Mathews Sky Trophy Longbow

[MambaHunter]

Hello My Names' George.

I have been into Traditional Archery for a pretty long time. I went from my HoytUSA Razortec Compound, back to a Mamba Recurve by Martin, and now the Longbow. I recently ordered the Sky Trophy Longbow made by Mathews. I was ust wandering if anybody has heard good or bad things on it?

[vermonster13]

For $900 there are a lot of better customs available IMO. For half that there are better bows actually.

[TexMex]

I agree with vermonster13

Oh yeah, Howdy George  :D

[Dustin Waters]

yup the hand shock on those bows will shake your fillings loose.  Save the change cancel your order and get a good shooting smooth bow.  You could get a tomahawk longbow for 2/3rds that price.

[V I Archer]

I bought a heritage series Earl Hoyt bow made by PSE, absolutly love it.  Never have shot a Matthews made bow.  That being said, I can't believe they want 900.00 for one.  Can't you pick up a black widow for around that?  You can get a decent bow for a lot less money. Go hunt down an original Earl Hoyt Sky bow, worth the search.

[MambaHunter]

I'm not paying no 900 Dollars. I've no clue where you are paying that much. I am paying 600 for my Sky Trophy to be made, it will take around 8 to 10 weeks. It's not featured on their website. it is in this paper thing that I've been studying down at the local shop here called Simon Peters Sports Company.

[BKA]

I have a Sky Trophy long bow, it's the first trad. bow I ever owned and was bought for me by my wife. I still have it for that reason.Idon't think it was made by Matthews. Mine says Earl Hoyt Jr. After shooting a small portion in the array of bows out there now at ones disposal, I can't get over the stack (I draw 28 inches) and hand shock it has. I use it for carp shooting exclusely. I guess the adrenaline rush and love of bowfishing, makes those things less noticeable.
For general shooting and hunting it wouldn't be in my first 20 choices. But it is a wack em and stack em, river running, carps worst night mare.

Brian

[vermonster13]

Mathews MSRP Eagle $999, Hawk $899, Heritage $799 from their site.

[Shawn Leonard]

As others have said, spend your money elsewhere. They are not worth $400 in my opinion. I shot one and it was loud and very shockey. Look for a good used LB or order a custom from one of the sponsors on here. Shawn

[bentpole]

Mambahunter Simon peters is not really a trad friendly shop. There are two in our area that are worth going to that can help you out in your quest.Pequest Valley Archery  and Sig Borstad. Preferably PVA. We as trad gangers wouldn't steer you wrong.There are great bowyers out there that are sponsors here that make an awesome longbow for around 425.00 bucks or so you can pick the woods.Stay away from a company that specializes in making the #1 selling compound out there.I would check the bow classifieds here there are some pretty awesome longbows here for bargin prices. if you need any help send me an e-mail I live in Soprano Land too.

[mongo45]

I have had a Sky trophy longbow since 1995 and i shoot it more accurately than my robertson purist longbow and my hill wesley special.  as far as hand shock, i'm finding the sky has no more shock than the robertson and hill.  I really like my trophy long bow.  it is smooth, fast, and very forgiving.  maybe i just got lucky and got a good one as i haven't shot any other sky trophy longbows besides mine.
cheers
tm

[New to Traditional]

Mine doesn't have any noticeable handshock with a decently heavy arrow(around 10-11 grs. per pound).Of course mine is 60# and 69" and is one of the Earl Hoyt Jr. Trophy longbows.I can consistently stack my arrows.And when I practice with it more often they actually group where I'm aiming!  :biglaugh:Its a decent bow.That being said For that price you could do a lot better.A local bower with a more hybrid longbow or a Tomahawk would be better.

[Tim Fishell]

I think it depends on what you like.  I owned an Earl Hoyt for a while and I didnt care for how stiff the bow felt to me.  My dad has two of them now because he loves that in a long bow.  I think they are nice bows but I also dont think I would pay anything over $350 for one.  When my dad bought his brand new he paid $400 and I bought mine off from the auction site and paid under $250 for it.

