19 August 2007
Mathews Drenalin - One Serious Compound Bow
Posted by Darrell under: Gear - Tips, Reviews, Wishlist .
Wednesday evening I met my friend Billy at a local archery shop to do some target shooting. We were shooting a video target which was awesome! However, that is a different article. Fortunately, I was really on with my bow (saved me some serious dough). The target we were shooting scores each shot and I can happily state that I smoked Billy!
Billy, though, was able to retaliate for his loss by forcing me to shoot the new Mathews Drenalin bow. WOW! What a bow! Although, the decked out version I shot weighed almost the same as my bow 5.5lbs, it felt amazinly lighter. Shooting it was a dream.
The let off was perfect. The bow felt smooth throughout the entire draw cycle (and this bow was not tuned specifically for me - just a demo that everyone shoots). It was the quietest bow I’ve ever shot and there was no vibration. I love my XP-35, but this bow is in a completely different league. I’ve never shot anything as nice.
Last year I had a couple huge bucks at 40 yards actually duck my arrows. I can’t imagine this happening with the Drenalin. It was super fast. The IBO rating is 320 fps. This bow, completely equipped was shooting in the 312 fps range, which is about 60 fps faster than my Redhead XP AND the Drenalin was only set at around 60# draw weight. My XP is set at 70#.
I copied the following specs on the Drenalin from the Mathews site:
Cam(s) StraightLine perimeter-weighted Drenalin Cam
Draw Weight: 40, 50, 60, 70 lbs.
Draw Length: 25″ - 30″ with 25 1/2″ - 29 1/2″ available
Brace Height: 7″ (Approx)
Riser Length: 25 7/16″ (Approx)
Physical Weight:3.85 lbs (Approx)
Letoff: 65% and 80%
String: Zebra Barracuda
Cable Length 35 5/8″ (Approx)
Thinner - The SE3 Composite Limbs on the Drenalin measure just 1 1/8′ wide.
Tougher - The SE3 Composite Limbs are tough. In fact, cycling tests prove SlimLimbs last over twice as long as typical lifetime-guaranteed limbs.
Lighter - The Drenalin weights in at 3.85 lbs.
Faster - 320 fps IBO
Quieter - The Drenalin features Harmonic Dampers, Roller Guard, Perimeter-weighted cam, string suppressors and parallel-limbs to help reduce vibration and noise.
COOLER - The Drenalin feature Realtree All Purpose Repeat camo.
Archery Quest, the Springfield, Missouri shop where I shot this amazing bow offered me a brand new stripped Drenalin for $725. To equip it nicely with detachable quiver, highend site, stabilizer, etc would cost another $400 or so. So fully equipped plus tax I’m looking at about $1200. Is this bow (or any bow for that matter) worth a whopping $1200?
I’m going to have to go out on a limb here and say “yes”. The confidence you’d have after practicing with this bow all summer would be incredible. It is that good.
So, did I buy one? No. I decided to wait. I’ve got an archery elk hunt coming up quickly and I’ve been practicing with my XP in preparation for this hunt all summer. I’m pretty darn confident with my XP. I decided that I didn’t want to change anything prior to my September elk hunt.
My guess is, though, that as soon as I have a big whitetail duck one of my arrows this fall, I’ll find myself $1200 poorer and Mathews will have sold one more of their awesome new Drenalins! Of course, since the Drenalin ranked 4th on the 07 Compound Bow Face-off, I have at least 3 other bows to shoot before I make that decision, including the: Bowtech Guardian, Diamond Black Ice, & PSE X-Force.
13 Comments so far...
Bryan Says:
19 August 2007 at 8:06 am.
Thanks for this review. I bet it was amazing shooting the Drenalin…definitely expensive! Best of luck on your elk hunt!!!
Darrell Says:
20 August 2007 at 10:15 am.
Thanks Bryan. The Drenalin is amazing. I shot a Mathews Switchback this weekend and definitely prefer the Drenalin over the Switchback. Although, the Switchback is still really nice and I’ve seen them on Ebay, fully set up for almost 1/2 of the price of the Drenalin!
