run from $30 to $75 and drop straight onto the same riser mounts. If you already shoot a flat, aggressive target grip elsewhere, budget for the swap; if you are coming from another Mathews, the Engage will feel familiar out of the box. Either way it is a preference call, not a flaw - the grip that indexes best is the one your hand already knows.

Limbs

The TRX 34 runs Mathews' Parallel Quad limbs - four split limbs set nearly parallel so their motion largely offsets at the shot, which is a big part of why the bow finishes so quietly. The limbs are offered in three draw-weight modules covering a 40-to-70-pound span, with peak weights of 50, 60, and 70 pounds, so a shooter can spec the bow to a comfortable holding load rather than muscling a fixed 70. For a target archer shooting hundreds of arrows a session, that choice matters - a 60-pound peak that settles under a deep let-off is far easier on the shoulder over a long tournament than a maxed-out 70. Adjusting peak weight within a module is the usual limb-bolt turn, no press required for small changes. The near-parallel geometry stores energy efficiently enough to keep this a genuinely quick bow off a target-length draw, which is notable for a bow tuned this smooth. Across the TRX line this limb design has a long, dependable track record.

Eccentric System

The TRX 34 is built on Mathews' C3X Crosscentric cam, the same eccentric that runs the entire 2021 TRX family - the 34, 36, 38 G2, and 40. That shared cam is more than a parts-bin convenience: because the mods interchange across the line, an archer who owns more than one TRX can move let-off settings between bows, and every TRX draws with the same familiar feel. The headline story here is the mod system. The C3X takes three let-off options - the aggressive 70V, the maxed-out 80%, and, new for 2021, a 75% mod that splits the difference (let-off being the percentage of peak weight your holding weight drops to at full draw, so an 80% mod on a 70-pound bow leaves you holding about 14 pounds). The 70V snaps into a short, demanding valley for the shooter who wants the pin to fight to stay centered; the 80% floats a long, lazy valley under a heavy bar setup; the new 75% lands in between and is the one most target archers will settle on. Speed tops out at 334 fps IBO with the 80% mod off the 6.5-inch brace height (the gap from grip to string, where a shorter number trades a little forgiveness for velocity) - and note that IBO is a marketing rating. Put on a chronograph at that same test setup - a 30-inch draw, 70 pounds, a 350-grain arrow - the 80% mod reads closer to 321 fps; the 13 fps gap between the marketing number and the measured one is normal and not unique to this bow. The cam ball-bearings were enlarged over the earlier TRX 7 and 8 for a more stable, consistent rotation, and the mods now anchor with three screws instead of two for extra rigidity. It is a target eccentric first: smooth to pull, deliberate to tune.

Draw Cycle/Shootability

Pulling the TRX 34 is the antithesis of a speed-hunting bow. Where an aggressive hunting cam builds a sharp hump you have to break over, the C3X rolls up gradually and hands you the valley without a fight - I kept waiting for the peak to spike and it simply never did. That smoothness is exactly what a target archer wants when the tenth end of the day is drawn as cleanly as the first, and the pull is light enough that a shooter nursing a cranky shoulder can work through a long practice session without paying for it. Which valley and back wall you get is your choice, set by the mod: the 70V gives a short, alert valley and a hard stop, the 80% a long float, the 75% the balanced middle. The back wall behind all of them is solid rather than spongy, a genuine wall to pull into. Then there is the shot itself. At release you feel a light forward surge - the target limbs load forward rather than snapping beyond parallel like a hunting bow's - and then it is simply dead, the vibration gone almost before you register it. It is not quite as motionless as Mathews' quietest beyond-parallel hunting flagships, but for a target bow it sits remarkably still and quiet in the hand, and on a long bar setup the pin settles fast and stays parked. For a bow this short to hold and finish like a longer target rig is the whole trick, and the TRX 34 pulls it off.

