BACK GROUND

I want to start this review out by asking a simple question. How do the folks at Mathews keep building bows that just turn the industry upside down?

The first thing I noticed about the Z7 was what a radical step away from the normal look for a Mathews bow. The second thing was I really liked the red trim and highlights of the bow.

Now as most of my readers know I am not a small man 6’3 and 310 lbs and, I am not a big fan of short bows they never seem to fit or be as comfortable to shoot as say a 34-38″ axle to axle bow.

I was expecting to make a couple of comments about the snow cone effect or the ability of this bow to shoot at distance ( WRONG !! ). So now you have a little background lets get to the review.

SET UP

Initial set up and tune went like clock work with very little time spent paper tuning past the initial knock settings.  As with all of the bows I review they are set up as if I were going to take them hunting.

BOW SETTINGS

• Draw weight: 70lbs
• Draw length: 29″
• Let off:             80%
• Axle to Axle: 30″
• Brace height:  7″

EQUIPMENT

• Arrow rest:  Trophy Taker
• Sights: Extreme
• Stabilizer: Sims modular
• Quiver: Mathews T-5

ARROW

• Beman ICS Hunter Camo
• 3″ feather fletching
• Length 28″
• Tip 100 grain
• Weight total 405 grain

The Z7 tuned very quickly with minimum variation from the standard Mathews 16th of an inch high knock and center arrow position on the rest. I was very happy with the bows performance.

DRAW CYCLE

This is a smooth speed cam until the last 1.5-2″ of draw where if you are not ready for it will sneak up on you. The cam has a little bump at the back, but once you hit the valley and then into the wall which is very solid, it felt great.  A big plus of the Z7 cam was the solid anchor point and ability to hold the spot without fighting the bow.

SHOT GROUPS

• 20 yards : less than 1/4″
• 30 yards: 1/2 to 1″
• 40 yards: 2 to 2 and1/2″
• 50 yards:  4″ and less

This is a very forgiving short bow I had no problems holding kill zone shots with broad heads out to 60 yards. This changes my opinion of a short hunting bow without question, and yes this is the first short bow of all the ones we have tested in the past that I will give a 9 out of 10 score for shoot ability.

In my opinion Mathews has set the standard for the rest of the industry in this market.Arrow speeds for my test set up varied about 10 FPS with a high of 309 and a low of 299. This bow is very fast with such a heavy set up.

ROLLER CABLE GUARD / DRAW ASSIST

Roller cable guard / draw assist. This is something I can not say enough about, I have always had a problem with the short bow wearing cable servings due to the angle that the bus cable tracks in and out of the cam. I have observed minimum serving wear with the Z7.

SUMMARY

This is without a doubt the best short bow I have ever had the opportunity to shoot, it feels very stable has a great anchor point, and tunable speed. In my opinion this bow will have the same impact on the industry that we saw with the release of the Legacy. I rank this bow 9.5 out of 10 with the only negative being the hump at the back of the cam,  but understand that speed has to come from some where in the cam design. Mathews has done an outstanding job in the development of this bow from top to bottom so do yourself a favor if you are looking to upgrade or buy your first bow this year take a close look at the Z7.

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