Mathews Halon - opinions?

[TRD1911]

My Bowtech Destroyer 350 is being retired after this season so I've started shopping around. I'm seriously considering the Mathews Halon but haven't had a chance to shoot one yet. Here's what I'm looking for in a bow

Speed
Solid wall
Smooth cycle
Easy to tune
Good looking - I know that is vain but I can't stand to look at a Hoyt regardless if Cam H can shoot future, space elk from 10,000 miles away.
Good customer service

Does the Halon meet these marks? Trying to go in to the shop with a game plan so I'm not there for days trying and re-trying different bows.

Maybe some info on me would help? 6ft 1in, prefer spot/stalk hunting but plan on doing ground blind for deer next year w/ my wife, comfortable with 70lb draw shooting heavier arrows.

Not trying to start a brand war, just curious on how your Halon has performed for you this year. Thanks

[carlyoungs]

My buddy bought one this year.  It has all of what you listed. The thing i don't like about it is how frigging heavy it is. It weighs like twice what my 10 year old Matthews does. And it's 1000 bucks bare bones. If you dont mind weight I say go for it.

[Wolfdog2314]

I was in the market for a new bow this year to replace my Hoyt spyder. I went to the shop and shot the new Elite Impulse, Hout Defiant, Matthews No-Cam and Halon 6.

I ended up with the Halon, and I love it.

It is heavy yes, but this bow doesn't even move when ya shoot it! I have a 9inch trophy ridge stabilizer on it and I get zero movement when I shoot an arrow out of it. I don't mind carrying the weight of it either.

The shop paper tuned my bow, and I only had to make a slight adjustment to my trophy ridge rest while broadhead tuning.

Im set to max draw weight 70-72lbs and a 27.5 draw lengths. Shooting FMJs. Chrono was around 280 fps.

It's a beautiful bow for sure!

I only have my Hoyt to compare it to, but I absolutely love shooting this bow. I've never felt more accurate and comfortable shooting a bow.

Held full draw when I got into some elk this season, and felt great. Ended up with my first kill with it tho on a cougar.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[highside74]

Halon is heavy, heavy, heavy. If you sit in a tree stand all day no biggy. But I'm not lugging one around chasing elk or mule deer.

Elite, Prme and Hoyt can all hit your needs.

[TRD1911]

Weight isn't really an issue as I'm in decent shape. Spent a good portion of this season carrying two bows through the woods (mine and my wifes) until we gothink into a good area.

Thanks for the input. Gonna head out now and check them out

[Rainier10]

Here is my review of the Halon, No Cam and the Elite impulse.  Halon felt "spongey" at the back walk to me.  It will be interesting to hear what you think.
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,195332.0.html

[TRD1911]

Well, will have plenty of time to test and provide insight to others that are contemplating the Halon as I ended up taking one home.

I've only owned two other bows, an old Bear (can't recall the model but the technology is so ancient it doesn't even compare) and my Bowtech D350. This thing just feels amazing in the hand, very smooth cycle and a solid wall (TINY bit of give). It was definitely heavier than the others that I was looking at but that may be why it feels so solid when fired. I only had a quick 20 minutes to send some arrows through it when I got home but it is absolutely burying arrows in the target and dead silent on release.

Side note, I picked this up at the Penninsula Premiere Proshop in Belfair. Excellent service and top notch work on setting up the strings and hardware while my wife chased our pson around the store. I recently bought a rifle there as well. Great shop and Charles, the owner, is very knowledgeable and helpful. Good guy and we will be doing a lot of business there in the future.

[TRD1911]

Initial followup -

Had time to set up a chrono tonight and shoot my hunting arrows.

Halon 6
29in draw
70lb

Arrow
Easton FMJ 30inches to nock
100gr Stinger Buzzcut
Total weight 489gr

Average 279 fps

This thing is just burying arrows and grouping great even though it's just the second time I've shot it. There is definitely room for improvement but so far I'm stoked.

I have had one issue on a couple shots at this point. At the time of release there has been a clicking noise and the arrow lands about 6 inches low and left of the group at 40 yards (farthest I can shoot at my house). I think it may be the rest as its about 6 years old now I think (QAD rest)

[maxwell]

  I think this is the best bow Mathews has made since the SBXT. I usually buy a new bow every year. I don't think I will be looking this year! My Halon 6 just shoots very well for me. Good luck on the late season guys.

