My Take on the Monster XLR8

[qzilla]

Ok, I am experienced with shooting this type of bow. I shot Blackmax's for years, Blacknights, Patriot Duallies etc. We have even built some Franken Bows just for speed.

The fit and finish of all the Mathews bows are second to none. They look better and more finished than any other bow I have messed with.

My first thought with the Monster is that it was really heavy for a 70lb pull bow. I have a Safari set at 122lbs and it is heavy but, that is to be expected.

The bow shoots great. I was stacking arrows like crazy.

The bow is scary fast. The bow I was shooting was 70lb, 28" and we were shooting the Easton Flatline arrows through it. I did not chrono it at 70lbs but, we did at 62lbs and it was shooting 357fps! I am guessing at 70lbs it was in the high 360's. This arrow weighed in at 310grs.

The shot is smooth, there is not a lot of hand shock either.

The only reason I did not order one is that there is a jump right when the bow goes to let off. I pull bows all the time and I never could keep my arrow from jumping right at the end of the draw cycle. The arrow would jump 1/2" straight up off the rest and back down. I drew it as slow as possible and every increment between there and as fast as I could draw it. I shot over 100 arrows through it and never could get it to be smooth for 100% of the draw cycle.

If I could get that to go away I would order one with 80lb limbs right away.


For now, my Drenalin is a beast. It is uber smooth and I can shoot lights out to 100yards with it. It kills everything I point it at, so no need to change I guess.

I liked the speed, quality and fit and finish but, that is it for me. I thought the X-Force was smoother. I also want to shoot an Omen.

[lbbf]

Same way I felt about the monster. It was a great shooter but the end of the draw was a Monster. No valley, just a cliff it dropped off to.

[Hawkins]

122lbs

[red]

could you put a brass nock or some serving below the arrow nock then put the bottom knot of the D loop below that to add some more downward pressure like in the pic here?

[Mike D]

I think the Monster may be better done old school style without a loop to keep downward pressure on the arrow.

[DPerez905]

i have shot it also and wasnt able to keep the arrow on the rest but thats just my opinion. ill hand it to those to can make it work for them but as far as im concerned my gt500 shoots great smooth and fast enough for me.

[Aggiehunter08]

I have just the monster which has 6.5" brace height vs. the XLR8 which has a 5.5" brace height. Before making the purchase I had it narrowed down to the X-Force or the Monster. After test shooting both bows I found that the X-Force absolutely had NO VALLY what so ever and just did not shoot as smooth as the Monster, but which one shoots the best is personal preference. So far this season I have shot a doe and boar, and the arrow was already through them sticking in the ground before they even knew that they had been shot. You can forget about deer jumping the string with either of these bows at reasonable distance!

[Lethal Injection]

When I first shot the Monster with the limbs maxed out I could not keep the arrow on the rest when breaking over the hump. I had the bow lowered to 60 lbs and it made a huge difference, the bow is managable on the draw with the arrow staying on the rest (keep in mind this is the Mathew's drop away which has very shallow arms) and was able to still shoot 320's. I really beleive you would be better off with a Drop Zone type rest with this bow as the longer launcher arm should reduce the issue of the arrow jumping off the rest.

[texag93]

You can forget about deer jumping the string with either of these bows at reasonable distance!

They don't make a bow faster than a deers reaction time.....not yet anyway.

[glassjeg6]

They don't make a bow faster than a deers reaction time.....not yet anyway.

X2 Last time i checked the speed of sound was way faster than any bow out there.

[gonehuntin68]

You could just shoot a full capture style rest and then the arrow coming off would no longer be a problem.

[trad"Doc"53]

Easy you two guys above, they don't want to hear stuff like that!!

[EnglishRedneck]

Shot the Monster this week, and agree about the draw. There seems to be "hump" right before the cliff, errr valley, where the stiffness increases significantly. It's not disasterous, but it's very noticable. Makes it a little tougher to draw sitting down, but I shot about 50 from the chair at the range, and after a while, just like anything else, you get used to it. The Reezen was a lot smoother, and almost as fast...might be just the ticket!

[KingsX]

The Omen is the fastest smoothest speed bow in the World! period!

[lesson 101]

I have the regular monster set on 73lbs (According to scale) and 30 inch draw and I never had the jump your talking about I also use the QAD ultra rest which clamps to the cable not the string like the mathews downforce and I also use a "cheater knock" too. No D-loop no brass knock just a tied on thread and a rubber button. I use to shoot brass and 29 inches but I like many others have a need for speed and im getting 350s with velocity arrows and 75 grain tips, total arrow weight was 365 grains. I hunt with the 75 grain mini blasters but thinking im going to change when my safari gets here.