Arthur Says:
20 August 2007 at 11:57 am.
Darrell,
I have the Diamond Black Ice and I am telling ya it was worth every penny of the 1000 dollars I spent. I hadn’t purchased a new bow in ten years and decided to go for it.
It is single handedly thee smoothest bow I have ever shot and I have never felt more confidence in my life. So cool. Matthews are very nice bows as well. Just wanted to get my plug in!!!
Darrell Says:
20 August 2007 at 1:19 pm.
Arthur, I’m planning on shooting the Diamond Black Ice. I’ve heard incredible things about it. Thanks for the info.
Othmar Vohringer Says:
20 August 2007 at 8:34 pm.
Ah, there is nothing like a new toy to get a hunters heart pumping even more. Good revue on the Mathew Drenalin.
As for deer ducking, or jumping, the string, the problem is not the speed of the arrow but the speed of the sound. Sound travels at about 1128 ft per second or 769 mph. No arrow, even the fasted one, can get to the deer before the sound does. The solution to the problem is to shoot a quiet bow and then still add further noise-dampening stuff to it. My bow is not the fasted one but it is deadly quiet. It took me a while to get it done but I managed with adding moleskin to the arrow rest and shelf, bushings on the wheel and cam and libsavers to the limbs. In addition I never shoot at a deer with the arrow quiver attached to the bow. Instead of plastic fletching I use the much quieter feather fletching and finally I lowered the draw weight from 75lbs to 65lbs, it made a big difference too.
Hope you get an elk and come back here to share it with us. Good luck!!
-Othmar Vohringer-
Darrell Says:
22 August 2007 at 10:25 am.
Othmar, thanks for the advice. I had really thought about the importance of quiet vs speed, but it makes sense. No arrow is going to move faster than the speed of sound and deer have a really quick reaction time. I’ll give some of your tips a try. Thanks again.
Robert Says:
23 August 2007 at 6:37 am.
The exact bow I am hoping to purchase. Thanks for letting us know what you thought of it.
Darrell Says:
24 August 2007 at 12:51 pm.
Robert, when you purchase, let me know what kind of deal you get and how you end up liking. It is an awesome bow!
Robert Says:
24 August 2007 at 2:02 pm.
Will do. Maybe I’ll even have a few hunting pictures to share.
Kevin Paulson Says:
25 August 2007 at 9:05 pm.
I have been a Mathews Fan since the old days of the MQ32 and I am now on my second bow of theirs with the Switchback and I have about 1400.00 invested in my bow with hard case, quiver and all. I am pretty sure at some point I will be switching out to upgrade to the Drenalin. The confidence I get with my Mathews is just amazing. Once my bow was fully set up, on my 11th shot out of the bow, was a full on robin hood. I set my pins and once I know where it shoots I am so accurate it makes some of my friends just sick. The reality is that if a shot does not go where I have the pin set, it was 100% my error and I know that.
Kevin
Tyler Cosby Says:
26 September 2007 at 1:06 am.
What do you guys think of the Diamond black ice? Is it fairly quick or is it decent? I am looking at getting another bow and it was just going to see what your guys opinion was.
Darrell Says:
1 October 2007 at 10:24 am.
Tyler, sorry for the belated response. I haven’t shot the Diamond Black Ice yet, but everything I’ve read about it has been pretty positive. If you shoot it and are comfortable with it, I don’t think you can go wrong with one. Just shoot a few others first and buy the one that you are most comfortable with.
Thomas Roth Says:
26 July 2008 at 6:00 am.
I bought a Drenalin 9/07 I absolutely love this bow I can’t imagine theres a bow that shoots any better, but if there is I want to shoot it. I hear good things about the Diamond Black Ice, Who knows maybe it’s in my future. I would have to be really impressed to purchase one because I’m more than happy with my Drenalin.
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