Maxwell.

[Jellymon]

   Just a guess but the clicking noise may be the rest not dropping and vanes hitting the launcher which nocks the launcher down. Safety feature in the rest. I've seen it many times from guys that had thier bow set up by a "pro shop".  It would explain low arrow impact as well.
   It may not be happening every shot because the rest is timed to come up too late, and is sitting at the point where the rest engages to drop away or not drop away. If timed in this position it will drop fine if pulling firmly into the wall, but creep forward the tiniest bit and the rest will not drop when fired. Following these guidelines I've not had vane contact on any bow wearing a QAD, and that's a lot of bows.
   
  The launcher needs to be fully up about 1" BEFORE you hit the wall. (Don't worry about the "timing lines", I've never owned a QAD that had the timing marks line up when in the correct position) This will eliminate the potential for the launcher not dropping, and the rest will stay up slightly longer which helps guide the arrow somewhat longer.
   Cord needs to be tied in even to the base of the grip or slightly lower.  This puts more of an angle on the cord which makes it operate better and drop quicker. Try pulling the cord at a 45 degree angle and letting go quickly, then try pulling the cord straight down and letting go and you will see how much better the rest works with the steeper angle.
   If your bow is tuned correctly and the rest is in good working order, these two things will get a QAD HDX, HD, LD up and running. IF this is even what's happening.
   

[huntnfmly]

Congrats on the new bow.
I just picked one up about a month ago and love it. Shoots great

[TRD1911]

   Just a guess but the clicking noise may be the rest not dropping and vanes hitting the launcher which nocks the launcher down. Safety feature in the rest. I've seen it many times from guys that had thier bow set up by a "pro shop".  It would explain low arrow impact as well.
   It may not be happening every shot because the rest is timed to come up too late, and is sitting at the point where the rest engages to drop away or not drop away. If timed in this position it will drop fine if pulling firmly into the wall, but creep forward the tiniest bit and the rest will not drop when fired. Following these guidelines I've not had vane contact on any bow wearing a QAD, and that's a lot of bows.
   
  The launcher needs to be fully up about 1" BEFORE you hit the wall. (Don't worry about the "timing lines", I've never owned a QAD that had the timing marks line up when in the correct position) This will eliminate the potential for the launcher not dropping, and the rest will stay up slightly longer which helps guide the arrow somewhat longer.
   Cord needs to be tied in even to the base of the grip or slightly lower.  This puts more of an angle on the cord which makes it operate better and drop quicker. Try pulling the cord at a 45 degree angle and letting go quickly, then try pulling the cord straight down and letting go and you will see how much better the rest works with the steeper angle.
   If your bow is tuned correctly and the rest is in good working order, these two things will get a QAD HDX, HD, LD up and running. IF this is even what's happening.
 

That sounds to be about right I've been getting home after dark this week so I haven't had a chance to verify this theory but will do so by the weekend. Thanks for taking the time to offer that advice.

[yakimarcher]

I gave it a serious look, but bought a bear arena 34 because it was a smoking deal. If $ wasn't an issue i would have bought it!!!!

[Greg Mullins]

I got a Carbon Defiant Turbo in December. I just picked up a Halon 32 6 and now I can tell you the Halon will be hunting this year. I can say I'm a huge Hoyt fan but the Halon is just so much calmer to shoot with very little speed loss with a 505 grain arrow it's only 6fps slower. I love my Hoyt but I'm officially saying Mathews has something good here.

[Sneaky]

Shot/hunted my halon 7 all last year and loved it. Picked up a bowtech reign 7 this year and am now seriously considering selling the halon and picking up another reign...the halon is a very, very accurate bow and has a smooth as butter draw cycle. The reign 7 is just as smooth, faster even on comfort setting, has a better backwall, and is lighter even at 2 5/8" extra ATA. It is also proving to be very, very accurate.

Overall opinion on the halon: Very good hunting bow, very accurate and forgiving, smooth draw and good speeds.....and there could be one hitting the classifieds here soon