Mathews V3 27 Review

Editors' review

Mathews built the V3 27 to answer a specific question: how short can a hunting bow get before it starts to shoot like a short bow? The answer here is 27 inches axle-to-axle wrapped around the longest riser-to-ATA ratio the company had ever machined - the riser is very nearly as long as the whole bow. That geometry is the entire point. It lets a compact, treestand-friendly, timber-friendly rig hold at full draw with the steadiness archers normally only get from a 31- or 32-inch bow. Layer on the new-for-2021 Nano 740 damper and the patent-pending Centerguard cable containment, and the V3 27 shoots quiet enough to make you double-check the arrow actually left. It is a flagship aimed squarely at the mobile hunter who moves through tight country and refuses to trade away silence or speed to do it.

Finish

The V3 27 ships in eight standard finishes plus full custom options. Three are solid colors - Black, Stone, and Green Ambush - and five are camo patterns: First Lite Specter, GORE Optifade Subalpine, GORE Optifade Elevated II, Realtree Edge, and Under Armour Forest All-Season. The solid finishes suit the shooter who wants a clean, understated bow, and they photograph beautifully against the long-riser silhouette; several owners specifically gravitate to the solid Stone and Green Ambush for that reason. For buyers who want to personalize further, Mathews' Bow Builder program lets you spec colored cables, limb legs, and accents to match a kit. Coverage is even and the anodizing has held up well across the V3 generation. It is a broad palette for a flagship - more solid-color choice than most competitors offer at this tier.

Riser

The story of the V3 27 lives in its riser. Mathews stretched the extended bridged riser to the longest riser-to-axle ratio it had built, so a 27-inch bow carries a riser measuring close to 27 inches on its own - which is what buys the short bow its long-bow manners at full draw. The bridged, heavily machined structure keeps the mass where it stabilizes the aim rather than where it fights you. Cable management comes from the patent-pending Centerguard system, which keeps the cables centered for cleaner cam timing and noticeably better vane clearance than a traditional offset guard. The integrated dovetail rest mount carries over, dropping a compatible arrow rest onto the back of the riser with a single, repeatable connection, and the stabilizer bushing is engineered for a roughly 10% stiffer connection to the riser to pull more vibration out of the shot. In my experience the dovetail mount is one of those details you stop thinking about because it just indexes the same way every time you re-mount a rest. The result is a compact riser that behaves like a much larger one.

Grip

The V3 27 uses the Engage grip - a slim, textured panel that sits centered in the riser to encourage a low-torque, repeatable hand position. It is a narrow grip by design, which shooters with medium and smaller hands tend to love and which torque-sensitive shooters appreciate because there is less material to steer the bow off line. Drawing it, I found the centered placement made it easy to settle into the same hand every time, which matters more on a short, aim-sensitive bow than on a forgiving long one. That sensitivity cuts both ways: Mathews risers reward a relaxed, consistent grip and will show you a bad one, so a shooter transitioning from a chunky rubber grip should spend a session learning to let the bow sit in the hand. Aftermarket side plates and third-party grips fit the platform if you want more fill, and some owners swap to a wider aftermarket grip to tune the feel. For most hunters the stock Engage grip is all they will need.

Limbs

The V3 27 runs Mathews' aggressive beyond-parallel limbs on redesigned pockets matched to the extended riser. At rest the limbs sit past parallel and curl inward at full draw, a geometry that cancels much of the recoil energy before it can reach your hand and is a big reason the bow finishes so still. The pockets were reworked for the longer riser without widening the overall stance, so the bow stays narrow. Draw weight comes in 60, 65, 70, and 75-pound peak options, and rather than backing weight off with limb bolts the way most brands do, Mathews sets the peak weight through the cam module - you shoot at the top of the limb's range and change the module to change poundage. That approach keeps the limbs in their efficient window and is part of why real-world speeds stay strong even a few pounds down. The limb design has a long, proven track record across the Halon, Triax, VXR, and V3 lineage, so durability is a settled question here.

Eccentric System

The heart of the bow is the Crosscentric cam with patent-pending Switchweight technology. A single module governs three things at once - draw length, let-off, and peak draw weight - so a dealer can reconfigure fit and poundage by swapping one small part instead of re-limbing the bow. Let-off is offered at 80% or 85%, and in practice the 80% module gives a slightly deeper, more usable valley that many hunters, myself included, prefer for a settled hold. The IBO rating is 342 fps, and unlike a lot of marketing numbers this one translates: on the chronograph the V3 27 delivered 326 fps with a 350-grain arrow at 70 pounds, 308 fps with a heavier 400-grain hunting arrow, and right around 289-290 fps for a shooter at 64.5 pounds and 28.5 inches with a 430-grain shaft. Those are top-tier numbers for a 27-inch bow, and in a back-to-back chronograph test at matched draw and arrow weight the short 27 edged the longer V3 31 by a single fps - the two are effectively identical in speed. The Centerguard containment keeps cam timing honest and the fletching clearance clean. For a hunter who wants speed without stepping up to a 33- or 34-inch speed bow, the V3 27's cam system is the sweet spot.

