target archery makes up a small portion of the archery pie. Ask most hunters who Reo Wilde is... doubt they know. Levi might be a different story since he has a hunting show. Hunters is where the money is. Advertising with hunting shows is where it is at.

fact is Mathews had great bows and out lasted their competitors until recently. now Hoyt, PSE, Elite are all making fine bows at the same or lower price points. plus others.

shoot what feels good and what you can hit your spots with.

G'day all,

Sorry for the late reply, haven't been around computers much lately with a couple of weeks off.

I guess it's hard for you guys to understand not knowing what it's like in another country, it's only normal to assume it's the same here as it is in the states, unfortunately for me it's not.

Naturally I would love to just try them all but it's kinda hard. Archery shops aren't around every corner in Aus, the closest one to me is 4 hours drive and most don't a) let you shoot bows or even have facilities to do it and b) don't stock anything other than the most popular brands.

For example to get an elite it has to be a special order in from the states, I confirmed this today by calling the only two archery shops within 5 hours that allow you to shoot their bows. And they both made a point to say "you can't shoot every bow in the shop, only if you're tossing up between one or two you can try them".

I'm a spot and stalk / still hunter, hunting from blinds and treestands will make up very little of my hunting so I'm not limited by ATA length or within reason weight. I would prefer to be able to take longer shots more comfortably, particularly for mountain hunting tahr, chamois and sambar which require it at times.

I've come up with at least one downside to both, apparently the impulse 34 isn't near as smooth as the energy 35 and has a bit of a hump into the valley, though other people have disagreed with this. On top of that some people seem to think it's well behind on it's apparent IBO. If this is the case I'd almost throw an E35 into the mix.

As for the Halon, apparently the riser and grip feel real chunky in hand and quite a few people aren't liking it. I'm finding some people also don't like the ATA, again for me length isn't an issue long or short.

I know I can shoot a halon at these shops but it sounded like a real effort when I said I wanted to try an I34 without committing to buying it, which I will admit they did understand. I can see it from a shops point though, ordering in a $1600 bow when someone isn't even committed to buying it is a risk.

I'll just have to wait and see if they get one in so I can try, it's also going to take some forward planning to get a time to drive the 4 hours to test them.

I just wanted opinions of people who had tried both and as I thought, it still seems pretty split. I am interested though hearing about the long time mathews and hoyt hunters who are making the switch to elite. Personally I'd never limit myself to any one brand in anything as I think you can become too one eyed and I'm always out for what I feel is best not what I want to be best, but I appreciate all the varying opinions.

Thanks again for the advice guys,

Jack

For what it's worth, I ended up pulling the trigger and ordering a bow.

Went with the Elite Impulse 34 in Kuiu Verde 28"DL 60-70# with the V-grip.

Looking at 1-2 month wait, so got a bit of time to play around with my Bear Mauler before it gets in.

Thanks again for all the advice.

Took her out last night, the stag I'm after didn't show but this hare made the mistake of getting too close.

Good shooting on the hare. I think you will be happy with your new bow.

Some body told me the same thing when I bought my first elite
Being they started in 2005 I'd say they where wrong.