Usage Scenarios

The TRX 34 is happiest on a target line. Indoor Vegas rounds, outdoor field and 50-meter, and spring 3D clubs are its native ground - the steady hold and quiet, low-shock shot are exactly what put arrows in the middle end after end. Picture a short-draw archer who has spent years fighting bows built for 29-inch draws: the TRX 34 drops to 23.5 inches, so for the first time the axle-to-axle length, the string angle, and the holding weight all fit, and the groups tighten simply because the bow finally matches the shooter. It is also the obvious pick for a teenager growing into competitive target archery who needs real speed and a full-size hold rather than a youth bow they will outgrow in a season. And because Mathews put quiver mounts and a hunting-rest dovetail on it, the same bow that shoots your summer league can wear a sight and a quiver and sit in a treestand come fall - swap the rest and sight and you are hunting-ready. It is not a dedicated speed-hunting bow and won't out-run a short-brace hunting flagship, but for the archer who wants a single bow to cover 3D, spot, and whitetail seasons, that versatility is the point.

Versions

The TRX 34 is sold as a single bow model configured to the buyer rather than as separate package tiers. The choices are: draw-weight module (40-50, 50-60, or 60-70 pounds), let-off mod (70V, 75%, or 80%), finish (Black, Blue, Green Ambush, Red, or White), and hand (right or left). Launch MSRP was $1,849, and - unlike a Ready-to-Hunt bow - that is the bare bow; the target rest, sight, scope, and stabilizers that define a competition setup are chosen and priced separately. Mathews' matching QAD UltraRest TRi target rest, which locks to the riser's Integrate dovetail mount for a bolt-free, micro-adjustable, torque-tunable attachment, is the natural companion but a separate purchase.

Mathews TRX 34 vs Invicta 37 SVX

Bow	Mathews TRX 34	Hoyt Invicta 37 SVX
Version	2024	2022
Picture
Brace Height	6.5 "	7 "
AtA Length	34 "	37.25 "
Draw Length	23.5 " - 30 "	23.5 " - 30 "
Draw Weight	40 lbs - 70 lbs	30 lbs - 70 lbs
IBO Speed	334 fps	330 fps
Weight	4.69 lbs	4.7 lbs
Let-Off	70V, 75% & 80%	65%
Where to buy Best prices online	$600 to $1700 Compare prices	$750 to $800 Compare prices
	compare more bows

The target rig most buyers cross-shop against the TRX 34 is the Hoyt Invicta 37 SVX. It stakes out a different philosophy: a longer 37.25-inch platform, a more forgiving 7-inch brace height, and a 65% let-off that leaves the pure target archer more holding weight to steer against - where the Mathews leans on deep let-off and a dead-in-hand shot, the Hoyt leans on length and a deliberate, heavier hold. Both drop to a 23.5-inch draw, so short-draw shooters can go either way, and both sit at essentially the same flagship-target price. The Invicta is the steadier bow on a windy outdoor line thanks to that extra axle-to-axle length; the TRX 34 is the more compact, maneuverable one that also mounts a quiver and hunts. Inside the Mathews line itself, the closest neighbor is the TRX 36 - the same C3X cam and 6.5-inch brace on a platform two inches longer, so a Mathews loyalist who draws longer and shoots mostly spots may prefer its slightly steadier hold, while the TRX 34 is the pick for the shortest-draw shooters and anyone who wants the bow to pull double duty in a treestand. The decision comes down to priorities: the TRX 34 for the archer who wants a compact, quiet crossover that shoots targets all summer and hunts in the fall, the Invicta 37 SVX for the shooter who wants maximum bar-length stability on the line.

Summary

The Mathews TRX 34 is the target bow for the archer the rest of the TRX line skipped - the short-draw shooter, the growing teenager, the crossover hunter who wants one quiet, accurate bow for the whole calendar. Launched at $1,849, it pairs a 334 fps IBO speed rating with the smooth, humpless C3X draw and the dead-in-hand shot that is the Mathews signature, all wrapped around a draw length that reaches down to 23.5 inches. What I keep coming back to is how a bow this compact still holds like a longer rig - the stiff bridged riser and near-parallel limbs give it a steadiness that belies its 34-inch frame. The three-mod let-off system lets a shooter dial the valley from aggressive to lazy, and the shared C3X cam means it tunes and feels exactly like its bigger TRX siblings. It is a bare bow at that price, so budget for a rest, sight, and bars on top. An excellent bow for short-draw target and 3D archers who want genuine speed and a rock-steady hold in a compact frame, and it is particularly strong as a do-it-all crossover for the archer juggling summer competition and fall hunting. Buyers who draw longer and want maximum on-the-line stability should also look at the TRX 36 or the Hoyt Invicta 37 SVX.