[insttech1]

Sorry but for that kinda change, any Mathews trad bow wouldn't even make it on my "long" list, let alone my "short" list of bowyers to choose from for a custom build...

The bow should be functional, and it should shoot better than you can, if properly tuned, and it should serve you well.  But it is still a "factory" bow in the eyes of many here.  And most (including me) are skeptical as to what "custom" means from a factory bow.

Now there is nothing wrong with "factory bows", per se, but the majority of people here, as evidenced by the above comments, would pursue other products first...especially if a "wait time" is involved for a truly hand-made, "customized" product.  And that would include choice of woods, limb cores, veneers, clear glass, custom string, grip shaping, limb tips, overlays, riser flares and accents, and tillering to within 2lbs at any given draw length.

Mathews doesn't advertise a "Sky Trophy Longbow" on their site, but I do vaguely remember they purchased the rights from Hoyt, and I think you're referring to the "Heritage Hawk", which is their r/d model with upgraded woods.  At least I hope so for the $600.

So if it's on order, enjoy it!  If it's still an option to cancel, I'd do some research on here, search for "mathews" and read about all the other options available, and then make a more informed decision.

Most of us here make an extensive effort to not "bash" any products or the choices of others as to what they shoot (heck, I shoot a truly bastardized WARF that's ugly as the day is long, but will flat out SHOOT!), so I think you get the gist of the conversation...

Take Care,
Marc

[owlbait]

Those Matthews MSRP's are just that, suggestions. You can get them to deal on those bows. my local archery shop has the Eagle I believe and it shoots extremely well and has a great finish on it. They have a new chrono program that will print speed, draw weight, efficiency, and force draw curve. As soon as they get some experience I will post the numbers here for all the bashers to disect. Sure there are other choices but don't just cast and blast. Plenty of $1,000 plus "customs" on the market now too.

[Izzy]

A guy from my club has one.Its his showoff bow but its got a mess of horizontal cracks in the finish.He says it shoots ok and is waiting for a new one to be finished by Matthews for the replacement.

[Jeff Hren-Renegade]

You said you bought the Sky version so it was about $399.00 . I have shot the maple one a bit, the local sport shop had one in for about 6 month's. Not a bad bow, but VERY shiney. You will have to dull it up before hunting season. It shot well, didn't stack & as long as you put silencers in the string was quit With little hand shock.!Good luck!!

[MikeC]

Mamba...Simon Peters is a great shop but they don't know squat about trad gear.  I agree with the others if you can cancel the order do it.  Look at the classifieds and e*aY.  Lots of great bows out there for a third of the original cost.  Take a look at the Martin Savannah.  Many customs out there that cost twice as much and aren't any better in all respects.

[MambaHunter]

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm reading all of these comments and taking into consideration. As for the Martin Bows. I hate them. I have a Ben Pearson Recurve back from the 1970's that my father re-did... It will shoot bullseyes around our Martins any day of the week. We've found that the Martin's are just not strong enough. I decided on my longbow, knowing about it to a fair amount, and knowing that the Company used to strictly make Longbows and recurves before the compounds came out. I'm going to trust this longbow when I get it, and I will post on it what I think. Personally, I don't expect a longbow to shoot like a cadillac rides... But I will see what happens.

[insttech1]

I don't quite get the comment about the company making recurves and longbows way before compounds.

Mathews is a relatively new company, and has only made trad bows for about 4 years, if that.

Hoyt is the company that makes the Sky products, and has done so for a long, long time.  

Mathews only bought the rights to copy the ancient (and wonderful!!) designs of Earl Hoyt.

And they only did so when they realized that there was a huge re-surgence in trad archery, and they figured they could make money off of the rights to the "Sky" name.

It was a business decision...and that decision hasn't quite proven itself to the community that has been shooting the original products.

But it still should be a decent product...as they have warranty expenditures to consider if there are bad ones put out on the market.

How custom are they making it for you?

Take Care,
Marc