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Crow's Chill-X Review

Crow Terminator

Crow Terminator

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To sum it up with one word: WHOA!

Not gonna lie to ya. This is the best feeling Mathews bow I have ever had in my hands and have ever shot. They had put some extra long modules on it; it must have been about 2 inches long for me and usually bows that are long like that, wont feel good. This one was amazingly smooth for it to be that long. I felt a little hint of a tight spot when the cams rolled to the valley but I know without a doubt this is because I was hyper extended in drawing it back. This bow is what I expected and wanted the Elite Energy 35 to be like when I first started reading the reviews from people that had shot them. I couldn't get over how quiet it was and how vib free it was on the shot. No jump or kick to it at all. I shot it and kept shooting it and had to make myself put it up.

I don't know how accurate it will be and all that stuff but from just going in the shop and giving it a good workout...it left a heckuva first impression on me. I've shot all the flagship 2014 model bows from all the big companies and a lot of the secondary companies and this one ranks #1 on my list for overall best feeling bow. Looks...I've never liked the waffle iron look but once you draw this sucker back and let an arrow go...the looks are the last thing on your mind. I'm taking my wife tomorrow to shoot the Chill SDX. They had a few in the shop and I shot the demo and its a pretty sweet lil bow too. The demo of it was 24 inch draw and was set on 38 lbs and I pulled it back with one finger like it was a toy. If my wife likes it, we'll just order her one in her draw length. I'm gonna stick with my Hoyt just because I know what I can do with it and I would be a fool to part with it due to how accurate I've been with it. But if I had to buy a new bow today...that ChillX would be it. Go fling a few arrows through one. I'm pretty sure you wont be disappointed.
 
I didn't spend a whole deal of time behind it but I think this is the bow everybody has been waiting and wishing Mathews would bring to the table. The specs certainly are there for it to be a forgiving and stable shooting platform. Its been a long time since I had the "wow" factor with a Mathews. In the past several yrs I have been a "shoot it once and hang it back on the rack" guy when it.came to their bows. I just never liked short bows and now they have a bow that is crazy smooth and quiet...without all the normal rubber stuff that comes standard on bows today. I shot it with my target stabilizers on it and without anything on it...and it was super quiet and well balanced. I dunno about how fast it shoots and all that stuff but I know I will have to shoot it again when I take my wife to shoot the SDX. And I may have to check and see how much I have in my archery fund lol. There are only 2 negatives I found with it.

1. The price is a little higher than I'm accustomed to seeing for a bow only offered in camo or black colors. They seem to be marketing it as a target bow though and I guess that's why the price is higher?

2. The lack of camo/color options. Its only offered in the Lost camo pattern or black. If I'm wrong, please correct me. I went in the store to get some tuning help on my bow...wasn't expecting to be so taken back by a bow not even on my radar blip. Lol There is also an extra charge for the black bows...which I saw one and it's a nice flat black with a rough gritty texture to it. Its not a glossy anodized black. I like the flat black look a lot. But if I got one it would be for target and I would have to do like Rickym and send it off to be custom done if I wanted any other colors. I'm partial to my cobalt blue anodized Hoyt color :)
 
W.Seay said:
I haven't shot the chillx but I have the chill and I love it!
Click to expand...
You might not like the longer A-A of the X. I shot the original Chill when it came out and it just didn't speak to me. Because the X is longer...it draws a lot easier and smoother than the Chill. I couldn't tell much about the backwall since it was so long on me. I dont know if it had the new mods on it or not...I will ask tomorrow. I thought the original Chill was a bit stiff to draw and had a little give/spongy feel in the backwall. Im not sure if they have the same or different cams on them but IMO there's a lot of difference between them. The SDX is a little stiffer than the X on the draw..similar to how I remembered the Chill being. The backwall on it was very solid though. Both are good feeling bows but the X is a grandslam in my book.

The shop tech said there were rumors of another one coming that is 40ish A-A and possibly a shoot through riser. He said he's heard a few different things though...from a shoot through riser to an Apex riser with split limbs and Chill cams.
 
Yeah, I really like shorter ata for hunting purposes. I've thought about having my chill painted flat black but man I'm just nervous of taking it all apart since it's shoots so well.
 
That's how I have been with my Pro Comp Elite. I've got a few things I want to do with it but I have been shooting it so good with where it is now, that I don't wanna touch it til after tournament season. I made a pretty drastic change to it last week and put 65% mods on it and really thought I had messed up by doing so. It took a little tweaking to get my draw length back to where I needed it. It's amazing what a couple twists of the cables can do.

My wife shot the Chill SDX and liked it. BUT she said it didn't bring the WOW factor to her. She said it was a lot smoother and quieter on the shot than her current bow...but that her current bow drew a lot easier. By comparison, she shoots her Strother on 38 lbs but we had to back the SDX out a round down from 38 lbs just so she could pull it back. But once it was back, she said everything else about it felt really good.

By comparison...she shot the Elite Spirit on 50 lbs...and that's the first bow over 40# that she could draw back. It strained her a bit to get it back but when she shot the 40# Spirit, she about jerked the cams off it because she pulled it back so easy. Right now the Spirit is #1 on her list and will probably be the one she gets. We called all around today trying to find a Hoyt Spyder, Faktor, or Charger in 40# so she could shoot a Hoyt but we weren't successful in finding one for her in 40#. Everybody said they could order her one but she would have to buy it and we're not keen on buying one for her without her ever shooting one.
 

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