Compound Bow Reviews

The Bottom Line:The Hoyt Concept X 37 is a ground-up rebuild of Hoyt's target flagship, and it earns the effort. It carries flagship money - around $1,999 with standard limbs, $2,199 with the high-gloss set - and answers with a long, torque-resistant riser, an all-new SCTR cam whose let-off you can tune in 2.5% steps,... read full review

The Bottom Line:The Mathews ARC 30 is the 2026 refinement of a hunting platform Mathews has tuned for three model years - the same 6-inch brace, 3.99-pound mass, and up-to-348 fps IBO that the 29.5-inch Lift and Lift X carried before it, now on a 30-inch axle-to-axle frame. What is new is the SWX-2 cam with perimeter... read full review

The Bottom Line:The Mathews ARC 34 is the long-axle half of the 2026 ARC platform, and it answers a different question than its compact sibling: how much stability can a hunting bow borrow from the target world without giving up the weight and speed a hunter needs. The answer is a 34-inch axle-to-axle aluminum bow that... read full review

The Bottom Line:The 2026 PSE Sicario delivers on a hard promise: a carbon speed bow that actually shoots like a hunting bow. At $1,999 launch MSRP it asks flagship money, and it earns it with the numbers that matter - 350 to 353 fps real-world velocity at a hunting-weight setup, a class-leading 3.9-pound carbon package,... read full review

The Bottom Line:The 2026 PSE Sicario 35 is the forgiving half of the Sicario story - the bow that takes the carbon line's light weight and new FDS cam and wraps them in a longer, calmer, more aimable package. At $2,099 launch MSRP it sits a hundred dollars above the standard Sicario, and the premium buys a meaningfully... read full review

The Bottom Line:The Alpha AX-90 is Hoyt's 2026 Beast, and it earns the name honestly: an Alpha AX-3 chassis reinforced with steel limb hardware to hold a true 90-pound peak and pass a 1,500 dry-fire test at that weight, built with Cameron Hanes and Josh Bowmar for hunters who measure a bow by energy on target. At a... read full review

The Bottom Line:The 2026 PSE Decree is the bow for the hunter who cares more about where the pin sits than about shaving the last ounce off the setup - and at $1,299 launch MSRP it delivers a flagship cam and an accuracy pedigree well under the price of the carbon bows it shares that cam with. The headline is the FDS... read full review

The Bottom Line:The Hoyt Concept X 40 is Hoyt's stability specialist - a long-distance target bow built on the longest riser the company has ever machined, and it commits fully to the hold. It carries flagship money, $1,999 with standard limbs and $2,199 with the high-gloss set, and lands at the same price as the shorter... read full review

The Bottom Line:The Hoyt Concept X 40 LD is the long-draw specialist of the 2025 Concept target family, and it is defined by two deliberate choices: the longest riser Hoyt has ever built, and the HBX Gen 4 cam it substitutes for the family's SCTR system. Together they give a long-draw archer a 32.25 to 34-inch draw... read full review

The Bottom Line:The Hoyt Concept FX is the family's specialist - the full Concept X target platform shrunk into the smallest, lightest frame Hoyt builds, for the short-draw archer the 37 and 40 can't fit. At a $1,899 launch price it is the most affordable Concept, and it gives up almost nothing to reach that size: the... read full review

The Bottom Line:At $2,149 launch, the Carbon RX-10 is not trying to be the cheapest bow or the fastest - it is the carbon flagship for the hunter who has already decided carbon is what they want. The headline for 2026 is the XTS tuning system, which finally gives the platform press-free left/right and high/low correction... read full review

The Bottom Line:The Carbon RX-10 Ultra is the 2026 carbon flagship stretched to 33 1/2 inches for hunters who already know a longer bow aims better for them, at a $2,199 launch MSRP. Its headline for the year isn't speed or geometry - both carry over from the RX-9 Ultra - but XTS, Hoyt's first press-free tuning system,... read full review

The Bottom Line:The Hoyt Carbon RX-10 Ultra LD is the answer to a question tall archers have been asking for years: how to shoot a compact, quiet carbon hunting bow at a genuine 33-inch draw without switching to a target rig. Launched for 2026 at a $2,199 MSRP, it replaces the RX-9 as the carbon flagship and takes the... read full review

The Bottom Line:The Carbon RX-10 SD is Hoyt's answer to a real gap in the flagship market: a full carbon hunting bow built around a 23-27 inch draw and a 30-pound floor, so the shorter-draw shooter finally gets the same platform as everyone else instead of a compromised youth-adjacent rig. It carries the whole 2026... read full review

The Bottom Line:The Alpha AX-3 33 is Hoyt's crowd-pleaser length for 2026, a fast, rigid, dead-in-the-hand aluminum hunting flagship whose headline is not a spec but a workflow: XTS tuning you finish at home, corrected for both left-right and up-down tears, locked so it does not drift shot to shot. At a $1,599 launch... read full review

The Bottom Line:The Alpha AX-3 29 is the compact aluminum hunting flagship for shooters who want carbon-tier speed without the carbon price, launched at $1,499. It holds right at its 340 fps IBO rating on the chronograph, delivers about 279 fps in a realistic 65 lb / 29 inch / 450 grain hunting setup, and finishes the... read full review

The Bottom Line:The Alpha AX-3 33 LD is Hoyt's long-draw answer for 2026, a fast, rigid, dead-in-the-hand aluminum hunting flagship built around one job: fitting the tall archer who draws to 33 inches. Its headline is a combination other flagships cannot match, a genuine 33-inch draw, the family's highest 355 fps IBO... read full review

The Bottom Line:The Hoyt Alpha AX-3 SD takes the full 2026 Alpha platform, the press-free XTS Tuning System, the In-Line accessory riser and the stiff bridged Tec aluminum chassis, and re-gears it for the short-draw shooter the flagship tier usually skips, all at a $1,499 launch MSRP. Its numbers are honest about the... read full review

The Bottom Line:At a launch MSRP of $749 bow-only, the Hoyt Enduro does something no value Hoyt has managed before: it delivers the flagship HBX cam's smooth, planted draw and full In-Line accessory compatibility in a bow a newer or budget-minded hunter can actually afford. It is honest about its trade-offs - 328 fps... read full review