Draw Cycle/Shootability

This is where the V3 27 asks you to know yourself as a shooter. The Crosscentric cam builds weight early and pulls firm - it is defined and linear rather than soft, and it ends against a rock-solid cable-stop back wall with no spongy give. Drawing it back to back against a Hoyt Ventum at the same weight, several shooters found the Mathews the more demanding pull, and one hands-on shooter who prefers a butter-smooth cycle called the short 27's draw genuinely stiff. Others - including me - read that same firmness as a clean, honest linear draw with no hump and a wall you can lean into, which is exactly what a hinge or back-tension shooter wants. Dropping from the 85% to the 80% module, or shooting a couple pounds under peak, softens the front end noticeably. What nobody argues about is the shot: at roughly 97 decibels this was the quietest bow in more than one shooter's lineup, a couple of decibels under the pack, and the Nano 740 leaves the riser dead and vibration-free the instant the arrow is gone. Fully rigged with sight, rest, stabilizer, and quiver it settles around 5.8 pounds - substantial enough to hold steady, light enough to pack. Shoot one before you buy: the draw is the one thing that divides opinion, and the answer depends entirely on your release and your taste.

Usage Scenarios

The V3 27 is built for the hunter who moves. Picture a mobile whitetail hunter climbing into a tight treestand set in thick timber, where a 33-inch bow would clip branches on every draw - the 27-inch V3 tucks in, comes to full draw clean, and holds like a longer bow when the buck finally steps into the lane. It is equally at home for the western hunter bushwhacking through steep country with the bow strapped to a pack, where compactness and a light-in-hand feel matter over long miles. Ground-blind hunters gain the same maneuvering room in a cramped hub. With real speeds north of 300 fps using a 400-grain hunting arrow, it carries the energy for whitetail, mule deer, antelope, and black bear at typical bowhunting ranges, and a well-tuned 70-pound setup handles elk. It is less suited to the shooter who wants a dedicated long-ATA target bow or who anchors very long and needs maximum string-angle comfort - that archer should look at the V3 31. For everyone hunting tight country who still wants flagship silence, this is the tool.

Mathews V3 27 vs Hoyt Ventum Pro 30, Bowtech Solution SS

Bow	Mathews V3 27	Hoyt Ventum Pro 30	Bowtech Solution SS
Version	2022	2022	2022
Picture
Brace Height	6 "	6 "	7 "
AtA Length	27 "	30 "	30 "
Draw Length	25 " - 29.5 "	25 " - 30 "	25.5 " - 31 "
Draw Weight	50 lbs - 75 lbs	40 lbs - 80 lbs	40 lbs - 70 lbs
IBO Speed	342 fps	342 fps	332 fps
Weight	4.29 lbs	4.45 lbs	4.0 lbs
Let-Off	80% or 85%	80% or 85%	85 / 87%
Where to buy Best prices online	$729.99 to $1175 Compare prices	$999.99 to $1000 Compare prices	$599 to $1500 Compare prices
	compare more bows

At the compact end of the flagship class, the V3 27's natural cross-shops are the Hoyt Ventum Pro 30 and the Bowtech Solution SS. All three are premium hunting bows in the same price neighborhood - the V3 27 at $1,199 launch MSRP sits between the Bowtech Solution SS near $1,149 and the Hoyt Ventum Pro 30 near $1,249. On paper the V3 27 and the Hoyt Ventum Pro 30 are the closest match: both carry a 6-inch brace height and an identical 342 fps IBO rating, but the Mathews is three inches shorter axle-to-axle, so it trades a little of the Hoyt's forgiveness for real maneuverability, while the Ventum Pro's Picatinny-based accessory system and slightly longer 30-inch chassis appeal to the hunter who wants a touch more aiming stability. The Bowtech Solution SS goes the other direction: its 7-inch brace height is the most forgiving of the three and its DualLock cam system with FlipDisc tuning is a different philosophy from Mathews' module-based Switchweight, but it gives up about 10 fps of rated speed. Against both, the V3 27's headline advantages are its class-leading quiet and its long-riser hold in the shortest package. The decision comes down to priorities: the V3 27 for the hunter who wants the quietest, most compact flagship, the Hoyt Ventum Pro 30 for the one who wants a slightly longer, more forgiving aim, and the Bowtech Solution SS for the one who prioritizes brace-height forgiveness over speed.

Summary

The Mathews V3 27 is a compact flagship that refuses the usual compromise - it delivers the silence, speed, and steady hold of a much larger bow in a 27-inch package built for tight country. At $1,199 launch MSRP it lands in the heart of the flagship class, and it earns the spot: a real 326 fps with a 350-grain arrow, one of the quietest shots on the market at around 97 decibels, and a riser long enough to make a short bow aim like a long one. Its one dividing line is the draw cycle, which is firm and defined rather than soft - a feature for the hinge and back-tension crowd, a consideration for anyone who wants a butter pull, and easily softened with the 80% module or a couple pounds off peak. Setup is quick, tuning is easy, and the beyond-parallel limbs leave nothing rattling in the hand. In my experience it is one of those bows you stop fighting after a session and simply trust. An excellent bow for the mobile hunter who works tight timber, treestands, and steep western country and wants flagship performance in the most maneuverable form. Buyers who anchor long or want a longer, even steadier hold for mixed hunting and 3D should also look at its sibling the Mathews V3 31.